Effects of trait dominance on psychological and cardiovascular responses to social influence attempts: the role of gender and partner dominance

Trait dominance and cardiovascular functioning during social stress

Cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress has been found to be an important indicator of future ill health, and individual differences in personality have been posited to explain disparities in outcomes. Dominance is associated with forceful persons who desire hierarchy in social interactions. This study investigated dominance and CVR during social or asocial stressors. Sixty-one women, categorized as low, moderate, or high in dominance using the Jackson Personality Research Form, completed a social or asocial stressor while undergoing cardiovascular measurement during baseline, stressor, and recovery phases. A 3 × 2 × 3 analysis of covariance revealed a significant Phase × Stressor × Dominance interaction for systolic blood pressure (SBP). Women with lower and moderate dominance-but not women with higher dominance-exhibited greater SBP responses to stress in the social condition compared with the asocial condition. No significant difference was found for women with higher dominance, indicative of blunted SBP during the social stressor. During recovery, women with lower dominance had marginally elevated SBP in the social condition compared with the asocial condition. The current study extends prior knowledge of the association between dominance and CVR, such that greater dominance was associated with blunted SBP and lower dominance was associated with attenuated recovery to social stress.

I do…do you? Dependence and biological sex moderate daters' cortisol responses when accommodating a partner's thoughts about marriage

We examined how daters' levels of relationship dependence interact with men's and women's degree of accommodation during a likelihood of marriage discussion to predict cortisol levels at the conclusion of the discussion. Upon arriving at the laboratory, couple members were separated and asked to graph their perceived likelihood of one day marrying each other. Couples were reunited and instructed to create a joint graph depicting their agreed-upon chance of marriage. For the majority of couples, negotiating their likelihood of marriage required one or both partners to accommodate each other's presumed likelihood of marriage. Multilevel analyses revealed a significant Dependence×Accommodation×Sex interaction. For women who increased their likelihood of marriage, feelings of dependence predicted heightened levels of cortisol relative to baseline; we suggest such a response is indicative of eustress. Among men, those who accommodated by decreasing their likelihood of marriage experienced significantly lower levels of cortisol to the extent that they were less dependent on their partners. Discussion focuses on why men and women show different physiological reactions in response to seemingly favorable outcomes from a relationship discussion.

Personality and illness: genetic connections?

Illness is strongly influenced by genetics. Personality traits are influenced by genetics and have linkages with, at least, affective illness. Because genetics influences both personality and illness, we studied by literature review the genes that illness and personality traits share and, by office assessment, our patient population's illnesses and personality traits. This led to the following hypothesis: illness is related to more Submissive than Dominant personality trait and thus to lower norepinephrine activity. Patient affect and personality are often noted to be subdued in chronic illness, but whether from cause or effect is difficult to determine. After reviewing the literature on wellness, personality and genes, we endeavored to explore and better delineate our impressions of illness and personality relationships and to set the stage for a genetic hypothesis by using an online personality test in an ob-gyn practice to determine which traits could be used as proxies for personality trait genes. We thus confirmed our clinical impression that women with psychiatric and/or medical illness have more Submissive personality. The medical literature on gene markers shared by Submissive personality and illness in our population suggests the hypothesis that this relationship could be mediated by genetically lower neurotransmitter activity. Both norepinephrine activity and monoamine oxidase A, the enzyme controlling its catabolism, are in concert to blunt neuronal activity in such diverse states as depression, asthma, obesity, autoimmune illness, and in smokers. Conversely, norepinephrine activity is enhanced in breastfeeders and in other settings known to be related to good health. A point for possible divergence from the hypothesis is that African-Americans have enhanced norepinephrine activity yet poorer health outcomes although the effect of environmental risk factors in African-Americans is considered prominent by researchers. The possible importance of this hypothesis is that it changes emphasis slightly from one of splitting diagnoses to one of grouping them to achieve fresh insight. If we assess what is found in common in diverse illnesses of mind and body, we have yet another tool to assess causation. Although this hypothesis is offered somewhat in a boldness of spirit to take a new look at our many perplexing clinical problems, it is also offered with humility in light of the complexity with which we deal in patient care.

Cardiovascular functioning, personality, and the social world: the domain of hierarchical power

The present paper considers connections between cardiovascular functioning (i.e., disease status and acute stress responses) and social dominance, and its counterpart, social submissiveness, both of which are part of the broader domain of "hierarchical power" [Bugental, D.B., 2000. Acquisition of the algorithms of social life: a domain-based approach. Psychological Bulletin 126, 187-219]. Empirical research on connections between dominance/submissiveness and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in humans is reviewed, as is research on dominance/submissiveness and cardiovascular reactivity to, and recovery from, acute stressors. Three general conclusions are established. First, in both cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations, trait and behavioral indicators of dominance have been positively associated with cardiovascular disease severity, incidence, and progression, whereas preliminary evidence from two studies suggests that trait submissiveness may protect against poorer disease outcomes. Second, among men and women, trait dominance is associated with reactivity to and recovery from acute stressors, particularly social challenges. Third, linkages between dominance/submissiveness and cardiovascular functioning, especially cardiovascular reactivity, are characterized by gender-specific patterning, and this patterning emerges as a function of social context. Implications for the next generation of research concerning social dominance, gender, and cardiovascular functioning are discussed.

Effects of social anxiety and evaluative threat on cardiovascular responses to active performance situations

This study investigated the joint influence of trait social anxiety and evaluative threat on psychological and cardiovascular responses to active coping situations. Fifty-two normotensive female students characterized as either high or low in trait social anxiety performed a mental arithmetic task and a speech task requiring persuasive behavior in a context of high or low evaluative threat. Trait social anxiety exerted a substantial influence on cardiovascular reactivity. High socially anxious individuals overall exhibited greater heart rate reactivity. For systolic and diastolic blood pressure enhanced reactivity of socially anxious individuals was confined to low evaluative threat. At high levels of evaluative threat no group differences were observed due to somewhat attenuated reactivity in high compared to low socially anxious individuals. Cognitive appraisals and affective arousal were not found to mediate the effects of social anxiety on cardiovascular reactivity. Results were attributed to differences in effort expenditure rather than experienced anxiety.