Social psychological aspects of psychophysiological experimentation (sex differences and experimenter sex effects)
Social psychological aspects of psychophysiological experimentation (sex differences and experimenter sex effects)
The use of psychophysiological techniques in the investigation of social behaviour was explored. A sex difference in electrodermal reactivity, in the direction of male subjects being more reactive than females, was found in an initial experiment in social perception in which quasi-social visual stimuli were used. Attention was then focused on the psychophysiology experiment as a particular example of more general social interaction and the effects of the social environment on the physiological activity of subjects were studied. Experimenter sex was found to have significant but complex effects on the physiological activity of subjects and to interact with subject sex under some circumstances. Further, experimenter centred effects were found to persist beyond a standard rest period and to affect responsiveness as long as 20 minutes after actual social contact had ended. In addition, evaluation apprehension was found to enhance physiological responsiveness.The need for a functional distinction between tonic and phasic components of physiological activity was suggested from the electrodermal data. The model proposed by Pribram and McGuinness (1975) was adopted and used to clarify earlier results and as a framework for the discussion of the wider implications of sex differences and experimenter sex effects in physiological measures. Some methodological problems were raised. The need for social psychologists to recognize the inherent complexity of physiological concepts and for psychophysiologists to recognize the social nature of research was emphasized as a necessary precursor of any successful future developments in the field of social psychophysiology.
University of Southampton
1981
Hevey, Denise Louise
(1981)
Social psychological aspects of psychophysiological experimentation (sex differences and experimenter sex effects).
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
The use of psychophysiological techniques in the investigation of social behaviour was explored. A sex difference in electrodermal reactivity, in the direction of male subjects being more reactive than females, was found in an initial experiment in social perception in which quasi-social visual stimuli were used. Attention was then focused on the psychophysiology experiment as a particular example of more general social interaction and the effects of the social environment on the physiological activity of subjects were studied. Experimenter sex was found to have significant but complex effects on the physiological activity of subjects and to interact with subject sex under some circumstances. Further, experimenter centred effects were found to persist beyond a standard rest period and to affect responsiveness as long as 20 minutes after actual social contact had ended. In addition, evaluation apprehension was found to enhance physiological responsiveness.The need for a functional distinction between tonic and phasic components of physiological activity was suggested from the electrodermal data. The model proposed by Pribram and McGuinness (1975) was adopted and used to clarify earlier results and as a framework for the discussion of the wider implications of sex differences and experimenter sex effects in physiological measures. Some methodological problems were raised. The need for social psychologists to recognize the inherent complexity of physiological concepts and for psychophysiologists to recognize the social nature of research was emphasized as a necessary precursor of any successful future developments in the field of social psychophysiology.
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Published date: 1981
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Local EPrints ID: 459588
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/459588
PURE UUID: 4c217a61-82ee-49e6-a663-e3a07f39c7c2
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 17:14
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 17:14
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Author:
Denise Louise Hevey
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