Comparison of hemodynamic responses to social and nonsocial stress: Evaluation of an anger interview

Abstract

Hemodynamic responses to an anger interview and cognitive and physical stressors were compared, and the stability of associated hemodynamic reactions examined. Participants experienced control, handgrip, counting, and mental arithmetic tests and an anger interview on two occasions. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac output were measured. Total peripheral resistance was also derived. The anger interview produced larger, more sustained changes in blood pressure in both sessions than the other stressors. These changes were largely a consequence of increased peripheral resistance. Consistent with previous findings, handgrip was associated with a resistance-type reaction whereas arithmetic was associated with a cardiac output-type reaction. There was low-to-modest stability of hemodynamic reactions to the interview. Further research is necessary to optimize its utility in studies of cardiovascular function. Nevertheless, the findings underscore the ability of ecologically relevant stressors to provoke unique configurations of cardiovascular activity.

Effect of mental stress on cardiovascular function at rest and after ingestion of fructose or sucralose in healthy, white European males

“…A significant increase in SV was only seen before the sucralose drink. These results are consistent with the findings that MATs result in increase in BP and that the reaction is mainly mediated through an increase in cardiac output (17). Consumption of fructose and sucralose significantly increased BP and TPR compared to pre-drink baseline values.…”

Cardiovascular and Psychological Reactivity and Recovery from Harassment in a Biracial Sample of High and Low Hostile Men and Women

“…Negative affect responses have been associated with increased cardiovascular reactivity [57] that is driven by vascular reactivity or mixed vascular and cardiac responses [20,28,30,31]. However, some studies have found that both positive and negative emotions elicit greater cardiovascular reactivity [39] and similar underlying hemodynamic responses [32].…”

“…With respect to the hemodynamic underpinnings of blood pressure (BP), a few investigators have found that anger-related tasks tend to elicit a vascular resistance response pattern in hostile individuals [20,28,30,31] and a cardiac or mixed response pattern in samples not characterized with respect to dispositional hostility [32,33]. In regard to psychological processes, some previous research has demonstrated that affective and motivational responses to and cognitive perceptions (e.g., attribution of blame, threat perceptions) of a task may, in part, explain the relation of hostility to cardiovascular responses to social stress [34][35][36].…”

Hostility, smiling and elicited emotional experiences: Considerations for health outcomes.

“…The anger interview was adapted from previous work (Prkachin, Mills, Zwaal & Husted, 2001) and based on Ewart and Kolodnar's (1991) Social Competence Interview and Lang's (1979) theory o f emotional imagery. The interview consisted of successive phases during which the participant was asked first to describe the "anger event", in detail.…”