COMPARISON OF 3 THEORIES RELATING FACIAL EXPRESSIVENESS TO BLOOD-PRESSURE IN MALE AND FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES

We examined differing predictions of how emotional expressions and blo od pressure are related. Spontaneous positive and negative facial expr essions, resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), and reactive SBP were each measured for 148 male and female undergraduates. The discharge th eory of emotions proposes that few expressions will predict higher bas eline SBP, and this was found for men. A mismatch theory of emotions p roposes that an imbalance between positive and negative expressions wi ll predict higher baseline SBP, and this was supported for women. Fina lly, coactivation theory proposes that many expressions will predict h igher reactive SBP, and this was found for both men and women. These r esults reconcile previous conflicting findings by clarifying the condi tions under which each of these theories may be supported.