CORTISOL, AROUSAL, AND PERSONALITY IN 2 GROUPS OF NORMAL MEN

The relationship of the adrenal hormone cortisol to arousal and personality was examined among 102 male college students and 4462 male military veterans. Students high in cortisol had high heart rates, and NEO-PI scores showed them to be anxious and depressed, solitary, and appreciative of fantasy, aesthetics, ideas, and values. Veterans high in cortisol had high heart rates and high systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and MMPI scores showed them to be anxious, depressed, introverted, masculine, and not manic. Results were consistent with the notion that high levels of cortisol are associated with high arousal, which is debilitating and leads subjects to avoid the further arousal that would come from encounters with novel persons and events. However, the sizes of the effects were small, especially among MMPI scores for the veterans. © 1990.