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The present study evaluated the effectiveness of positive evaluation of stressful experiences as a strategy for coping with stress. Two methods of manipulating positive evaluation (i.e., videotape modeling and writing) were compared with a coping-instructions control condition, a no-instructions control condition, and a no-stress control condition. Measures of physiological arousal indicated that, relative to the control conditions, positive evaluation produced greater rather than less stress during anticipation of and confrontation with electric shock. A postexperimental questionnaire assessing cognitive behaviors indicated that the positive-evaluation manipulations produced increased preoccupation with the stressful aspects of the situation. The results are discussed in relation to other research and theory on the positive evaluation of stressful experiences.
Smith et al. (Thu,) studied this question.