Self-reported Emotional Responses Research Articles

Comment on “negative emotions and acute cardiovascular responses to laboratory challenges”

Feldman et al. (1) analyzed data from several studies and found only small associations between cardiovascular responses and self-reported emotional responses to laboratory They concluded that emotions play a small role in physiological responses to acute laboratory stressors. We believe this conclusion is premature. The connection between emotionality and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) can be examined at the level of tasks (Do tasks that produce strong emotions also produce large cardiovascular reactions?) and at the level of individual differences (Are people who show large emotional responses to a given task the same ones who show large cardiovascular reactions?). Feldman et al. (1) consider only the latter issue. We leave the discussion of the former to the accompanying commentary by Schwartz (2) (though we note that the difference between a resting baseline and, for example, an anger-recall or shock-threat task is the level of emotionality, and this has profound consequences for CVR [3,4]). Even if limited to the examination of individual differences, the data presented by Feldman et al. (1) are not conclusive. The studies they review used star mirror-tracing, speech, and handgrip as the laboratory The use of such tasks limits the conclusions in two ways. First, the chosen tasks do not involve very powerful emotional interventions. Handgrip and star mirrortracing are not tasks one would choose if one were interested in emotional responses, and even a speech task need not be highly emotional. (Along these lines, we note that Table 3 of the paper shows that in only 3 of the 16 cases was the average of self-reported negative emotionality above the midpoint--moder-

Emotional response as a function of symptoms in schizophrenia

A group of 30 individuals with schizophrenia and a comparison group of 10 individuals who had never experienced a psychotic episode rated the pleasantness and arousal of 54 slides varying in normative pleasantness. Individuals with schizophrenia rated the slides as less pleasant than the comparison group. Positive symptom, negative symptom and disorganization symptom ratings were made for all patients with schizophrenia. Higher levels of disorganization symptoms were associated with lower ratings of pleasant slides and with more negative mood at the conclusion of the study. The conclusion from previous research that the self-reported emotional response of schizophrenia patients is not diminished compared to other groups may be premature, especially for patients with higher levels of disorganization.

Arousal and Valence in the Direct Scaling of Emotional Response to Film Clips

Contributions of differential attention to valence versus arousal (Feldman, 1995) in self-reported emotional response may be difficult to observe due to (1)confounding of valence and arousal in the labeling of rating scales, and (2) the assumption of an interval scale type. Ratings of emotional response to film clips (Ekman, Friesen, & Ancoli, 1980) were reanalyzed as categorical (nominal) in scale type using consensus analysis. Consensus emerged for valence-related scales but not for arousal scales. Scales labeled Interest and Arousal produced a distribution of idiosyncratic responses across the scale, whereas scales labeled Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Surprise, and Pain, produced consensual response. Magnitude of valenced response varied with both stimulus properties and self-reported arousal.

Gender Differences in Self-Reported Response to Troubles Talk

Tannen [(1990) You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, New York: William Morrow] and others have argued that women and men differ in communication style, and particularly in the way they respond to “troubles talk.” However, her research on gender differences in communication style has primarily made use of qualitative analysis of naturally occurring discourse. A Communication Styles Survey was developed to assess self-reported behavioral and emotional responses in “troubles talk” situations. This survey was administered to a total of 384 participants, the majority of whom were Caucasian college students. Statistically significant gender differences consistent with Tannen's predictions were found but the effect sizes tended to be small. Self-reported responses to troubles talk (such as giving advice) showed consistent individual differences among persons; for example, some persons tend to report themselves as “advice givers” or “jokers” across a wide range of troubles talk situations.

Psychophysiological assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder imagery in World War II and Korean combat veterans.

We assessed the heart rate, skin conductance, and left lateral frontalis electromyographic responses of World War II (WWII) and Korean War male veterans to recollection of their combat experiences by using a script-driven imagery technique previously validated in Vietnam veterans (Pitman et al., 1990; Pitman, Orr, Forgue, de Jong, & Claiborn, 1987). Medication-free subjects were classified on the basis of criteria from the revised third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 8) and non-PTSD (n = 12) groups, which did not differ in overall combat exposure or severity of personal combat events. PTSD subjects' physiological responses during personal combat imagery were markedly larger than those of non-PTSD subjects', even though the self-reported emotional responses of the two groups were comparable. A physiological discriminant function derived from Vietnam veterans (Orr et al., 1990) correctly classified 7 of the 8 PTSD subjects (sensitivity was 88%) and 12 of the 12 non-PTSD subjects (specificity was 100%; p < .001).

Affect, Cognition, and Urban Vegetation

Two studies explored cognitive and affective reactions to vegetation in urban settings. In Study 1, subjects viewed a line drawing of an urban street with or without the presence of vegetation (trees &amp; shrubs). The addition of vegetation affected subjects' cognitions about the quality of life in the area as well as about the land-use of the area. Subjects also reported higher levels of positive affect when they viewed a tree-lined city street. In Study 2, subjects viewed slides taken before or after vegetation was added along a thoroughfare in a suburb of a large metropolitan area. Again vegetation affected perceptions of the quality of life in the area, the local land-use, and self-reported emotional responses to the setting. The results suggest that the impacts of vegetation are largely affective, but cognitions, particularly about the quality of life in an area are also influenced by its presence. This pattern of results did not enable us to ascertain the evolutionary or cultural origins of people's responses.

Social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity to psychological challenge: a laboratory model.

In this study we investigated the effects of nonevaluative social interaction on the cardiovascular response to psychological challenge. Thirty-nine college-age females appeared accompanied ("Friend" condition) or unaccompanied ("Alone" condition) to an experimental laboratory. In the Friend condition, partners were present while the subject participated in two laboratory tasks, and the partners' evaluation potential was minimized by design. Subjects in the Friend condition showed reduced heart rate reactivity to both tasks, relative to the Alone group, an attenuated task-related systolic blood pressure response to one of the tasks, and a reduced diastolic blood pressure increase during a solitary interview. In two other instances, partner-related response reductions were apparent only for Type A subjects. None of these effects was accompanied by differences in task performance or self-reported emotional response. Interpersonal support may reduce cardiovascular responsivity to stress, an effect with possible implications for understanding the association between social relationships and cardiovascular risk.

More evidence that empathy is a source of altruistic motivation.

Additional evidence is provided that empathic emotion can evoke altruistic motivation to help. To provide this evidence, we employed Stotland's (1969) technique for manipulating empathy; subjects were exposed to a person in distress and instructed either to observe the victim's reactions (low empathy) or to imagine the victim's feelings (high empathy). As in previous research testing the empathy-altruism hypothesis, this empathy manipulation was crossed with a manipulation of ease of escape without helping (easy vs. difficult) to form a 2X2 design. Results patterned as predicted by the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Subjects in the low-empathy condition helped less when escape was easy than when it was difficult. This pattern suggested that their helping was directed toward the egoistic goal of reducing their own distress. Subjects in the highempathy condition, however, displayed a high rate of helping, even when escape was easy. This pattern suggested that their helping was directed toward the altruistic goal of reducing the distress of the person in need. Finally, analyses of subjects' self-reported emotional response provided additional support for the hypothesis that feeling a predominance of empathy rather than distress on witnessing someone in need can evoke altruistic motivation. Evidence for the empathy-altruism hypothesis continues to mount, Is the motivation to help ever, in any degree, truly altruistic? That is, is a helper's ultimate goal ever to increase the victim's welfare, or is the motivation underlying helping always egoistic, designed to increase the helper's own welfare? This question, carrying as it does implications for one's view of human nature (Hoffman, 1981), was a central question for many 18th and 19th century