Pain is a multifaceted process, with sensory, behavioral, and emotional components that can be dramatically influenced by psychosocial and environmental factors. One way to explore the complicated interactions among the psychological and social determinants of pain is through an examination of pain communication. Pain communication has coevolved with affective circuits to guide actions to enhance fitness in social animals. Recognition of another’s pain can lead to the avoidance of harm, or trigger empathy and caregiving behavior. The spectrum of pain behavior ranges from basic alarm cues to empathy, involving multiple sensory modalities. The aim of these studies was to explore the social communication of pain and characterize the “social transfer of pain,” a phenomenon in which the presence of “primary” animals experiencing hyperalgesia leads to congruent pain behavior in “bystander” animals that are housed and tested in the same room.