The Effects of an Aversive Auditory Stimulus on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Emotional Reactivity Based on Personality (Introversion/Extraversion) to Predict Self-Rated Health

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the emotional and physiological reactivity of an aversive, 60-second, auditory stimulus compared to a 60-second control stimulus as a function of extraversion. Blood pressure, heart rate, and current emotional state were measure pre and post stimulus. The changes in the participants’ scores on a self-rated emotional inventory provided a measure of emotional reactivity for this study. A measure of extraversion categorized participants accordingly and differences between these groups were analyzed. A measure of self-rated health was given and possible reasons for differences between groups are discussed. There were a total of 74 participants in this study. Based on a mean split of Eysenck Extraversion scores at 63.53, 32 (43.2%) participants fell into the extraversion group and 42 (56.8%) participants fell into the introversion group. The data were analyzed using mixed-measures ANOVAs. There were two significant findings: higher heart rates were recorded for the introversion group both pre and post stimulus, and the introversion group rated lower on the Self-Rated Health assessment.