Sociotropy, autonomy, and dysphoric emotional responses to specific classes of stress: A psychophysiological evaluation

The aim of this study was to assess the ability of trait measures of sociotropy and autonomy to predict immediate emotional responses to imagery conditions depicting social rejection and achievement failure. Emotional responses were assessed by self-report techniques and by 2 putative psychophysiological measures of dysphoric mood: heart rate and facial muscle activity. Undergraduate volunteers (N = 100) were assessed for sociotropic and autonomous traits, general levels of depression, and sensory imagery ability, before performing a series of imagery trials depicting neutral and stressful (social rejection and achievement failure) scenes. Results provided support for the role of sociotropy as a vulnerability factor to dysphoric response to social rejection and to a lesser degree for achievement failure, but there was no support for autonomy as a vulnerability factor for either type of stressful script.