Biological Psychology 86 (2011) 65–73 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biopsycho Effects of intrinsic pleasantness and goal conduciveness appraisals on somatovisceral responding: Somewhat similar, but not identical Tatjana Aue ∗ , Klaus R. Scherer University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland article info Article history: Received 4 July 2009 Accepted 13 October 2010 Available online 26 October 2010 Keywords: Emotion Appraisal Intrinsic pleasantness Goal conduciveness EMG Zygomaticus major Corrugator supercilii Extensor digitorum Heart rate Skin conductance Forehead temperature Finger temperature abstract In the emotion literature, appraisals of an event’s pleasantness and goal conduciveness are often con- sidered as interchangeable and subsumed under the term valence. Some appraisal theories, however, emphasize that there is a conceptual difference between these two appraisals. With the current study, we investigated whether such a conceptual difference would be reflected in different somatovisceral response profiles for intrinsic pleasantness and goal conduciveness. Participants viewed unpleasant and pleasant pictures (intrinsic pleasantness) and performed either goal conducive (i.e., decreasing the size of unpleasant pictures, increasing the size of pleasant pictures) or goal obstructive (i.e., increasing the size of unpleasant pictures, decreasing the size of pleasant pictures) arm movements. Our data suggest that the two appraisals have somewhat similar, but not identical, response patterns. Thus, our results emphasize the importance of distinguishing between intrinsic pleasantness and goal conduciveness. Moreover, we find evidence that the efferent effects of the two appraisals combine multiplicatively, and that predictability of goal conduciveness may influence the impact of goal conduciveness appraisals on somatovisceral responding. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Within his component process model of emotion, Scherer (1984, 2009) – for a related approach, see Smith (1989) – distinguishes between the two valence-related appraisals intrinsic pleasantness (genetically based or learned preferences for specific stimuli) and goal conduciveness (stimuli or events evaluated on the basis of whether they help or hinder the attainment of desired needs, goals, or values). For instance, a person on a diet may evaluate choco- late cake as intrinsically pleasant, but at the same time obstructive to the goal of losing weight. This example, among many others, illustrates the important conceptual difference between these two appraisals. Surprisingly, in the emotion literature, appraisals of intrinsic pleasantness and goal conduciveness are often consid- ered as interchangeable and subsumed under the general notion of valence. The somatovisceral effects of intrinsic pleasantness appraisal have been investigated in numerous studies (e.g., Cacioppo et al., 1988; Lang et al., 1993). Influences of goal conduciveness appraisal ∗ Corresponding author at: Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, 7, Rue des Battoirs, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail address: tatjana.aue@unige.ch (T. Aue). on somatovisceral responding, in contrast, have been studied only rarely (e.g., Aue et al., 2007). Furthermore, an even smaller num- ber of studies have examined somatovisceral effects stemming from intrinsic pleasantness and goal conduciveness appraisals. For example, Van Reekum et al. (2004) manipulated the two appraisals in a computer game and reported that intrinsic pleasantness had little impact on the investigated somatovisceral responses. Greater skin conductance response amplitudes were found for pleas- ant than for unpleasant sounds. Goal conduciveness, in contrast, strongly affected somatovisceral responding, suggesting stronger resource mobilization for obstructive than for conducive events. Higher skin conductance amplitudes and higher activity at the M. extensor digitorum site were observed for the loss of a spaceship than for the attainment of the next level. Consistent with this pic- ture, greater heart rate and shorter pulse transit time appeared for the obstructive as compared with the conducive events. Smith and Pope (Pope and Smith, 1994; Smith, 1989) described a positive relationship between the pleasantness of an imagined sce- nario and activity measured at the zygomaticus major site. Activity at the corrugator supercilii site, in contrast, was an indicator of goal obstacles (related to Scherer’s (2009), goal conduciveness appraisal). Finally, heart rate and skin conductance indexed the anticipated effort in a scenario, supporting the idea of these param- eters reflecting individual effort and task engagement. 0301-0511/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.10.008