FURTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OFETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO SHOCK

The hypothesis that subjects’ implicit sets have physiologicalrelates to their autonomic responses is strongly confirmed by exposing subjects of four different ethnic groups, whose attitudes toward pain and pain expression are different, to an experi-mental procedure involving electric shock.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The effects of subjects’ sets on autonomic functioning had previously been dem‐onstrated when the sets were induced by explicit experimental procedure. It washypothesized that implicit (non‐verbalized) sets should likewise have physiologicalcorrelates. The hypothesis was tested by exposing subjects of four different ethnicgroups, whose attitudes toward pain and pain expression are different, to an experi‐mental procedure involving electric shock. Differences were found in resting meanheart rate and palmar skin resistance and face temperature levels, in palmar skinpotential responses to repetitive shocks, and in correlations between thresholdsand heart rate, skin resistance and skin potential levels. These results closelyparallel the attitudinal differences, and together with previously reported findingsof differences in upper thresholds and adaptation of the diphasic skin potential, strongly confirm the hypothesis that subjects’ implicit sets infiuence their patternsof autonomic responses.