Long JM, Lynch JJ, Machiran NM, Thomas SA, Malinow K. The effect of status on blood pressure during verbal communication. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 1982; 5: 165-71

This study looked at blood pressure and pulses changes when speaking to someone (the same person in all situations) presented as a high status experimenter (a doctor in a suit and tie, behaving formally with the student subject), or as an equal status experimenter (dressed casually and behaving informally). Blood pressure increased during communication and the increases were much greater while speaking to a high-status experimenter. [This suggests a link between a symbol of relative hierarchy and an indicator of stress that could have repercussions on poorer health.]

Abstract

Blood pressures and heart rates of 40 subjects were recorded at 1-min intervals over 35 min during which subjects engaged in a variety of verbal activities with either a high-status or an equal-status experimenter. All subjects showed statistically significant increases in blood pressure and heart rate when speaking compared to when quiet. Blood pressure increases during speaking of the 20 subjects exposed to a high-status experimenter were significantly greater than those of subjects exposed to an equal-status experimenter. While the blood pressure increase was related partly to the act of speaking, the amount of increase was also related to the social distance between experimenter and subject. The results are discussed relative to behavioral interventions for the treatment of hypertension.

Keywords

• hierarchy
• psychosocial factors
• social class
• social stratification
• stress