Abstract
This research analyzed the association between relational quality, the use of evolutionary meta-emotions (sadness, surprise, anger, and jealousy), imagined interaction (II) discrepancy, and measures of cardiovascular arousal as measured through heart rate and blood pressure. A meta-emotion interview was conducted with husbands and wives about their philosophies of communicating emotions. A series of hypotheses were tested. Wives would reveal that they communicated a wider variety of evolutionary emotions than husbands and relational quality would be associated with fewer II discrepancies. Finally, the expression of evolutionary emotions (surprise, sadness, jealousy, and anger) would be associated with higher cardiovascular arousal. We used latent growth curve modeling to test the effect of discussing the basic emotions on mean arterial pressure and heart rate. Results revealed partial support for various hypotheses. The findings are discussed in terms of prototypical emotion functions and the association with cardiovascular arousal.
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Honeycutt, J.M. On the Correspondence Between Meta-Emotions, Cardiovascular Arousal, and Imagined Interaction Discrepancy. Evolutionary Psychological Science 6, 82–91 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00212-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00212-1