Effects of social anxiety, attention, and extraversion on the acoustic startle eyeblink response

Konorskiʹs (Conditioned Reflexes and Neuron Organization, 1948) biphasic theory of emotion suggests that emotions are organized into two oppositional motivational systems, one of which is responsible for hunger, sexual drive, and curiosity (approach), while the opposing system is responsible for fear (avoidance). Lang and colleagues have proposed that this model explains the pattern of acoustic startle eyeblink responses seen when subjects are probed during the processing of differentially emotionally valenced slides. The two studies presented here suggest that, in the case of negative affect involving social anxiety, the response pattern may be more complex. Experiment 1 replicated earlier findings that a social encounter attenuates the startle response, and provided evidence that this effect is independent of habituation. Experiment 2 found a significant interaction of extraversion and social encounter for startle response amplitude, suggesting that the effect of a social encounter on the startle response is personality dependent. Öhmanʹs (1986, Psychophysiology, 23, 123–145) model of intraspecific vs interspecific fears seems to be an appropriate framework in which to view the effect of social situations on emotional responding.