Differential subjective and psychophysiological responses to socially and nonsocially generated emotional stimuli.

Sociality may determine the subjective experience and physiological response to emotional stimuli. Film segments induced socially and nonsocially generated emotions. Comedy (social positive), bereavement (social negative), pizza scenes (nonsocial positive), and wounded bodies (nonsocial negative) elicited four distinct emotional patterns. Per subjective report, joy, sadness, appetite, and disgust were elicited by the targeted stimulus condition. The social/nonsocial dimension influenced which emotional valence(s) elicited a skin conductance response, a finding that could not be explained by differences in subjective arousal. Heart rate deceleration was more responsive to nonsocially generated emotions. Taken together, these findings suggest that sociality affects the physiological profile of responses to emotional valence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affectivity of Task, Rehearsal Time, and Physiological Response: Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Walter M. Baker, Curt A. Sandman, and Harold B. Pepinsky (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1975, Vol. 84, No. 5, 539-544). On page 542 Figures 2 and 3 should be reversed in order to appear with their correct captions. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1975-31101-001.) 20 undergraduates discussed a neutral topic and an affect-arousing topic. 10 Ss were allotted a 5-min rehearsal, whereas the remainder were given only 30 sec of rehearsal time prior to their verbal presentations. The endosomatic galvanic skin potential and heart rate were recorded for all Ss during the periods of rehearsal, speech, and immediately following the speech period. Results indicate (a) significant differences between responses to an affective topic and a neutral topic, (b) a significantly different number of words elicited by an affective topic vs a neutral topic, and (c) definite physiological patterns associated with the length of the Ss' speech. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Context-Specific Freezing and Associated Physiological Reactivity as a Dysregulated Fear Response.

The putative association between fear-related behaviors and peripheral sympathetic and neuroendocrine reactivity has not been replicated consistently. This inconsistency was addressed in a reexamination of the characterization of children with extreme fearful reactions by focusing on the match between distress behaviors and the eliciting context. Eighty 24-month-old children were observed in 4 mildly threatening contexts, and the relations among different measures of fear-related behaviors, reactive and basal cortisol levels, and baseline cardiac measures of heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and preejection period (PEP) were examined. The hypothesis that only behaviors under the less threatening context would be associated with higher cortisol and sympathetic cardiac activity was confirmed; only task-specific freezing behavior predicted higher reactive and basal cortisol levels and resting PEP measured 1 week later. Implications for the conceptualization of dysregulated fear behaviors in the classification of extremely fearful children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's Physiological Indices of Empathy and Their Socioemotional Adjustment: Does Caregivers' Expressivity Matter?

Relations of heart rate and skin conductance reactions to mildly evocative empathy-inducing slides with socioemotional functioning were examined for 154 children (mean age = 9 years, 5 months). In addition, maternal expressivity was tested as a moderator of these relations. Parents and teachers rated children's socioemotional functioning, and a behavioral measure of children's regulation was obtained. Boys who exhibited higher skin conductance and higher heart rate to slides depicting negative emotions were better regulated, less emotionally intense, and better adjusted than their peers. Furthermore, boys' regulation and adjustment were positively related to such physiological responding to negative slides if maternal negative expressivity was relatively low or moderate, but not high. Fewer findings were obtained for girls or for positive slides. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysiological Profiles of Batterers: Autonomic Emotional Reactivity as It Predicts the Antisocial Spectrum of Behavior Among Intimate Partner Abusers.

On the basis of studies finding heart rate deceleration among severely violent (SV) batterers (J. M. Gottman et al., 1995) and unsuccessful psychopaths (S. S. Ishikawa, A. Raine, T. Lencz, S. Bihrle, & L. Lacasse, 2001), this study compares the physiological reactivity of SV batterers (n = 35) with low-level violent (LLV) batterers (n = 37) and nonviolent men (n = 21) during 2 laboratory tasks. Men's heart rate and skin conductance level were recorded during baseline, a conflict discussion, and a standardized anger induction. Results suggest that autonomic hyporeactivity is a risk marker for antisocial features among SV men, whereas autonomic hyperreactivity is a risk marker among LLV men. Psychophysiological responding appears to be a stronger correlate of general antisocial behavior than of intimate partner abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reacting to and recovering from a stressful situation: The negative affectivity-physiological arousal relationship.

Although it is one of the most widely researched personality correlates of psychological reactions, the relationship between negative affectivity (NA) and physiological arousal has received little attention. This study examined the associations between NA and physiological outcomes of heart rate, skin temperature, and muscle tension. The authors hypothesized that when individuals are in a stressful situation, persons high in NA experience more heightened physiological arousal than those low in NA. After personality and demographic data were collected, 230 individuals participated in a stressful intervention. Individuals high in NA experienced a significantly greater rate of increase in electromyogram during the stress intervention and a lesser rate of decrease in electromyogram after the stressful event than those low in NA. In regard to skin temperature, those high in NA did not recover from the stress intervention as well as those low in NA. Negative affectivity was not related to heart rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)