Embodied individual differences in emotional intensity

The present study took an individual differences approach to understand how peripheral autonomic reactivity and interoceptive ability impact variability in individuals’ emotional intensity. Working under the theory of constructed emotion, we anticipated that interoceptive ability would moderate autonomic reactivity to predict emotional intensity. After using a heartbeat detection task to measure ability to monitor one’s own heart rate, we induced negative affect using the Trier Social Stress Test and continuously recorded cardiovascular physiology throughout the task. Through hierarchical regression analyses we found that while interoceptive ability significantly predicts both general emotional and high arousal negative emotional intensity, neither autonomic reactivity nor its interaction with interoceptive ability have a significant relationship with emotional intensity. Our findings provide support to the idea that emotions are constructed by applying conceptual knowledge to internal and external stimuli, rather than arising from physiological responses alone.Bachelor of Scienc