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Strategies for Reducing the Stress of Negative Life Experiences: An Averaging/Summation Analysis

University of North Carolina at Greensboro, jseta{at}uncg.edu

Catherine E. Seta

Wake Forest University, seta{at}wfu.edu

Todd McElroy

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Experiments 1 through 4 investigated how different orientations to stimulus events influenced whether the addition of a mildly negative stressor to a highly negative one did or did not decrease stress. In Experiment 1, reductions in stress levels were obtained when perceivers concentrated on the negative implications of each stressor but not when they concentrated on the implications associated with the entire situation. In Experiments 2 and 3, reductions in stress were obtained when participants were asked to think about a mildly negative event in addition to a highly negative one, but this effect was reduced when participants overtly appraised each stressor before reporting their overall stress reaction. In Experiment 4, stress reductions were obtained when participants were induced to think about either two or four of the negative implications associated with a single stressor but not when they thought about six negative implications.

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