Cortisol reactivity to a teacher's motivating style: the biology of being controlled versus supporting autonomy

We hypothesized that participants engaged in a learning activity would show a biological stress response when exposed to a controlling teacher but biological calm when exposed to an autonomy-supportive teacher. Seventy-eight undergraduates (53 females, 25 males) engaged in a 20-minute puzzle-solving activity while exposed to a teacher who enacted either a controlling, neutral, or autonomy-supportive motivating style. Salivary cortisol was assessed before, during, and after the learning activity, and a post-experimental questionnaire assessed participants' perceptions of the teacher's motivating style and indices of positive functioning. Manipulated motivating style affected participants' cortisol, as exposure to a controlling style increased cortisol while exposure to an autonomy-supportive style decreased it, relative to exposure to a neutral style. Correlational analyses with the self-report measures showed that cortisol reactivity occurred in response to interpersonal events rather than to psychological appraisals. We conclude that cortisol reactivity is sensitive to a teacher's motivating style and that elevated cortisol signals interpersonal obtrusion and pressure while dampened cortisol signals perspective-taking and support.