Elevated resting blood pressure and dampened emotional response.
OBJECTIVE
Increased blood pressure is associated with decreased reports of aversiveness for both physical pain and psychosocial stressors. Based on these findings, higher blood pressure could be associated with altered emotional responses to a broader range of stimuli. There are at least 3 ways this could happen: a) less dire response to negative stimuli with no change in response to positive stimuli; b) more positive responses to both negative and positive stimuli; or c) dampened emotional responses to both positive and negative stimuli.


METHODS
Sixty-five normotensive volunteers had their resting blood pressure measured, then rated their emotional responses to a series of positive and negative photographs.


RESULTS
Resting systolic blood pressure was significantly and negatively correlated with subjective emotional ratings of both positive (r = -.26) and negative (r = -.35) photographs.


CONCLUSIONS
Results were consistent with emotion dampening for elevated resting blood pressure and may reflect homeostatic integration of neurocirculatory control and affect regulation.
Department of Psychology, Clemson University, 418 Brackett Hall, Clemson, SC 29634-1355, USA. cpury@clemson.edu
Cynthia L S
CL
Pury
James A
JA
McCubbin
Suzanne G
SG
Helfer
Cynthia
C
Galloway
L Jean
LJ
McMullen
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology