Physiological Responses to Narrative Anger Recall and Correlates to Anger, Forgiveness, and Rumination

Abstract. Narrative recall, or describing an event from one’s past, is a common method to study anger in the laboratory. However, most research using this method has not included a neutral speaking control, and therefore the physiological response attributable to emotion versus the act of speech is unknown. We evaluated heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance level, heart rate variability, and salivary alpha-amylase during silent baseline, neutral speaking, anger recall, and recovery periods, and correlated these measures with trait anger, forgiveness, and rumination ( n = 104). Only systolic blood pressure and skin conductance levels were elevated in the anger recall period above the values in the neutral speaking period, showing the need for this important control. Alpha-amylase was inversely correlated to forgiveness, particularly in females. A neutral speaking control is critical for anger recall protocols because the physiological responses are mostly due to speaking, not anger. Salivary alpha-amylase may be a promising autonomic marker in studies of forgiveness and anger.