High blushing propensity: fearful preoccupation or facial coloration?

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 817 - 824
• Main Authors: Mulkens, Sandra, De Jong, Peter J., Bögels, Susan M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.06.1997; Elsevier
• Subjects: Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Blushing; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Miscellaneous; Propensity; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Vascular disease; Human; Fear; Body temperature; Interindividual comparison; Cardiovascular disease; Electrical conductance; Emotion emotionality; Skin; Personality; Face; Hot flush
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(97)00008-1

Twenty-seven women with high scores on the Blushing Propensity Scale (BPS) and 26 women with low BPS scores were exposed to two different video segments. One video showed the subject's own singing, recorded in a previous session and the other video showed a segment of Hitchcock's movie Psycho. During the experiment, facial coloration, facial temperature, and skin conductance level were measured. In addition, subjects' blushing intensity was judged by raters. Finally, subjects were asked to rate their blushing intensity and fear of blushing during the video presentations. Subjects generally blushed more during the presentation of their singing than during comparison stimulation, as measured physiologically. There were no between group differences in this respect. No differences were found between the two groups on raters' judgements about blushing intensity. However, high BPS subjects dramatically overestimated their blushing intensity and were more afraid of blushing than low BPS subjects. During the mere presence of the raters, high BPS subjects tended to show a relatively strong coloration. Thus, the BPS seems to reflect both a fearful preoccupation and a stronger facial coloration.