WEEPING PROPENSITY AND THE EFFECTS OF LABORATORY EXPRESSION OR INHIBITION

Theories of emotional weeping indicate that expression through tears i s healthy, but laboratory research has produced mixed results. Fifty w omen viewed a sad videotape under instructions to either express or in hibit dying. Mood and stress levels were measured before and after vie wing, and skin conductance was monitored continuously. Subjects also r eported their crying frequency in the past month. A median split on cr ying intensify divided subjects into two groups; subjects included in analyses were those in the expression condition who reported strong re actions, and those in the inhibition condition who did not. Thirty-fiv e participants fit these categories. The results indicated that moods became more negative from pre- to postmovie for both groups. Skin cond uctance, or arousal level, was higher at the end of the movie in the i nhibition than in the expression condition. On the stress measure, con dition and natural crying propensity interacted so that subjects with the highest stress levels were those whose behavior in the study was i nconsistent with their natural tendencies. The results are discussed i n the context of earlier research on behavioral inhibition and emotion al regulation.