Autonomic Response Patterns During Sadness and Mirth

ABSTRACT Autonomic responses were recorded from three groups of subjects as they viewed a sadness‐inducing film, a comedy film, or a control film. Psychological reactions indicated that the stimulus films were effective in eliciting sadness and mirth. Physiologically, sympathetic activation was common to both emotions, with cardiovascular changes being more prominent during sadness and respiratory changes more characteristic of mirth. The relevance of these findings for the investigation of differential physiological patterning during emotion is discussed, and an hypothesis is presented concerning the biological significance of grief.