A repressive coping style and affective, facial and physiological responses to looking at emotional pictures

Previous studies have demonstrated increased physiological-emotional respon ses despite relatively low self-reported affect for individuals with a repr essive coping style, as compared to control groups. The main question in th e current study was whether such group differences could also be demonstrat ed by using the picture perception methodology of Lang. A second question w as whether differences between these groups could be found in the habituati on of physiological and emotional responses. Repressors (n = 14), 'truly' l ow anxious participants (n = 14), and moderately high anxious participants (n = 13) were selected with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale an d the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Two sets of 27 pictures with alternati ng neutral, threatening and sexual content were presented whilst valence an d arousal ratings, skin conductance, heart rate and facial muscle responses were measured. No straightforward group differences were found. However, t he results suggest that differential habituation, and not a repressive copi ng style, may contribute to differential self-reported, facial and physiolo gical-emotional responses. (C) Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.