The Biological Diary of a Woman: Physiological Consequences of Status and Social Evaluative Threat

Abstract

Sex differences in physiological responses to social threats, as well as status seeking, have been found; however, underlying individual differences are far less documented, especially in women. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the role of self-perceived social status in response to social evaluative threat among young women. Participants completed a self-perceived social dominance questionnaire and then underwent a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test in which they received negative feedback. Heart rate was used in order to gauge participants’ physiological response. Women who rated themselves as dominant showed a reduction in heart rate from pre-task to post-task, suggesting parasympathetic activation and attunement to the social evaluative threat. Women who rated themselves as subordinate showed an increase in heart rate over the same period, suggesting sympathetic arousal and perceived threat. These findings suggest that physiological responses to social evaluative threats in women may depend on their perceived social status. The autonomic nervous system responses of dominant women may facilitate the maintenance of their social position within a hierarchy.