Data_Sheet_1_Shared Reality Can Reduce Stressor Reactivity.pdf

When a person faces a stressor alongside someone else, do they get more or less stressed when the other person agrees that the situation is stressful? While an equally stressed partner could plausibly amplify stress by making the situation seem more real and worthy of distress, we find that social validation during co-experienced stressors reduces reactivity. Specifically, the psychological experience of shared reality calms some people down. In Study 1, 70 undergraduate females who jointly faced a stressful event with someone else reported feeling less anxious when the other person felt the same way about the stressor, relative to when the other person appraised the situation in the opposite way or provided no indication of their appraisal. These findings were reflected in participants’ physiological reactivity, especially in the parasympathetic nervous system. In Study 2, we generalize these findings to co-experienced stressors in the daily lives of 102 heteronormative romantic couples in the New York City area. In line with tend-and-befriend theory, we found that shared reality during co-experienced stressors reduced anxiety for almost all females (99% of the sample) and for a minority of males (42% of the sample). Together, these findings unify major theories in health and social psychology by implying that shared reality reduces stressor reactivity, and that this effect is partially moderated by sex.

当个体与他人共同面对压力源时，若对方认定该情境具有压力性，个体自身的压力水平会升高还是降低？尽管压力水平相当的伴侣可能会通过强化情境的真实性与痛苦程度，合理地放大个体的压力感受，但本研究发现，在共同经历压力源时获得的社会认同，会降低个体的应激反应。具体而言，共享现实（shared reality）的心理体验能够平复部分个体的情绪。在研究1中，70名与他人共同经历压力事件的女性本科生报告称，相较于对方对该压力源做出相反评价或未表明其评价的情况，当对方对该压力源持有相同感受时，她们的焦虑程度更低。这一结果在参与者的生理应激反应中得到了印证，尤其体现在副交感神经系统（parasympathetic nervous system）层面。在研究2中，我们将上述发现推广至纽约都会区102对异性恋浪漫伴侣的日常共同压力经历中。依据趋向-交友理论（tend-and-befriend theory），我们发现，共同经历压力源时获得的共享现实，几乎可缓解全部女性（样本占比99%）的焦虑情绪，同时也能缓解少数男性（样本占比42%）的焦虑情绪。综上，本研究结果统一了健康心理学与社会心理学中的主流理论，表明共享现实能够降低个体的压力源应激反应，且这一效应会受到性别的部分调节。