COPING UNDER EXPERIMENTAL THREAT - OBSERVABLE AND COGNITIVE CORRELATES OF DISPOSITIONAL MONITORING AND BLUNTING

In order to investigate the relation between dispositional coping styl e and actual coping behaviour under threat, 53 undergraduate psycholog y students anticipated a mild stressor (bloody slides) in Part I of th e experiment. Observable behaviour turned out to be unrelated to dispo sitional monitoring and blunting as measured by the Miller Behavioral Style Scale (MBSS; Miller, 1987) and the Threatening Medical Situation s Inventory (TMSI; van Zuuren and Hanewald, 1993). However, when cogni tions were also taken into account, some significant correlations emer ged with the MBSS as well as with the TMSI. In Part II (N = 40), intru sive thinking after exposure to the experimental stressor was related to dispositional coping style. High monitors, as compared with low mon itors (moderate monitors excluded) were found to elaborate the stressf ul experience in a more diffuse and extended way.