Nonverbal dominance behavior among individuals at risk for mania

Social dominance and multiple dimensions of psychopathology: An experimental test of reactivity to leadership and subordinate roles

Background

Theory and research suggest that social dominance is important for multiple forms of psychopathology, and yet few studies have considered multiple dimensions of psychopathology simultaneously, and relatively few have used well-validated behavioral indices.

Method

Among 81 undergraduates, we used a well-validated experimental approach of assigning participants to a leadership or subordinate position, and we examined how self-rated severity of depression, social anxiety, manic tendencies, and psychopathy relate to psychophysiological and affective reactivity to this role.

Results

Consistent with hypotheses, manic symptoms related to more discomfort in the subordinate role compared to the leadership role, as evidenced by more decline in positive affect, more discomfort, and a larger RSA decline, while depression symptoms related to a more positive response to the subordinate role than the leadership role, including more positive affect and more comfort in the assigned role. Social anxiety was related to discomfort regardless of the assigned role, and those with higher psychopathy symptoms did not show differential response to assigned roles.

Limitations

Findings are limited by the mild symptom levels and absence of hormonal data.

Conclusions

Findings provide novel transdiagnostic evidence for the importance of social dominance to differentiate diverse forms of psychopathology.

Explaining interpersonal difficulty via implicit and explicit personality correlates of mania risk

BACKGROUND

Mania is associated with social conflict, reduced social support, and reduced social interaction quality (Breyer et al., 2003; Coryell et al., 1998; Morriss et al., 2007). Chronic stress in interpersonal relationships is related to the worsening of mood symptoms (Kim et al., 2007), suggesting the importance of characterizing the mechanism of interpersonal relationship disruption in bipolar disorder. The current study was designed to investigate exaggerated dominance tendencies present in at-risk individuals (Gardner, 1982; Wilson and Price, 2006), which may represent one such mechanism.

METHODS

Sixty-nine University undergraduate participants (50.7% female, 22 categorized as high mania risk) completed an implicit measure of power motivation and series of self-report questionnaires designed to assess dominance-relevant traits.

RESULTS

Risk for mania was related to a tendency to experience contempt, and an implicit index of dominance tendencies, and also to trait-like tendencies to experience pride, perceptions of being more powerful and influential across relationships,.

LIMITATIONS

Use of an undergraduate population and a dimensional measure of mania risk (rather than diagnosed individuals) are limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

Mania risk is tied not only to the pursuit of dominance, but also to beliefs and actions consistent with a sense of power. Current findings provide evidence that the dominance system profile observed in those at risk for mania could be one source of interpersonal problems.