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Experimenter and Subject Sex Effects In the Skin Conductance Response
Author(s) -
Fisher Leslie E.,
Kotses Harry
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1974.tb00838.x
Subject(s) - skin conductance , psychology , basal (medicine) , stimulus (psychology) , conductance , audiology , developmental psychology , physiology , medicine , cognitive psychology , mathematics , combinatorics , insulin , biomedical engineering
The present study was designed to determine the significance of the experimenter's sex on the subject's skin conductance responsiveness and to ascertain the nature and extent of sex differences in basal skin conductance, skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude, and spontaneous skin resistance (SRR) activity. The responses of 30 male and 30 female S s were recorded by 3 male and 3 female experimental assistants. Following a brief adaptation period, all S s received 20 5‐sec bursts of 75 dB white noise. Variable stimulus intervals were employed. Male S s serving in the female E condition evidenced significantly higher basal conductance levels and a more rapid decrease in basal conductance levels over trials. Skin resistance response magnitude data showed a significant Experimenter Sex X Trials interaction such that all S s serving in the female E condition failed to habituate. An analysis of spontaneous SRR activity showed that S s serving in the other‐sex E condition emitted more spontaneous responses. All S s showed a significant decrease in spontaneous activity across trials.