Social-Evaluative Threat, Self-Conscious Emotions, and Cortisol Reactivity

越来越多的经验证据表明，社会评价性压力源会引起自我意识情绪和皮质醇的增加，而这些生理变化可能取决于自我意识状态的体验（例如，羞耻）。本研究在几个重要方面扩展了以往的理论和研究。研究1将通过在社会评价压力源任务前启动特定情绪（自我意识情绪和比较消极情绪）来实验测试自我意识情绪/皮质醇关联的特异性。在研究2中，对社会评价压力源的反应将在实验室内外进行评估（在实验室中使用标准化的社会评价压力源和现场的日常乳制品方法）。这将测试自然发生的社会评价，拒绝的情况是否会引起自我意识的情绪和皮质醇反应（反映实验室的发现）。综上所述，这些研究将使我们能够更好地理解能够引发皮质醇反应的特定社会背景（在自然发生的情况下和在实验室中），并进一步阐明这些生理变化的情感基础。重要的是，因为持续的、慢性的皮质醇系统激活被认为会对健康产生负面影响，所以反复激活皮质醇系统？就像长期的社会评价威胁一样？可能使个人容易受到这些有害健康后果的影响。可能是那些认为自己的社会排斥或对社会排斥特别敏感的人特别有可能表现出这些负面的健康影响。那些遭受长期社会评价威胁的人也可能表现出这些健康脆弱性。拟议的研究是重要的，并将突出重要的因素（例如，社会评价威胁），情绪（例如，羞耻和相关状态），和个人（即，那些长期经历社会评价情况）设计干预压力相关疾病时的目标。

A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that social evaluative stressors elicit increases in self-conscious emotions and cortisol, and that these physiological changes may hinge on the experience of a self-conscious state (e.g., shame). The proposed research extends previous theory and research in several important ways. Study 1 will experimentally test the specificity of the self-conscious emotion/cortisol association by priming specific emotions (self-conscious emotion and comparison negative emotions) prior to a social-evaluative stressor task. In Study 2, responses to social-evaluative stressors will be assessed both inside and outside of the laboratory (using a standardized social-evaluative stressor in the lab and daily dairy methodology in the field). This will test whether naturally-occurring social-evaluative, rejecting situations elicit self-conscious emotional and cortisol responses (mirroring the laboratory findings). Taken together, the studies will enable us to better understand the specific social contexts capable of eliciting cortisol reactivity (in naturally-occurring situations and in the laboratory), and further elucidate the emotional underpinnings of these physiological changes. Importantly, because consistent, chronic activation of the cortisol system is thought to lead to negative effects on health, repeated activation of the cortisol system ? as may be experienced under chronic social-evaluative threat ? could leave individuals vulnerable to these detrimental health outcomes. It may be that individuals who appraise their social world as rejecting or are particularly sensitive to social rejection could be especially likely to show these negative health effects. Those who experience chronic social-evaluative threat could also demonstrate these health vulnerabilities. The proposed research is important and will highlight important factors (e.g., social-evaluative threat), emotions (e.g., shame and related states), and individuals (i.e., those chronically experiencing social-evaluative situations) to target when designing interventions for stress-related disease.