hand surgery group whose problems were generally of recent origin and

for whom the choice of surgery was not elective.

 Subjects in the gastric bypass group with inhibited and sensitive

coping styles reported significantly more pain at the time of testing

(PPI) than the rest of the subjects in this group. This particular

scale of the McGill Pain Questionnaire asks the patient to rate the pain

at the moment of filling out the questionnaire. Thus, the results are

affected by variables such as the time of last analgesic dosage,

possible secondary gain from the degree of "pain," the condition of the

gastrointestinal system at the time of testing, the patient's compliance

with postoperative treatment, and possible other factors. For these

reasons, that particular scale is more suitable for repeated use in

chronic pain rather than acute pain measurement.

 However, this finding may represent a variance from previous

findings on degree of extraversion and reported pain. The correlational

analysis reported in Chapter 4 revealed a significant relationship (r =

.39, p < .002) between Jung's extraversion/introversion scale and

Million's inhibited style. High scorers on Millon's inhibited scale tend

to be hesitant, shy, and ill at ease. Possibly the two instruments are

testing a similar construct. In that case, this finding would

contradict previous findings, since it was the high scorers on the

inhibited scale that reported more pain, so it would be the people

resembling the introverts more, rather than extraverts for this

particular group. I do not know of any other reason for this particular

finding, and it may represent a Type I error (that is, the rejection of

a true null hypothesis).