Perception and recall of aversive material as a function of personality type

Abstract

Relationships between personality dimensions of extraversion (E), neuroticism (N), psychoticism (P) and barrier (B) and patterns of psychophysiological responding during exposure to and subsequent recall of aversive and non-aversive material were investigated. Sixteen male volunteers were asked to recall the critical features of 10 film segments containing either neutral or aversive material. Heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC) and electromyographic (EMG) responses were recorded throughout the session. Analysis showed that during exposure to aversive material, high BE Ss recorded high levels of autonomic responding and low levels of muscle tension, while during recall, they showed reduced autonomic activity and significantly higher levels of muscle tension. Low BE Ss showed significantly higher levels of muscle tension during film presentation and significantly lower levels during recall, with little change in autonomic reactivity between treatments. Recall data indicate that high BE Ss had significantly better recall under all conditions. N and P differences were unrelated to patterns of psychophysiological responding or efficiency of recall.