Using a laboratory social interaction paradigm, study 1 refined and validated a coding system designed to assess dominant and hostile behaviors during dyadic social interaction. Study 2 examined two factors proposed to account for differences in dominant men's and women's cardiovascular responses to social interaction: (1) explicit role demands regarding dominance expression (i.e., the degree to which situations provided clear and salient cues regarding expected and acceptable behavior) and (2) gender composition of the dyad (i.e., same sex versus opposite sex). These two factors were manipulated independently while unacquainted, healthy young adult men and women participated in task-oriented dyadic discussions designed to activate motives to influence; cardiovascular responses were measured during the discussions and preceding rests. Study 3, a secondary analysis of data collected in study 2, examined associations between CVR and exposure to others' dominance. The aforementioned behavioral coding system was used to assess behavioral dominance observed in study 2 and path analytic techniques were used to model associations among CVR, one's own and one's partner's trait and behavioral dominance, gender, and situational factors.