Abstract
Individual differences in catecholamine response to stress and ethanol were tested in extraverts and introverts on the basis of Eysenck's drug postulate claiming that introverts would be less susceptible to sedative drugs like ethanol. Forty-four healthy males received either 0.8 g/kg ethanol mixed into a drink of caffeine-free cola or a respective placebo and were tested with a stressful mental arithmetic task before and 40 min after the intake of the drink. Plasma catecholamines were determined from blood samples drawn at five defined intervals from an indwelling cannula and self-ratings on deactivation, relaxation, and anxiety were obtained as well as quality and quantity of performance in the arithmetic task. Results showed that there was no difference in catecholamine stress responses between introverts (Ex −) and extraverts (Ex +) before the drink, but that the intake of the fluid (both ethanol and placebo) resulted in higher norepinephrine (NE) increases in Ex − than in Ex +. The combined effects of ethanol and stress yielded larger responses of longer durations in Ex− than in Ex +. The concomitant psychological changes showed larger reductions in anxiety and increases in relaxation as well as larger decrements in quality of performance (% errors) in introverts in spite of their higher catecholamine increases. Thus, the predictions on the basis of arousal theory could not be verified experimentally and the drug postulate has to be modified in the sense that introverts probably have a higher depletion of NE in the central nervous system under physical but not under mental stress which is reflected by higher levels in the plasma and respective decreases in performance and activation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ballenger JC, Post RM, Jimmerson DC, Lake CR, Murphy DL, Zuckerman M, Cronin C (1983) Biochemical correlates of personality traits in normals: an exploratory study. Person Indiv Diff 4:615–625
Cannon L, Gonzales A, Sanchez-Turet M (1979) Influence of the introversion-extraversion parameter of personality on the effects of alcohol on reaction times. An Psicol 20:23–34
Deitrich RA, Pawlowski AA (1990) Initial sensitivity to alcohol. Research Monograph 20, US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC
DeTurck KH, Vogel WH (1980) Factors influencing plasma catecholamine levels in rats during immobilization. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 13:129–131
DeTurck KH, Vogel WH (1982) Effects of acute ethanol on plasma and brain catecholamine levels in stressed and unstressed rats: evidence for an ethanol-stress interaction. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 223:348–354
Düker H, Lienert GA (1965) Der Konzentrationsleistungstest (KLT). Hogrefe, Göttingen
Ekeberg O, Kjeldsen SE, Greenwood DT, Enger E (1990) Correlations between psychological and physiological responses to acute flight phobia. Scandi J Clin Lab Invest 50:671–677
Eysenck HJ (1957) Drugs and personality I: theory and methodology. J Ment Sci 103:119–131
Eysenck HJ, Eysenck SBG (1975) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Hodder & Stoughton, London
Franks CM (1967) The use of alcohol in the investigation of drug-personality postulates. In Fox R (ed) Alcoholism, behavioral research, therapeutic approaches Springer, New York, pp 55–79
Friedman M, Byers SO, Diamant J, Rosenman R (1975) PLasma catecholamine response in coronary prone subjects (type A) to a specific challenge. Metabolism 24:205–210
Haertzen CA, Miner EJ (1965) Effect of alcohol on the Guilford-Zimmerman Scales of extraversion. J Person Soc Psychol 1:333–336
Hoffmann H, Loper R, Kammeier ML (1974) Identifying future alcoholics with MMPI alcoholism scales. Q J Stud Alcohol 35:490–498
Kuriyama K, Kanmori K, Yoneda Y (1984) Preventive effect of alcohol against stress-induced alteration in content of monoamines in brain and adrenal gland. Neuropharmacology 23:649–654
Livezey GN, Balabkins N, Vogel WH (1987) The effect of ethanol (alcohol) and stress on plasma catecholamine levels in individual female and male rats. Neuropsychobiology 17:193–198
Lundberg U (1983) Sex differences in behavior pattern and catecholamine and cortisol excretion in 3–6 year old day-care children. Biol Psychol 16:109–117
Mc Murray RG, Hardy CJ, Roberts S, Forsythe WA, Mar MH (1989) Neuroendocrine responses of type A individuals to exercise. Behav Med 15:84–92
Meyer-Bahlburg HFL, Strobach H (1971) Katecholaminausscheidung in Beziehung zu Persönlichkeits- und Leistungsvariablen (The relationship between excretion of catecholamines, personality, and performance). Z Psychol 179:331–367
Munkelt P, Lienert GA, Frahm M, Soehring K (1962) Geschlechtsspezifische Wirkungsunterschiede der Kombination von Alkohol und Meprobamat auf psychisch stabile und labile Versuchspersonen (Sex differences in the combined effect of ethanol and meprobamate in subjects of low and high emotional stability). Arzneimittelforschung 12:1059–1065
Myrtek M, Greenlee MW (1984) Psychophysiology of type A behavior pattern: a critical analysis. J Psychosom Res 28:455–466
Natelson BH, Deroshia C, Adamus J, Finnegan MB, Levin BE (1983) Relations between visceral and behavioral function in men at bedrest. Pavlov J Biol Sci 18,161–168
Nesse RM, Curtis GC, Thyer BA, Mc Cann DS, Huber-Smith MJ, Knopf RF (1985) Endocrine and cardiovascular responses during phobic anxiety. Psychosom Med 47:320–327
Netter P (1991) Do biochemical response patterns tell us anything about trait anxiety? In: Spielberger CD, Sarason IG (eds) Stress and emotion, Vol. 14. pp 187–213
Patel VA, Pohorecki LA (1988) Interaction of stress and ethanol: effect on beta-endorphin and catecholamines. Alcoholism 12:785–788
Pohorecki LA, Rassi E, Weiss JM, Michalak V (1980) Biochemical evidence for an interaction of ethanol and stress: preliminary studies. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 4:423–426
Roy A, De Jong J, Linnoila M (1989) Extraversion in pathological gamblers. Correlates with indexes of noradrenergic function. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:679–681
Salmon P, Pearce S, Smith CC, Manyande A, Heys A, Peters N, Rashid J (1989) Anxiety, type A personality and endocrine responses to surgery. Br J Clin Psychol 28:279–280
Shagass C (1954) The sedation threshold. A method for estimating tension in psychiatric patients. EEG Clin Neurophysiol 6:221–223
Sher KJ, Levenson RW (1982) Risk for alcoholism and individual differences in the stress-response-dampening effect of alcohol. J Abnorm Psychol 91:350–368
Sher KJ, Levenson RW (1983) Alcohol and tension reduction: the importance of individual differences. In: Pohorecki LA, Brick J (eds) Stress and alcohol use Elsevier, New York, pp 121–134
Sher KJ, Walitzer KS (1986) Individual differences in the stress-response-dampening effect of alcohol: a dose-response study. J Anorm Psychol 95/2:159–167
Shirao I, Tsuda A, Ida Y, Tsujimaru S, Satoh H, Oguchi M, Tanaka M, Inanaga K (1988) Effect of acute ethanol administration on noradrenaline metabolism in brain regions of stressed and nonstressed rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 30(3):769–773
Vaillant GE, Milofsky ES (1982) The etiology of alcoholism. Am Psychol 37:494–503
Vogel WH, De Turck K (1983) Effects of alcohol on plasma and brain catecholamines in stressed and unstressed rats. In: Pohorecky L, Brick J (eds) Stress and alcohol use Elsevier, New York, pp 429–459
Vogel WH, Netter P (1989) Effect of ethanol and stress on plasma catecholamines and their relation to changes in emotional state and performance. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 13:284–290
Vogel WH, Netter P (1990) The effect of ethanol on stress-induced tachycardia. Arch Psychol 142:9–24
Yerkes RM, Dodson JD (1908) The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. J Comp Neurol Psychol 18:459–482
Zeichner A, Feuerstein M, Swartzman L, Reznick E (1983) Acute effects of alcohol on cardiovascular reactivity to stress in type A (coronary prone) businessmen. In: Pohorecky LA, Brick J (eds) Stress and alcohol use Plenum, New York, pp 353–368
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Netter, P., Vogel, W. & Rammsayer, T. Extraversion as a modifying factor in catecholamine and behavioral responses to ethanol. Psychopharmacology 115, 206–212 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02244773
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02244773