ABSTRACT Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are the most common chronic orofacial pain condition. Palpation of jaw muscles or temporomandibular joint is a part of standardized TMD diagnostics. The perception of pain has an individualized nature and is based on nociceptive, emotional, and cognitive responses. Gender differences in pain perception have previously been studied, with women reporting more frequent and intense pain. This study investigates whether the gender of instructor giving instructions influences palpation pressure used by women, suggesting a potential association between gender differences in palpation pressure. Method: Three different palpation methods were used where the participants receive standardized information. Two pair of instructors, either female or male, presented the information uniformly to all 42 female participants. The methods were performed six times in a randomized order and included palpation using the index finger, palpation using a palpometer and palpation with the aid of visual guidance. To evaluate the learning capacity of each method a learning curve analysis was conducted. Results: Palpation pressure among female participants was closer to the target pressure for all three methods, when receiving the information from a female instructor compared to receiving information from a male instructor. The mean palpation pressure was closer to the target pressure using the palpometer, both when receiving the information from a female or male instructors. Conclusion: The gender of the instructor among female participants plays a significant role, and using a palpometer gave more consistent results as well as closer to the target palpation pressure compared to other methods.