Anticipatory stress and coping reactions under various conditions of uncertainty.

Abstract

Studied the effects of uncertainty on anticipatory, 3-min stress reactions and cognitive coping responses in 2 experiments with a total of 120 male college students. Under temporal uncertainty, Ss knew that a painful electric shock would occur, but not when it would occur. Under event uncertainty, Ss knew when, but not whether shock would occur. Temporal-uncertainty Ss demonstrated maximum affective disturbance early in the anticipation period and thought less about the shock as time progressed. Ss in the various event uncertainty conditions (5, 50, or 100% probability of shock) showed an opposite pattern of response, and did not differ among themselves in terms of the degree of anticipatory stress reactions. These relationships are interpreted as reflecting the importance of cognitive appraisal and coping processes in stress reaction patterns under various conditions of uncertainty. (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)