CYNICAL HOSTILITY INFLUENCES ANGER, BUT NOT CARDIOVASCULAR REACTIVITYDURING COMPETITION WITH HARASSMENT

Cynical hostility has been linked to coronary heart disease (CHD), and there is mixed support for the hypothesis that cynical hostility may contribute to CHD through exaggerated cardiovascular responses to ange r-provoking stressors. The present study tested the influences of cyni cal hostility on affective and cardiovascular responses to provocation in 68 undergraduate men. Subjects were divided into high and low cyni cal hostility groups by a median split on Cook-Medley Hostility Scale scores, and half of the subjects in each group were harassed during co mpetition on a video game. High hostile subjects reported greater ange r than low hostile subjects during the competition, independently of h arassment, and harassment produced stronger feelings of mistreatment, independently of hostility. Harassed subjects experienced larger systo lic blood pressure responses only during an affect rating period after the competition, but the responses were not influenced by hostility. These findings provide further evidence that cynical hostility, anger, and cardiovascular reactivity are not simply nor consistently related .