The effects of implicit and explicit affiliation motives on vagal activity in motive-relevant situations

We investigated the independent and interactive effects of the implicit need for affiliation (nAFF) and the explicit self-attributed need for affiliation (sanAFF) on parasympathetic vagal activity (indexed via heart rate variability) in three motive-relevant situations: in a socioevaluative stress situation (N = 49), in a socially ambiguous situation (N = 50), and during socially supported recovery from stress (both subsamples). Vagal activity has been linked with self-regulation and social engagement. Vagal withdrawal has been found to accompany stress responses, whereas vagal advance has been found to accompany attenuated stress and affiliative behavior. Response surface analyses in the current study revealed additive but opposite effects on vagal activity for nAFF (vagal advance) and sanAFF (vagal withdrawal) during the socioevaluative stress situation, high nAFF and low sanAFF incongruence predicted vagal withdrawal in the socially ambiguous situation, and sanAFF predicted vagal advance during socially supported recovery from stress. We suggest that assessing reactions to motive-relevant stress situations represents a profitable approach for investigating the differential effects of implicit and explicit motives.