Is it true that one test of pain threshold is see how long an individual is able to keep their eyes open?
Maybe… I still think “How long can you hang upside down, suspended by hooks in your testicles” is a much better one.
Well I keep eyes open when I sleep, does this mean that I have a high threshold for pain?
Sounds more like a stupidity threshold. Not blinking for a long time can be very dangerous. I’m sure scientists have much safer, albeit sadistic, methods for testing pain thresholds.
Has it ever actually been proven that there is such a thing as a “pain threshold”? I hear the phrase tossed around from time to time, but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a medical type use it.
Flodnak: I do believe there IS such a thing as a “pain threshold”, if by that term it’s meant that some people feel pain less than others. (In such case the word “threshold” is inappropriate, but I’m aware of how I’ve heard the term commonly used.)
My sister has remarked that one of her daughters barely needs any local anaesthetic when she goes to the dentist. She was moved to this remark by noticing other instances where her daughter had hurt herself and didn’t seem overly troubled. This is not the case with her other daughter, by the way.
The nature of pain is something that has intrigued me for two decades (ever since I read C.S. Lewis’ book called “The Problem of Pain”). Indeed, I think I should mention that within a month or two of reading that book I became an atheist. You see, I couldn’t figure out how a “Loving God” could create us in such a way that pain would be a necessity for our survival; surely he could have enhanced our survival instinct or given us greater awareness of the fact that it’s not a good idea to have an anvil dropped on your head.
In other words, if the potential to experience unbearably excruciating pain was the best solution that God came up with, then I’m sorry, but I’m not a fan.
Personally, I think I have a fairly low threshold of pain. When I go to my dentist, she has to give me twice as much Novacaine as she does for her other clients. Now bear in mind that I’m your regular kind o’ guy and I don’t want to be seen as a whiney sissy-pants by a female dentist. Hey, I’m a MAN, y’know what I mean? But if I don’t have enough Novacaine, I’m gonna jump when her drill goes a tad too deep.
To address the original topic: I once managed to keep from blinking for over 8 hours. I was asleep. 
I have an incredible pain threshold. I’ve cut the shit out of myself, and it doesn’t really bother me. You can kick me in the nuts, I’ll flinch, if it’s an especially hard kick. I’ve been pinched so hard skin came off. I can shrug off pressure point stuff. I’ve allowed a martial artist to bend my arm to the point of flexing the bone to show off a move. Pain does not bother me. I cannot be hurt. Kidney punches? So what. Ear pulling? Who cares. Punch me in the face? Big deal.
But step on my big toe and I’ll cry like a baby.
–Tim
Dammit, I loaned out U-Boat 977, in which Schaffer mentions that U-Boat officers underwent a nasty electical torture test.
As I recall, the candidates in the know were less concerned about blinking than they were about allowing their jaws to go slack. So they’d lock them in such a way as to maintain that steely German countenance. That seemed to please the psychologists.
I recently found my threshold of pain. It exists somewhere between the fingers of a busy ER doctor, with one of my testicles interposed. (see http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=31399) Turns out that I probably did have a “torsion”, and the examination resulted in my unconsciousness. My eyes were shut like a vault door long before I passed out. Homer, buddy, I wish I had your fortitude.
Oh, and thank God for Demerol. It didn’t help for jack shit, since it was administered after the examination, but it made me stop caring for a little while. Both of the boys are happily swimming in the bag, for now, although if the situation recurs, I face the prospect of having my errant testacle “tacked down.”
Fucking right. I’ll have that bastard in a specimen jar before I go through that sort of thing again. Thanks to those of you who got me to the right place at the right time.