[Situation models in text comprehension: will emotionally relieving information be automatically activated?].

Abstract

It was tested whether the "situation model" framework can be applied to research on coping processes. Therefore, subjects (N = 80) were presented with short episodes (formulated in a self-referent manner) about everyday situations which potentially ended in a negative way (e.g., failures in achievement situations; losses etc.). The first half of each episode contained a critical sentence with emotionally relieving information. Given a negative ending, this information should be automatically activated due to its relieving effect. A two-factorial design was used. First, a phrase from the critical sentence was presented for recognition either after a negative ending, a positive ending, or before the ending. Second, with minor changes a control sentence (with an additionally distressing character) was constructed for each potentially relieving sentence. As hypothesized, an interaction emerged: Given a negative ending, the error rate was significantly lower for relieving information than for the control version, whereas there was no difference if the test phrase was presented before the end or after a positive end.