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Interpersonal Influence as Active Coping: Effects of Task Difficulty on Cardiovascular Reactivity
Author(s) -
Smith Timothy W.,
Baldwin Michael,
Christensen Alan J.
Publication year - 1990
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.1469-8986.1990.tb02339.x
Subject(s) - psychology , coping (psychology) , interpersonal communication , reactivity (psychology) , interpersonal interaction , task (project management) , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , medicine , alternative medicine , management , pathology , economics
This study examined the effects of attempting social influence on cardiovascular reactivity. Subjects were randomly assigned to a noncontingent reward condition or one of three conditions in which receipt of a monetary reward was contingent on their ability to influence another individual through a persuasive communication. In the contingent conditions, the task was presented as either easy, difficult, or very difficult. Measures of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate were recorded while subjects prepared and delivered the persuasive communication (contingent conditions) or reviewed and read aloud the same statement without an incentive to influence. The contingent conditions produced significantly higher levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity during preparation and speaking. Further, reactivity was higher in the difficult condition than in the easy and very difficult conditions. The findings are discussed in terms of an interpersonal equivalent of traditional active coping tasks.