Individual Differences in Physiological Responses to Fearful, Racially Noxious, and Neutral Imagery

Abstract

Mental imagery has recently emerged as an alternative to traditional laboratory stressors in psychophysiological studies. The present study assessed physiological responsivity to fearful, neutral, and racially noxious image scenes in sixty-two black women. In addition, the utility of several personality variables for predicting physiological changes in response to the scenes was assessed. Thirty-one vivid and thirty-one non-vivid imagers participated in a preliminary session during which they were given progressive relaxation training and were instructed to image an event on cue. On a separate occasion physiological responses to the scenes were assessed. Findings indicated that the fearful and racially noxious scenes elicited comparable increases in corrugator and heart rate activity. The neutral scene had a less pronounced effect on heart rate and corrugator activity than the other scenes. Results of multiple regression analyses in which personality variables served as predictors of physiological activity revealed that certain dimensions of the Type A coronary prone behavior pattern and trait anxiety were significant predictors of physiological reactivity. These predictors were most effective where a conceptual link between the content of the scenes and the specific dimensions was identifiable. The results suggest that the imagery paradigm is useful for studying the effects of complex social stressful situations akin to those growing out of racism. They also underscore the potentially facilitory role personality assessment may have in pinpointing sources of variability in response to this form of laboratory stress.