Biobehavioral responses to interpersonal conflict during anger expression among anger-in and anger-out men.
To examine whether typical modes of anger expression (ie., anger-in, anger-out) were related to cardiovascular, affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses to interpersonal conflict, 20 anger-in and 20 anger-out undergraduate men participated in 2 role plays, one in which they were instructed to exhibit their anger overtly and the other in which they inhibited their anger Results showed that anger-in individuals used significantly more repression self-statements than anger-out individuals across both role play interactions (p <.01). Anger-out persons showed exaggerated diastolic blood pressure response in contrast to anger-in participants, but only during the exhibited anger role play (p <.04). When the anger exhibition role play followed anger inhibition, diastolic bloodpressure responses were more intense (p <. 05), and heart rate recovery was significantly slower (p <.03) among anger-outparticipants in contrast to anger-in participants. These findings indicate that modes of anger expression (trait) and contextual demands of the interaction (state) interact in complex ways to influence biobehavioral reactions to anger provocation.
Suchday
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S
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
Larkin
K T
KT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014705:Verbal Behavior