The influence of levels of hostility on the lateralized tasks of verbal and nonverbal fluency, and the concurrent cerebral regulation of autonomic nervous system functioning was examined. Forty-eight right-handed males were recruited for participation with half classified as low-hostile and the other half as high-hostile. Previous research has shown that high-hostile males, at rest, have greater right hemisphere arousal relative to low-hostile males. It was predicted that this heightened, at rest, arousal would lead to reduced capacity to perform right hemisphere lateralized proximal tasks simultaneously. Two commonly used neuropsychological tests sensitive to left and right anterior cerebral systems are the Controlled Oral Word Association Test and the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) respectively. Nonverbal fluency, verbal fluency, and perseverative errors were assessed using these measures. Cardiovascular measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate were assessed using oscillometric technique with a digital blood pressure meter. A dual-task methodology was used to evaluate these anterior and posterior cerebral systems simultaneously. Since cardiovascular regulation and nonverbal fluency are both right-frontal tasks, it was predicted that high hostile men would evidence increased interference on cardiovascular regulation concurrent with the nonverbal fluency task in comparison with low hostile men. It was also predicted that high-hostile males would display more perseverative errors than low- hostile males on the nonverbal fluency task as a function of regulatory interference. The results supported a capacity-limited prediction in high-hostile males. High-hostile males evidenced significantly heightened systolic blood pressure responses during the nonverbal fluency task in comparison with low hostile males. Further, high-hostile males displayed more perseverative errors in nonverbal fluency than did the low-hostile males. No differences were found in the overall fluency scores (verbal or nonverbal). These results partially support the expectation that differences exist between high and low hostile males for right frontal functioning. Moreover, these differences manifest in multiple domains of associated right frontal functioning. These findings extend the evidence for the proposed anterior-posterior inhibition model of hostility. / Master of Science

The influence of hostility on the lateralized tasks of cardiovascular regulation, verbal fluency, nonverbal fluency, and dichotic listening was assessed. Twenty-four subjects divided into two groups, high- and low-hostile men underwent physiological measurements of SBP, DBP, and HR before and after verbal and figural fluency tasks, which were used as stressors. In addition, subsequent to the administration of each fluency task, dichotic listening performance was evaluated across unfocused, focus left, and focus right trials. It was expected that high-hostile men would produce results indicative of differential right hemisphere activation when compared with low-hostile men. In addition, it was predicted that high-hostile men would display a weakness in both the performance of the right-frontal nonverbal fluency task and in their ability to maintain relative cardiovascular stability subsequent to the presentation of that stressor. As predicted, high-hostile men produced more perseverative errors than did low hostile men on this task. Further, subsequent to administration of the nonverbal fluency task, high-hostile men produced a reliable increase in blood pressure when compared to baseline and to low-hostile males. Differences in dichotic listening performance were also expected as a function of the fluency tasks. It was predicted that high-hostile men would evidence a priming effect in that a left-ear bias would be detected after the nonverbal fluency task but not the verbal fluency task. This was indeed the case. However, interestingly, the low-hostile men also displayed a priming effect at the left ear during the nonverbal fluency condition. Results are discussed within the context of the functional cerebral systems of emotion and arousal. Implications for further research are explored. / Ph. D.

Executive functions, potentially including the regulatory control of emotions and expressive fluency (verbal or design), have historically been associated with the frontal lobes. Moreover, research has demonstrated the importance of cerebral laterality with a prominent role of the right frontal regions in the regulation of negative affect (anger, hostility) and in the generation or fluent production of designs rather than verbal fluency (left frontal). In the present research, participants identified with high and with low levels of hostility were evaluated on a design fluency test twice in one experimental session. Before the second administration of the fluency test, each participant underwent the cold pressor stressor. EEG data collection took place before and after each experimental manipulation. It was hypothesized that diminished right frontal capacity in high hostiles would be evident through lowered performance on this cognitive stressor. Convergent validity of the "capacity model" was partially supported wherein high hostile men evidenced reduced delta magnitude over the right frontal region after exposure to a physiological stressor but failed to maintain consistent levels of right cerebral activation across conditions. The results suggest an inability for high hostile men to maintain stable levels of cerebral activation with stress after exposure to physiological and cognitive stress. Moreover, low hostiles showed enhanced cognitive performance on the design task with lower levels of arousal (heightened delta magnitude). In contrast, reduced arousal (heightened delta magnitude) yielded increased executive deficits in high hostiles as evidenced through increased perseverative errors on the design fluency task. / Ph. D.

Within the field of psychology, hostility has historically been a heavily researched affective construct. The purpose of this experiment was to test hypotheses derived from a neuropsychological model of hostility utilizing two common research paradigms from the extant literatures on hostility's cognitive and physiological correlates. This was accomplished by testing an integral component of a previously proposed neuropsychological model of hostility (Herridge & Harrison, 1994). The purpose of the model was to aid in understanding the chronicity and pervasiveness of a hostile disposition. The model describes a system where physiological arousal level is mediated by systems which also mediate accuracy of an individual's interpretation of affective cues. It was at this level (physiological arousal and perception) that the experimental test was developed. It was predicted that hostile men would show different levels of perceptual accuracy than non-hostile men in both a cold pressor (CP) and no CP condition when tachistoscopically presented with three categories of affective facial configurations (happy, angry, and neutral) in either their left (LVF) or right visual field (RVF). In this sample of college men (N = 56), a four-factor, repeated measures, analysis of variance (ANOVA) produced a significant three-way interaction which indicated that hostile subjects were less accurate than non-hostile subjects in the assessment of happy, angry, and neutral faces in their LVF. However, they were more accurate than subjects classified as non-hostile in the assessment of happy and angry facial configurations in their RVF. Subjects were classified as hostile and non-hostile using joint criteria; the Cook-Medley hostility scale (Ho) and cardiovascular reactivity levels to the arousing stimulus, a CP task. Additionally, a non-significant trend was noted where nonhostile subjects in a no CP state showed more accuracy in the assessment of faces presented to them in their LVF than all other group and CP levels. However, they showed less accuracy than all others when faces were presented in their RVF. These findings are discussed in regard to the proposed model of hostility. Confirmatory and contradictory evidence is discussed relative to current neuropsychological hypotheses on the lateralization of affective function in the cerebral cortex and the role of physiological arousal in affective facial perception. Clinical implications of results are further discussed in relation to anger management interventions in hostile men. Recommendations for future research on hostility, relative to design and new directions, are made. / Ph. D.

The experiment was designed to investigate group differences by examining the effects of hostility on bilateral measures of skin conductance while making affective facial configurations. Males reporting high and low hostility were instructed in making facial configurations that were identified by raters as happy, angry, or neutral in affective valence. All subjects were asked to make the set of facial configurations twice with unstructured baselines taken prior to each face. The initial hypotheses included: (1) there would be higher skin conductance levels for the facial configuration trials than the baseline trials; (2) there would be more reactivity for the angry facial configuration followed by the happy facial configuration and then by the neutral facial configuration; (3) the left extremity would show higher conductance levels than the right; (4) the high hostile group would show higher conductance levels across the emotional faces as compared to the neutral facial configuration than the low hostile group; (5) the high hostile group would show higher conductance levels across both extremities than the low hostile group; and (6) a three-way interaction of group, extremity, and affective facial configuration would be noted. The experimental hypotheses were partially supported. As expected, the facial configuration produced significant increases in skin conductance from baseline across all three facial configurations. Differential effects of facial configuration were found. Skin conductance varied among the groups as a function of the three facial configurations. A three-way Group x Extremity x Block interaction was found. An interaction between group, extremity, and affective facial configuration was not found. Neuropsychological models of emotion are discussed as well as the possibility of altered right cerebral systems in high hostile individuals. / Master of Science

This experiment tested two hypotheses linking the right cerebral regulation of hostility and cardiovascular arousal. First, replication of previous research supporting heightened cardiovascular (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate) reactivity among high hostile participants was attempted. Second, dynamic variations in functional cerebral asymmetry in response to pain (cold pressor) and emotional linguistic processing was measured. Low- and high-hostile participants were identified using the Cook Medley Hostility Scale (CMHS). All participants completed either the negative affective verbal learning test (Experiment 1) or the cold pressor paradigm (Experiment 2). Cardiovascular measures (SBP, DBP, and HR) were recorded and either dichotic listening procedures (Experiment 1) or tachistoscopic lexical recognition procedures (Experiment 2) were administered before and after the stressor. The primary finding of this research was greater left cerebral activation (decreased cardiovascular reactivity) following the dichotic phoneme listening and the tachistoscopic lexical recognition tasks and greater right cerebral activation following pain (cold pressor) and emotionally linguistic (affective verbal learning) stressors. / Master of Science

The influence of autonomic activation in response to controllable versus noncontrollable stress, anger imagery induction, and relaxation imagery was studied among 80 participants between the ages of 18 and 34. Participants differed in level of trait hostility as assessed by the Irritability Subscale of The Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (Buss & Durkee,1957) and the Ho scale of the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory (Cook & Medley, 1954). Groups were further subdivided with regards to either having a positive family history of cardiovascular disease or having no significant history. Results were obtained through analyses of electrocardiograph R-R intervals which produced an index of autonomic nervous system activation. Findings supported hypotheses involving the relations between autonomic balance and stress and hostility for the female and male populations. Among both populations, parasympathetic regulation was diminished during anger induction for individuals with high levels of trait hostility and having a family history of cardiovascular disease. Similar results were obtained for men during relaxation imagery induction.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of anger/hostility on physiological and behavioral coronary heart disease risk factors. It was hypothesized that anger/hostility would contribute to the severity of CHD via consummatory behaviors such as smoking, poor diet, and excessive alcohol consumption. Some researchers suggest that negative consummatory behaviors play a direct causal role in CHD. The present study proposed that hostility predisposes an individual to these behaviors, and that these behaviors in turn, contribute to CHD. Further, it was proposed that some of the anger that exists in CHD patients may result from the individual being unable to participate in some of their previous consummatory behaviors after suffering a myocardial infarction. Also, it was hypothesized that the construct of anger/hostility would be differentially related to consummatory behaviors.

The relationship of coronary-prone behavior, hostility, and defense style to atherosclerosis was examined. Subjects were 1,271 patients who underwent coronary angiography at Duke University Medical Center between 1974 and 1980. Type A behavior was assessed using both the Structured Interview and Jenkins Activity Survey. The Cook and Medley Hostility scale and Byrne's Repression-Sensitization scale, both subscales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, were employed to measure hostility and defense style. The results revealed no significant association between the disease end-points CADSEV, history of myocardial infarction, and history of angina pectoris and either the Structured Interview Type A, hostility, or repression-sensitization, Jenkins Activity Survey defined Type B's, however, were found to more frequently complain of angina. It was suggested future research employ longitudinal or process designs to focus on adaptive functioning from a transactional and developmental perspective which may serve to promote coronary resistance.

Hostility is a multidimensional construct that has been extensively studied. It has been shown that hostility affects cognitive (Shimojima et al., 2003), behavioral (Prkachin & Silverman, 2002), visual (Herridge, Mollet, Harrison, & Shenal, in press), somatosensory (Herridge, Harrison, & Demaree, 1997a), auditory (Demaree & Harrison, 1997a), motor (Demaree et al., 2002) and pre-motor functioning (Williamson & Harrison, 2003). In order to extend and integrate the present literature on hostility and the effects of negative emotional state on cognition, the present investigation used a cold pressor to induce a negative emotional/pain state in high and low hostile participants and measured. The subsequent effects on the acquisition of the Auditory Affective Verbal Learning Test (AAVLT; Snyder & Harrison, 1997) were measured. Blood pressure (BP) readings were taken before and after the cold pressor to examine cardiovascular regulation in high and low hostiles. Further, before the first trial participants were asked to predict the number of words that they would be able to recall on the first trial. After completion of the experiment participants were asked to estimate their performance relative to other participants. The measures were used to assess self-awareness in high and low hostile participants, which may be impaired in high hostile individuals (Demaree & Harrison, 1997b). As expected, high hostiles learned negative emotional words significantly better than they learned positive words. Additionally, high hostiles were impaired in their acquisition of verbal material relative to low hostile participants. Low hostile participants learned more words faster and reached asymptote sooner. A significant primacy effect for negative emotional words and an overall better recall of negative information was found. Analysis on each of the four groups of the experiment indicated that participants in the cold pressor group performed similar to the high hostile participants. The cold pressor facilitated negative learning and also slowed verbal learning relative to the no cold pressor group. It was predicted that high and low hostiles would differ on baseline measures of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) and that they would demonstrate increased cardiovascular reactivity in response to the cold pressor. These hypotheses were not supported. Self-awareness measures also failed to produce significance. These results support the proposal that high hostiles differ from low hostiles in a number of modalities. They demonstrate the persistence of negative emotional material. Future work should address what kinds of implications these factors have on high hostiles in daily interactions / Master of Science