| Abstract: | In an expanded version of the Valins false feedback paradigm, female subjects viewed ten slides of seminude males accompanied by either an increase or no change in amplified heart beats. Heart rate increase slides were rated as both more attractive and more arousing than no-change slides. These two measures were highly correlated, and did not differ significantly in the degree to which they were influenced by feedback. Subjects also showed significantly greater changes in actual heart rate for the increasing feedback slides than for the no-change slides, although the feedback produced no corresponding differences in GSR. Despite the effects on both subjective report and cardiac activity, correlations between these two measures were generally nonsignificant. Subjects classified as high in autonomic perception showed no significant relationship between actual cardiac activity and slide ratings, nor were they more influenced in their ratings by the feedback than subjects low in autonomic perception. Implications for the false feedback paradigm and for current issues in the social psychology and psychophysiology of emotion are discussed. |
