Do Gender-Relevant Characteristics Determine Cardiovascular Reactivity? Match Versus Mismatch of Traits and Situation

This study tested the hypothesis that individuals exhibit heightened cardiovascular reactivity to a challenging task that is consistent vs. inconsistent with their gender-relevant attributes. In all, 82 men and women categorized as either highly instrumental or expressive engaged in an interpersonal task designed to tap instrumental or expressive characteristics. Results failed to confirm the hypothesis. Expressive individuals tended to exhibit larger increases in systolic blood pressure during an instrumental, relative to an expressive, interaction. Instrumental individuals tended to show larger increases in diastolic blood pressure during an expressive, relative to an instrumental, interaction. These results are consistent with the post hoc interpretation that environmental demands that fall outside of one's perceived areas of competency may result in exaggerated cardiovascular responsivity.