Cognitive appraisal, emotional and cardiovascular responses of high and low dominant subjects in active performance situations

This study assessed the influence of trait dominance on psychological and cardiovascular effects of active coping conditions. Seventy-two normotensive male students categorized as either high or low in trait dominance engaged in Mental Arithmetic and two interpersonal tasks requiring persuasive behavior: Preparation and Performance of a Speech, Role-played Interpersonal Interactions. Tasks varied in their impact on cardiovascular activity with interpersonal challenges eliciting markedly greater blood pressure increases than mental arithmetic. Trait dominance overall exerted a moderating influence on active coping effects. High dominant subjects displayed higher increases in systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure but lower diastolic responses than low dominant subjects. These cardiovascular effects seem to indicate greater task engagement and more active coping attempts in dominant subjects. Intra-task correlations of cardiovascular response measures are consistent with this interpretation. Results on cognitive appraisals seem to suggest that cardiovascular response differences were partly determined by appraised coping efficacy. Task appraisals were largely uncorrelated with cardiovascular responses, however.