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FOR BETTER OR WORSE? SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY BY DAVID JAMES YORK A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1993 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS thank Anthony Greene, my advisor. He has contributed I significantly to my development as a scientist-practitioner by collaborating on projects of mutual interest, providing many material resources with which to conduct this project, and guiding me with optimum levels of constructive criticism. I also thank Peter Lang, Margaret Bradley, and Bruce Cuthbert for their extensive contributions to my development as a psychophysiological researcher. Despite my shift in professional orientation, I continue to respect and admire their rigorous scientific expertise. additionally thank Hugh Davis, Keith Berg, Rus Bauer, I and James Algina, all of whom took the time to become involved in this project, and with whom I have been especially fortunate to have studied with and learned from. I thank Samel Celebi for his tutorial in PASCAL and generous guidance with his hardware troubleshooting skills, Christine Freeman for performing above and beyond the call of duty as my research assistant, and Renee Melancon for her amazing job soliciting and scheduling subjects for this project. Finally, I thank my parents, Frank and Susan, who have provided me with the exceptional support that has allowed me to achieve aspirations such as this, and my brothers, Greg, Chris, and Carl for their support and friendship. ii . TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii ABSTRACT ix CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Theories of Social Facilitation 2 The Mere Presence Hypothesis 2 Non-Drive Theory Alternatives 5 Drive Theory Alternatives 6 Learning Modulates Social Presence Effects 12 The Psychophysiology of Social Facilitation 15 Arousal is Multifactorial 16 Early Psychophysiological Studies 18 The Reactivity Hypothesis 19 Testing the Reactivity Hypothesis 22 The Startle Blink as a Measure of Motivational State 24 Experimental Problem 27 Experimental Hypotheses 28 Preexisting Anxiety Levels 28 Verbal Report of Emotion, Safety & Trust... 28 Baseline Levels of Physiological Activity. 29 Phasic Heart Rate Responding 29 iii . Phasic Skin Conductance Responding 29 Blink Responding to Startle Probes 3 Anagram Performance 3 The Interaction of Preexisting Anxiety Levels and Social Presence Conditions 31 METHODS 32 Subjects 32 Apparatus 32 Heart Rate 32 Skin Conductance 32 Startle Blink 33 Stimuli 33 Procedure 34 Data Reduction and Analysis 38 Preexisting Anxiety Levels 38 Verbal Report of Emotion, Safety and Trust. 38 Baseline Levels of Physiological Activity. 39 Phasic Heart Rate Responding 40 Phasic Skin Conductance Responding 40 Blink Responding to Startle Probes 42 Anagram Performance 43 The Interaction of Preexisting Anxiety Levels and Social Presence Conditions. 44 Manipulation Check 45 IV . RESULTS 46 : Preexisting Anxiety Levels 46 Verbal Report of Emotion, Safety, and Trust 46 Baseline Levels of Physiological Activity 48 Phasic Heart Rate Responding 48 Overall Responding Across Time 48 Differences Among Conditions 50 Phasic Skin Conductance Responding 52 Overall Responding Across Time 52 Differences Among Conditions 54 Blink Responding to Startle Probes 56 Anagram Performance 57 : The Interaction of Preexisting Anxiety Levels and Social Presence Conditions 59 Manipulation Check 60 DISCUSSION 61 The Presence of a Friend Increases Appetitive Motivation 61 The Company of Strangers is Not Always Aversive 66 A Revised Reactivity Model 68 Implications for the Mere Presence and Distraction-Conflict Models 69 Implications for the Social Support Construct. 71 . Physiological Variables as Indices of Motivation 72 Summary and Conclusion 72 REFERENCES 75 APPENDICES A ANOVA & ANCOVA TABLES FOR VERBAL RATINGS 81 B ANOVA TABLES FOR BASELINE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY 84 C ANCOVA TABLES FOR PHASIC HEART RATE RESPONDING.. 87 D ANCOVA TABLES FOR PHASIC SKIN CONDUCTANCE RESPONDING 91 E ANCOVA TABLES FOR BLINK RESPONDING 101 F ANAGRAM SOLUTIONS, MEAN OVERALL ACCURACY, AND RANKINGS 102 G ANOVA TABLES FOR ANAGRAM ACCURACY 103 H PROCEDURE FOR TESTING THE INTERACTION OF PREEXISTING ANXIETY LEVELS & SOCIAL PRESENCE CONDITIONS 105 I INTERVALS BETWEEN ORIENTING & STARTLE STIMULI... Ill J INSTRUCTIONS AND EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL 112 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 117 VI LIST OF TABLES Page TABLE 1 Mean Preexisting Anxiety Levels by Condition 47 TABLE Correlations Between Anxiety Levels 2 and Verbal Ratings 47 TABLE 3 Mean Verbal Ratings by Condition 47 TABLE 4 Skin Conductance Response Frequency and Amplitude to First Orienting Tone by Condition 55 TABLE 5 Correlations Between Anxiety and Physiological Reactivity 59 TABLE 6 Belief Ratings by Condition 60 TABLE 7 Verbal, Physiological, and Performance Findings 62 VII . LIST OF FIGURES Page FIGURE 1 Overall Cardiac Responding Across Time.... 49 FIGURE 2 Cardiac Responding to Orienting Tones by Condition 51 FIGURE 3 Overall SCR Frequency Across Time 53 FIGURE 4 Startle Eyeblink Magnitude by Condition. 56 . FIGURE 5 Performance Accuracy on Anagram Task 58 vm Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy FOR BETTER OR WORSE? SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY By David James York August, 1993 Chair: Hugh Davis, Ph.D. Cochair: Anthony F. Greene, Ph.D. Major Department: Clinical and Health Psychology Social facilitation describes the enhancement or impairment of an individual's performance by the simple presence of other species mates. Recent psychophysiological studies suggest that previous theories of social facilitation may represent sufficient but unnecessary explanations. In light of such findings, investigators have recently proposed that social facilitation effects are mediated by increases in physiological reactivity which occur when the presence of one or more species mates is perceived as a threat to any valued resource, whether it is physical or social. This reactivity model also predicts that physiological responsivity to stressors will be diminished when the presence of other species mates is perceived to enhance control over resources. Cardiac, IX electrodermal, and blink responses were measured from subjects who were either alone, in the presence of a friend, or in the presence of a stranger while passively waiting to begin an experiment which they believed might involve mildly painful radiant heat stimulation. Subjects performed ratings of emotion, safety and trust, were presented with two series of acoustic probes designed to elicit orienting and startle responses, then solved a series of 25 anagrams which ranged from easy to difficult and served ostensibly as the experimental task. The presence of a friend produced a distinct pattern of verbal, physiological and performance responses that indicated the activation of an appetitive motivational set. However, the presence of a stranger did not activate an anxious motivational set. The stranger's stimulus value may have been modified by the presence of physical threat or by perceptions of the stranger as cooperative. These findings are consistent with a modified reactivity model in which it is hypothesized that the presence of species mates associated with punishment or frustration activates an anxious-inhibitory motivational system, while the presence of species mates associated with reward or escape from punishment activates an active- appetitive motivational system.