http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,34001-2,00.html

(For educational purposes only)

3:00 a.m. 1.Feb.2000 PST

Two studies on hostility find that being a sourpuss is no way to live. Not if you want to live long, anyway.

A laboratory study at Arizona State University and an ongoing population study at Brown University both found that hostile individuals risk their health by having a cynical and cranky attitude.

The results of the studies, which appear in the January/February 2000 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, complement one another.

The Arizona State study, run by Mary Davis, associate professor of psychology, revealed short-term effects of aggressive behavior. Davis found that when put in a challenging situation, highly hostile individuals experience an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. The Brown study shows how these risk factors play out over time.

The study subjects were identified as hostile by their answers to a questionnaire asking how they would react in certain situations. Hostile people aren't necessarily aggressive but tend to be cynical, mistrustful, and take things personally.

"If someone stepped on your toe on the bus, you might think they did it on purpose," Davis said.

"What we're seeing is probably the cumulative effect of what Mary Davis was seeing acutely in her laboratory study," said Raymond Niaura, a professor of psychiatry at Brown in Providence, Rhode Island, and lead author of the Brown study.

Davis studied 80 individuals, 20 hostile men, 20 hostile women, and 20 each non-hostile men and women. Someone trained to remain calm and rational engaged each study subject in a conversation about capital punishment. The research assistants were instructed to take a stance opposite those of the study subjects, who were unaware that the individuals were part of the research team.

The hostile individuals had an increase in blood pressure and blood vessel constriction. In most cases the increase happened even before the start of the discussion.

"The fact that it occurred in the preparation period before they had done anything leads us to believe they were probably anticipating trouble before anything happened," Davis said.

Davis said the model used for her study is probably a better representation of what happens on a daily basis in the real world than past research in which researchers purposely provoked study subjects by insulting or arguing aggressively with them.

"We suggest that it's probably more frequent that we have social interactions that are much tamer," she said. "How often does someone really call you an idiot to your face?"

The Brown research is part of an ongoing study of about 1,000 men who first participated when they were young adults and who are now an average age of 63. To enter the study initially, the men had to be physically healthy.

The researchers found that hostility caused weight gain and increased blood pressure. Initially, Niaura and his colleagues thought that highly hostile people might simply be eating more, but it turned out that was not the case.

After taking a closer look, Niaura said he found that, even more importantly, these men had an exaggerated amount of body fat in the abdominal area, which can lead to insulin resistance.

Hostility leads to excess activation of certain stress hormones, in particular, cortisol, which causes body fat to be redistributed into the abdominal area, which in turn triggers problems with cholesterol and blood pressure.

"Somebody with a lot of abdominal body fat has stored fat [close to] the liver, which starts a chain reaction of increased cholesterol, blood pressure, and causes the insulin to be unable to do the job it's supposed to do," Niaura said.

Niaura said his group will link up this study with future studies in the same population to find out if these men develop cardiac diseases.

He also said he wants to find out if the results hold true for women.

"We have every reason to believe it should but we haven't really looked at women specifically, and that kind of research really needs to be done," he said.

Davis said her study was unique in that it looked at the effects of hostility in both men and women. Her study showed similar results regardless of gender.

Both Davis and Niaura agreed that hostile people are creating a miserable environment for themselves as well as for people around them.

"High hostility people are making their own world stressful and in general are big sourpusses," Niaura said.

So whether for health reasons or to avoid torturing friends and family, it's a good idea for hostile individuals to change their ways.

It's difficult for people to adjust their attitude, the researchers said, but there are tools available to help. Dr. Redford Williams, director of the behavioral medicine research center at Duke University, and his wife Virginia Williams, run a program called LifeSkills.

"These studies are consistent with all the research that's been done over the years on hostility," Williams said.

Williams did a study on 5,000 university graduates that echoes the Brown study. Those who had high hostility scores in the 1960s were much more likely to be obese at 50, and specifically to have a larger girth.

"Abdominal fat thickness is a very strong risk factor for coronary heart disease risk," Williams said

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

Cherri,

This is a very good post. Thanks much!

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

Oh no! Hostility causes potbellies?!

-- Big Belly (being.nice.now@no.longer.hostile), February 01, 2000.

Yes, I agree. People that spend much of their time SHOUTING OBSCENITIES ON THE WWW are likely to be in for trouble. But what about people who voluntarily associate with hostile and aggressive people?

-- Steve Heller (stheller@koyote.com), February 01, 2000.

Did you read that Y2k Pro?

-- haha (haha@haha.com), February 01, 2000.

Like let's all get mellow

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), February 01, 2000.

LOL, more support for the hemp thread.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 01, 2000.

So, if people come over here from Debunkers, as some are saying (hoping?) they will, and if the members here engage those hostile people in aggressive discussions, then we are killing them off, and ourselves also?

Well, ok, as long as I get to pick my own target. (Mumble, mumble, CPR, LL, RS Troll, Sluggo? )

-- Heckie (hlujan45@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

I think we are going to have to find a REAL Job for all You PHDs(Post Hole Diggers),these STUDIES are getting out of Hand.:)

-- Liberator (Feeding@the Trough.com), February 01, 2000.

Studies are a "dime a dozen", interpreted in any way the "researcher" sees it fit to his/her opinion.

That said, I'm glad I'm a skinny runt with an optimisic, non confrontational manner.

I laugh more often than I get upset, as long as I keep that balance, things should be OK.

I find it hard to believe, sometimes, that more folks don't do the same.

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), February 01, 2000.

A Professor of Physics at Harvard just discovered that the wind chill factor has been misinterpreted the last 50 years. Studies show that coffee is bad for you and studies show that coffee is not bad for you. And remember the study of "Why does a pig's tail curl?" I think walking is good for the relief of anger, but I can't prove it.

-- bardou (bardou@baloneyy.xcom), February 01, 2000.

Have had this little 7/15/98 clipping from Oregonian for a long time, waiting for just the right spot to post ;^)

SENSE OF SUPERIORITY IS CENTRAL TO AGGRESSION

New research suggests that the most dangerous people are "those who have a strong desire to regard themselves as superior beings."

The research also suggests that actual self-esteem may have little if any relation to aggression, according to an article in the July issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Two psychologists -- Brad J. Bushman of Iowa State University and Roy F. Baumeister of Case Western Reserve University -- conducted two studies involving 540 undergraduate students.

The authors said narcissists are emotionally invested in establishing their superiority, yet while they care passionately about being superior to others, they are not convinced they have achieved superiority. While high self-esteem entails thinking well of oneself, narcissism involves wanting to think well of oneself.

In both studies, narcissism and self-esteem were measured, and participants were given an opportunity to act aggressively toward a neutral third party, toward someone who had insulted them or toward someone who had praised them. The psychologists found that the most aggressive respondents were narcissists who were attacking someone who had given them a bad evaluation. Both studies showed no relation of self-esteem to aggression.
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-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), February 01, 2000.

Thanks for this post, Cherri.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), February 02, 2000.

Take THAT, pollies and trolls!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 02, 2000.

People who think other people should go to jail for the Y2k views are probably risking their health too.

The Glitch That Didn't Steal New Year's

Cherri seems to like posting messages about psychological motivations.

-- (Blue@light.lurker), February 02, 2000.

Cherri seems to like posting messages about psychological motivations.

I do. people are interesting.

One of my most favorite TV shows is RugRats. It is funny how the babies interpret what they hear. I have noticed that in some adults also.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), February 02, 2000.

"If someone stepped on your toe on the bus, you might think they did it on purpose," Davis said.

That's clinical paranoia, and applies more to doomers than pollies.

-- _ (_@_._), February 02, 2000.

"If someone stepped on your toe on purpose, and you insist on telling yourself it was an accident," that's called "clinical pollynoia," and unfortunately, there is no known treatment. (Even the ubiquitous "clue-by-four" has demonstrated a complete lack of efficiacy in phase three clinical trials.)

-- Key Employee (yuiop@k.bd), February 02, 2000.

Oh, Key Employee, that was classic, clever humor you wrote. Love it!

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), February 02, 2000.