Social-evaluative threat, cognitive load, and the cortisol and cardiovascular stress response
| Autor: | Emily D. Hooker, Alex Woody, Peggy M. Zoccola, Sally S. Dickerson |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Male
endocrine system Adolescent Hydrocortisone Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Blood Pressure Cardiovascular System 050105 experimental psychology 03 medical and health sciences Young Adult 0302 clinical medicine Endocrinology Cognition Stress Physiological Humans Speech 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Set (psychology) Saliva Social Behavior Cardiovascular stress Biological Psychiatry Physiological stress Salivary cortisol Endocrine and Autonomic Systems 05 social sciences Stressor Self Concept Psychiatry and Mental health Background current Female Stress reactivity Psychology psychological phenomena and processes 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Cognitive load Stress Psychological Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | Psychoneuroendocrinology. 97 |
| ISSN: | 1873-3360 |
| Popis: | Background Current evidence suggests that exposure to social-evaluative threat (SET) can elicit a physiological stress response, especially cortisol, which is an important regulatory hormone. However, an alternative explanation of these findings is that social-evaluative laboratory tasks are more difficult, or confer greater cognitive load, than non-evaluative tasks. Thus, the current experiment tested whether social-evaluative threat, rather than cognitive load, is truly an “active ingredient” in eliciting a cortisol response to stressors. Methods Healthy undergraduate students (N = 142, 65% female) were randomly assigned to one of four speech-stressor conditions in a fully-crossed two (social-evaluative threat [SET] manipulation: non-SET versus SET) by two (cognitive load manipulation: low versus high) stressor manipulation. Social-evaluative threat was manipulated by the presence (SET) or absence (non-SET) of two evaluators, while cognitive load was manipulated by the presence (LOAD) or absence (non-LOAD) of a tone-counting task during the speech stressor. Salivary cortisol and cardiovascular measures were taken before, during, and after the speech stressor. Results Compared to the non-SET condition, SET condition led to greater cortisol and cardiovascular responses to the speech stressor. There were no main or additive effects of cognitive load on cortisol and cardiovascular responses to the speech stressor. Conclusions These findings suggest that social-evaluative threat is a central aspect of stressors that elicits a cortisol response; however we found no evidence that increased difficulty, or cognitive load, contributed to greater cardiovascular or cortisol responses to stressors. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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