TASK-INDUCED CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY AND THE PRESENCE OF A SUPPORTIVEOR UNDERMINING OTHER

In order to examine the effects of positive and negative social intera ction on task-induced cardiovascular activity, 90 undergraduates were allocated to one of three conditions: alone; with a confederate who of fered support of subjects' judgements; with a confederate who disagree d with subject' judgements. In each of the 16 problem trials of the ta sk, subjects had to indicate which of a series of cubist paintings was painted by the same artist as a target painting. Confederates were re presented as possessing expert knowledge. Confederates offering positi ve support explicitly confirmed subjects' answers on 14 of the 16 prob lems and made other supportive comments; disagreeing confederates gave different answers to the subjects on 14 of the 16 problems and made o ther dismissive comments. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and h eart rate, were monitored at pre-task baseline, and during the task. A verage task values were compared across conditions using ANCOVA, with baseline as the covariate. A significant effect of conditions emerged for heart rate; the negative, undermining condition provoked higher HR than the alone condition. Subjects in the positive confederate condit ion reported more support than those with the negative confederate.