Specificity in Verbal and Physiological Indicants of Anxiety

Abstract

Relationships between subjective self-reports of anxiety and objective recordings of comparable physiological indices were studied. A modification of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety scales for autonomic arousal (AA) and striated muscle tension (MT) provides self-reports of anxiety. Group 1 Ss' scores showed AA < MT and Group 2 MT > AA. Skin resistance, basal conductance, heart rate, eyeblinks, and number of EMGs showed consistent group differences. Heart rate indicated that differences between groups were related to the level of induced stress, the higher levels being associated with greater group differences. Most measures showed successive increases in activity across conditions, indicating that Ss were responsive to them. EMG showed a peak in the condiition of mild stress which might reflect inhibitory control.