Physiological and self-rated affective/cognitive responses of neurotic personality to an interpersonal stress situation

Abstract

The effects of approach by an unaquainted male to high- or low-neurotic (on the MPI scale) female subjects on physiological responses (heart rates and eye blinks) and self-rated affective/cognitive responses (tension, anxiety and apparent size of the male) were examined. (a) In the first trial, non-neurotic subjects showed an abrupt increase of HR near the personal space boundary, however showed a rapid habituation at the second and third trials. In contrast, self-rated affection (tension and anxiety) increased gradually as the male approached, and habituation was slow at the later trials. (b) Neurotic subjects displayed higher tension than nonneurotic subjects, while tension, anxiety and heart rate were less habituating. (c) INDSCAL analysis revealed that these three self-rated indices clustered together, while the physiological ones did not. (d) It was suggested that the eye blink response had a tension reducing function. © 1987, The Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.