Preparation for a frightening picture: Effects of an imposed monitoring and blunting strategy in relation to habitual coping style

Abstract

When threatened with an aversive event, there are two main strategies one can adopt: Either one can seek out knowledge about the threat (monitoring) or one can try to distract oneself from threat-relevant information (blunting). Thirty students were instructed to engage in an information seeking (monitoring) or an information avoiding (blunting) strategy to prepare themselves for a frightening picture. Subjects indicated that they had succeeded in adopting a monitoring or blunting strategy, even when this strategy was not in agreement with their habitual coping style. However, the physiological and subjective impact of these imposed strategies was rather small. This state of affairs changed when the subjects' habitual coping style (as indexed by subjects' scores on the Miller Behavioral Style Scale) was taken into account. During anticipation, the congruent monitor group (monitoring strategy and high monitoring coping style) had relatively more nonspecific skin conductance responses and had higher anxiety ratings than the congruent blunter group (blunting strategy and low monitoring coping style). Interestingly, both the imposed monitors and the congruent monitors reacted with a smaller electrodermal response to the frightening picture than the imposed blunters and congruent blunters. Furthermore, during presentation of the frightening picture congruent monitors had less nonspecific skin conductance responses than the congruent blunters. These findings suggest that blunting seems to have advantages during anticipation, while monitoring might show its benefit at the moment of confrontation with the stressor.