A social information processing approach to dispositional hostility: Relationships with negative mood and blood pressure elevations at work

This study measured a hostile attributional style in 86 employed middle-aged adults who varied in occupational prestige. Results revealed that adults who perceived enduring hostile intent in the actions of others had lower occupational status and experienced negative emotion at work during a 3-day period. In addition, workers in the lower occupational prestige jobs with a hostile attributional style had higher peak blood pressure values when compared to low values, suggesting a physiological cost to the attributional style. Findings support the utility of taking a social information processing approach in understanding the psychological mechanism linking dispositional hostility to negative emotion and cardiovascular disease risk.