COPING DISPOSITIONS AND THE PROCESSING OF AMBIGUOUS STIMULI

This study examined associations between coping dispositions (vigilanc e, 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 i n a threatening or a nonthreatening fashion. The participants had to r ate the unpleasantness of the events described in the sentences. Subse quently a previously unannounced recognition memory test for disambigu ated (threatening and nonthreatening) variants of the sentences was ca rried 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 thre atening rather than the nonthreatening meanings of ambiguous stimuli. Highly avoidant nonvigilant individuals (repressers) showed a dispropo rtionately large number of extremely delayed ratings.