Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
Biol Psychol. 2011 Jul;87(3):386-92. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.05.001. Epub 2011 May 17.
Stress associated with interpersonal conflict can adversely impact mental and physical health-especially when it causes activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Among victims of interpersonal transgressions, certain personality characteristics (viz., neuroticism and agreeableness) have been associated in some studies with successful conflict resolution and decreased physiological activity. How victims' perceptions of their transgressors' personalities affect conflict resolution and physiological reactivity, however, has not been examined. Here, we examined the relationships of (a) victims' agreeableness and neuroticism, and (b) victims' perceptions of their transgressors' agreeableness and neuroticism with plasma cortisol responses in women and (in a larger sample of men and women) forgiveness over time. Victims who perceived their transgressors as highly agreeable had (a) lower cortisol responses following a simulated speech to the transgressor, and (b) higher self-reported forgiveness, even after controlling for initial levels of forgiveness. Participants' own agreeableness and neuroticism had negligible associations with cortisol response and forgiveness over time.
人际冲突带来的压力会对身心健康造成不良影响——尤其是当它激活下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴时。在人际侵犯的受害者中，某些人格特征（即神经质和宜人性）在一些研究中与成功解决冲突和降低生理活动有关。然而，受害者对侵犯者个性的看法如何影响冲突解决和生理反应，尚未得到检验。在这里，我们研究了（a）受害者的宜人性和神经质，以及（b）受害者对侵犯者的宜人性和神经质的看法与女性血浆皮质醇反应之间的关系，以及（在更大的男性和女性样本中）随着时间的推移宽恕的关系。那些认为侵犯者非常和蔼可亲的受害者（a）在向侵犯者模拟演讲后皮质醇反应较低，以及（b）即使在控制初始宽恕水平后，自我报告的宽恕程度也更高。参与者自身的宜人性和神经质与皮质醇反应和随着时间的推移的宽恕几乎没有关联。
