Coping dispositions and the processing of ambiguous stimuli

This study examined associations between coping dispositions (vigilance, cognitive avoidance) and indicators of the processing of ambiguous stimuli. In the first phase of the investigation, 58 male participants were presented with a series of sentences that could be interpreted in a threatening or a nonthreatening fashion. The participants had to rate the unpleasantness of the events described in the sentences. Subsequently a previously unannounced recognition memory test for disambiguated (threatening and nonthreatening) variants of the sentences was carried out. Evidence based on ratings, reaction times, and recognition memory measures indicated that vigilant individuals are characterized by processing activities that favor the intake and storage of the threatening rather than the nonthreatening meanings of ambiguous stimuli. Highly avoidant nonvigilant individuals (repressers) showed a disproportionately large number of extremely delayed ratings.