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Cognitive Bias of Interpretation in Type D Personality: Associations with Physiological Indices of Arousal

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Abstract

It is argued that the Type D person experiences increased distress when encountering social situations, which results in altered stress responding. However, little is known about how Type D individuals behave or feel during social interactions. Using a within-subjects design, the present study examined the physiological arousal of Type D and non-Type D individuals when rating how they would deal with a number of hypothetical social situations. Results showed that across all social situations, Type D individuals experienced greater levels of discomfort. In clearly negative and ambiguously neutral situations, this was paired with higher pulse rate. This study shows that the Type D individual not only reports greater discomfort but also experiences changes physiologically that support the role of the cardiovascular system as a potential psychosomatic pathway to disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Siobhán Howard & Adam O’Riordan

  2. Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Siobhán Howard

  3. Department of Psychology, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Michelle Nolan

Authors
  1. Siobhán Howard
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  2. Adam O’Riordan
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  3. Michelle Nolan
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Correspondence to Siobhán Howard.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Howard, S., O’Riordan, A. & Nolan, M. Cognitive Bias of Interpretation in Type D Personality: Associations with Physiological Indices of Arousal. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 43, 193–201 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-018-9397-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-018-9397-1

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