INTERPERSONAL IMPACTS AND ADJUSTMENT TO THE STRESS OF SIMULATED CAPTIVITY - AN EMPIRICAL-TEST OF THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

The Stockholm Syndrome refers to the paradoxical development of reciprocal positive feelings between hostages and their terrorist captors, which is said to enhance the hostages' ability to cope with their captivity. The present study examined the syndrome within a highly stressful simulated captivity situation by measuring subjective interpersonal impacts (obtained from both hostages and their primary abductor) and hostage adjustment and emotional distress levels. Consistent with the syndrome, hostages who found captivity most aversive and who adjusted poorest were those who perceived the terrorist as most dominant and least friendly (and those who were perceived as least friendly by the terrorist). Also, hostages who received prestress training in emotion-focused (vs problem-focused) coping strategies perceived the terrorist as less dominant and hostile (and were perceived by the terrorist as less hostile and more friendly) and therefore adjusted better. Hostages who adjusted best also tended to show the closest 'complementary'' match to the terrorist's interpersonal behavior. We discuss implications of these findings for development of interpersonal strategies to manage ''fate control' stress situations of which hostage captivity is a prototypical example.