Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping

by Robert M. Sapolsky

By contrast, in the reanalysis of the original Type-A data a particularly powerful predictor of heart disease was not only high degrees of hostility, but also the tendency not to express it when angry. This latter view is supported by some fascinating work by James Gross of Stanford University. Show volunteers a film clip that evokes some strong emotion. Disgust, for example (thanks to a gory view of someone’s leg being amputated). They writhe in discomfort and distaste and, no surprise, show the physiological markers of having turned on their sympathetic nervous systems. Now, show some other volunteers the same film clip but, beforehand, instruct them to try not to express their emotions (“so that if someone were watching, they’d have no idea what you were feeling”). Run them through the blood and guts, and, with them gripping the arms of their chairs and trying to remain stoic, and still, the sympathetic activation becomes even greater. Repressing the expression of strong emotions appears to exaggerate the intensity of the physiology that goes along with them.