When enhanced awareness threatens: Interactive effects of domain‐specific awareness and acceptance manipulations on cardiovascular indices of challenge and threat

• Published in: Psychophysiology 2021-01, Vol.58 (1), p.e13697-n/a
• Main Authors: Manigault, Andrew W., Peters, Brett J., Zoccola, Peggy M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: acceptance; awareness; cardiovascular; Cardiovascular system; Heart; Mindfulness; Motivation; reactivity; Scandals; Stress response; threat; Young adults
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13697

Mindfulness includes acceptance and awareness subcomponents, and emerging theories imply that cultivating both acceptance and awareness may benefit health by diminishing stress reactivity. Yet, no prior work has examined the effects of mindful acceptance and awareness on cardiovascular markers of threat and challenge—cardiac output and total peripheral resistance—despite the unique insights these indices yield into stress‐related evaluations and motivation. The current research integrates Monitor and Acceptance Theory with the Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat to elucidate how an awareness manipulation and a brief acceptance training are associated with cardiovascular stress responses underlying states of challenge and threat. Healthy young adults (N = 202) were enrolled in a 2 × 2 between‐subjects experimental design manipulating both awareness (enhanced awareness vs. no enhanced awareness) and acceptance (acceptance training vs. no acceptance training) of physiological responses to a social‐evaluative cold pressor test. Cardiovascular indices were recorded throughout. The combination of enhanced awareness and acceptance training led to higher cardiac output and lower total peripheral resistance (indexing greater challenge, less threat) to the cold pressor test than the combination of enhanced awareness and no acceptance training. However, the combination of no enhanced awareness and no acceptance training also led to higher cardiac output and lower total peripheral resistance than the combination of enhanced awareness and no acceptance training. These results add to a growing body of work suggesting that mindful awareness and acceptance subcomponents interact to influence stress reactivity and imply that enhanced stressor awareness without acceptance may lead to increased threat. This study is the first to test the interactive effects of acceptance training and enhanced awareness of a social evaluative cold pressor test on cardiovascular indices of psychological challenge and threat. Results imply that increased stressor awareness without acceptance training led to cardiovascular response profiles indicative of psychological threat. The present study contributes to the literature by evaluating predictions of emerging mindfulness theories in the frame of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat.