Goal relevance and goal conduciveness appraisals lead to differential autonomic reactivity in emotional responding to performance feedback

Abstract

Using an appraisal framework, the present experiment tested the hypothesis that goal relevance and goal conduciveness have an interactive effect on emotional responding. We expected that elicitation of positive or negative emotions in response to events that are conducive or obstructive to attainment of one's goals depends on the level of goal relevance. To test this hypothesis, we presented 119 participants with positive (success) or negative (failure) performance feedback of high or low relevance in an achievement context. Feeling self-report showed effects of conduciveness, but no interaction with relevance. Physiological reactivity showed the predicted interaction effect on cardiac autonomic regulation (CAR), with higher CAR for high-relevance conducive than obstructive conditions. Moreover, mean arterial pressure (MAP) and skin conductance level (SCL) differed between conducive and obstructive conditions, and heart rate (HR) and SCL differed between relevance conditions. Implications for the plausibility and current empirical support of the interaction hypothesis are discussed.