Enhancing the laboratory-to-life generalizability of cardiovascular reactivity using multiple occasions of measurement

Studies examining the association between laboratory measures of stress-rel ated cardiovascular (CV) reactivity and responses to psychological challeng es in the natural environment have yielded mixed results. Frequently, singl e laboratory tasks have been used to predict responses to natural stressors on a single occasion of measurement. Because aggregation broadens the rang e of stimuli sampled and reduces measurement error, laboratory-to-life gene ralizability should be more easily detected when multiple predictor and cri terion observations are used. Sixty students in a public speaking course we re administered multitask assessments of CV reactivity during two laborator y sessions and during two in-class public speech assignments. CV responses to the classroom speeches were greater among those who showed larger respon ses in the laboratory, and these associations became stronger as measures w ere aggregated across multiple samples of behavior. These results support t he generalizability of CV reactivity as a measure of individual difference, and they help to shed light on previous inconsistent findings in this area .