Affect Intensity and Cardiac Arousal

Relationships between affect intensity and basal, evoked, and perceived cardiac arousal were investigated in 3 experiments. Affect intensity was assessed using Larsen and Diener's (1987) Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). Cardiac arousal was evoked with exercise in the 1st study and with mental ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1992-07, Vol.63 (1), p.164-174
Main Authors: Blascovich, Jim, Brennan, Kelly, Tomaka, Joe, Kelsey, Robert M, Hughes, Pamela, Coad, Mary Lou, Adlin, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
Affectivity. Emotion
Arousal
Biological and medical sciences
Cardiovascular System
Emotional Responses
Exercise
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heart
Heart Rate
Human
Humans
Internal-External Control
Perception
Personality. Affectivity
Physiological Arousal
Posture
Psychological Stress
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sexual behavior
Social research
Temperament
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Summary:Relationships between affect intensity and basal, evoked, and perceived cardiac arousal were investigated in 3 experiments. Affect intensity was assessed using Larsen and Diener's (1987) Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). Cardiac arousal was evoked with exercise in the 1st study and with mental arithmetic in the 2nd and 3rd. Perceived cardiac arousal was measured under optimal conditions using a standard heartbeat discrimination procedure. Women as a group scored higher on the AIM. Affect intensity was unrelated to basal or evoked cardiac arousal and was negatively related to perceived cardiac arousal in all 3 studies. Data suggest that affect intensity, although unrelated to actual physiological arousal, is negatively related to the accuracy with which individuals perceive their own arousal. Results are discussed within the context of an expanded arousal-regulation model ( Blascovich, 1990 ).
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.63.1.164