Can we predict experiential avoidance by measuring subjective and physiological emotional arousal?

Experiential avoidance is an index of psychological inflexibility linked to psychological difficulties. This article presents data from two experiments that seek to investigate whether the discordance between subjective and physiological responses to emotion-eliciting conditions may indicate different levels of experiential avoidance. Both experiments utilized mental imagery to elicit fear, sadness, joy, relaxation and neutral emotions in young adults, while self-reported emotional arousal and physiological reactivity (heart rate and skin conductance) were measured. Results showed that greater experiential avoidance was predicted by higher physiological reactivity and was associated with lower subjective arousal in negatively-valenced conditions, i.e. fearful and sad, especially when participants had to focus their attention on environmental, vs somatic, stimuli. The discordance in emotional responses, which was linked to experiential avoidance in this study, may be used as an objective measure of experiential avoidance with research and clinical utility.

Automated summary

The research found that higher physiological reactivity predicted greater experiential avoidance and was associated with lower subjective arousal in negatively-valenced conditions, especially when participants had to focus their attention on environmental rather than somatic stimuli. The discordance in emotional responses, linked to experiential avoidance in this study, may be used as an objective measure of experiential avoidance with research and clinical utility.