Emotional reactivity to social rejection and negative evaluation among persons with borderline personality features

The present study examined the emotional reactivity of persons with heightened borderline personality (BP) features to social rejection and negative evaluation in the laboratory. Individuals with high levels of BP features (n = 30) and controls with low levels of BP features (n = 44) were randomly assigned to a condition involving negative evaluation based on writing (negative evaluation/academic), or a condition involving negative evaluation based on personal characteristics as well as social rejection (negative evaluation/social rejection). Hypothesis 1 was that high-BP individuals, but not low-BP controls, would show greater emotional reactivity to the negative evaluation/social rejection stressor, compared with the negative evaluation/academic (writing) stressor. Hypothesis 2 was that high-BP individuals would specifically show greater reactivity of shame- and anger-related emotions to the negative evaluation/social rejection stressor compared with the negative evaluation/academic stressor. Findings indicated that high-BP individuals showed heightened emotional reactivity to the social rejection stressor but not to the negative evaluation stressor, but the opposite pattern occurred for controls. In addition, there was evidence for heightened reactivity of irritability, distress, and shame for the high-BP group, specifically in the social rejection condition.