Skin conductance (SC), finger pulse volume (PV), and heart rate (HR) measures were studied in a group of 24 arrested men in three experimental sessions: (1) 2 weeks before trial, (2) 1 week before, and (3) immediately before trial. The first session was assumed to represent a moderate laboratory stress due to the novelty of the situation and the last session a real life stress associated with anticipation of appearing in court. The second session represented the sustained real life stress of being in jail, common to all sessions. Tonic level, spontaneous fluctuations, and phasic changes to 11 93-decibel tone stimuli in the psychophysiological measures were analyzed in relation to psychopathy-related personality variables. Large differences were found among the psychophysiological variables with respect to stress sensitivity and interactions between stress and personality. More psychopathic subjects tended to have a lower level of autonomic activity in most of the psychophysiological measures regardless of situational stress level. High scores in scales connoting psychopathy and impulsivity were consistently related to large acceleratory HR responses to tones in the most stressful session. This was interpreted as indicating a high efficiency in preattentive filtering mechanisms, suggesting a tendency in psychopathic subjects to tune out stimuli in situations of anticipatory stress. Overall, in more stressful situations, a pattern of autonomic activity was found consisting of (1) large SC responses and spontaneous fluctuations, (2) lower PV values, and (3) a higher HR rate combined with smaller HR responses and fewer HR spontaneous fluctuations. Charts, tabular data, and 49 references are included. (Author abstract modified)