Coping with war captivity: the role of attachment style

The current study examines the implication of attachment style in both immediate coping and long-term adjustment of prisoners of war (POWs). 164-ex-POWs and 184 matched controls filled out a battery of questionnaires, 18 years after the war. They were questioned about their subjective experience of captivity, current mental health status, and characteristic attachment style. Secure individuals, who reported lower levels of suffering, less helplessness and more active coping during captivity, exhibited better long-term adjustment. Avoidant ex-POWs, who reported helplessness and hostility, and ambivalent individuals, who felt abandoned and vulnerable, reported long-term maladjustment. The role of attachment style as a stress-moderating resource is discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When sex primes love: subliminal sexual priming motivates relationship goal pursuit

The studies reported here provide, for the first time, experimental evidence to support the claim that sexual interest and arousal are associated with motives to form and maintain a close relationship. In five studies, sex-related representations were cognitively primed, either subliminally or supraliminally, by exposing participants to erotic words or pictures as compared with neutral words or pictures. The effects of "sexual priming" on the tendencies to initiate and maintain a close relationship were assessed using various cognitive-behavioral and self-report measures. Supporting the hypotheses, subliminal but not supraliminal exposure to sexual primes increased (a) willingness to self-disclose, (b) accessibility of intimacy-related thoughts, (c) willingness to sacrifice for one's partner, and (d) preference for using positive conflict-resolution strategies. The article discusses implications of these findings for the role of sex in close relationships and offers a conceptualization of possible relational motives of the sexual behavioral system.     

Adult Attachment and Cognitive and Affective Reactions to Positive and Negative Events

We review theory and research concerning the relation between attachment style, measured in terms of the two dimensions of insecurity (attachment anxiety and avoidance) and emotions that arise in response to threats and dangers, relationship separations and losses, interpersonal offenses and transgressions, and positive personal and interpersonal events. The review indicates that attachment theory systematically organizes research findings associated with emotional appraisals, feelings, and expressions.     

The conceptualization of helplessness: II. Laboratory correlates of the phenomenological definition of helplessness

The present research was designed to investigate the correspondence between the phenomenological definition of helplessness and its laboratory analogue—the learned helplessness paradigm. In experiment 1, subjects were exposed to unsolvable, solvable, or no problems. It was found that exposure to unsolvable problems increased the report of helplessness feelings and impaired subsequent performance. In addition, experiment 1 demonstrated a negative and significant correlation between performance and the report of helplessness feelings. Experiment 2 isolated the cognitive component of helplessness by measuring the amount of expectancy changes following success and failure. The amount of expectancy changes was negatively correlated with the belief in an outcome's uncontrollability. Finally, experiment 3 showed that exposure to only one unsolvable problem was associated with the reports of coping and anger feelings, whereas exposure to four unsolvable problems was related to surrender feelings. These results demonstrated that laboratory-induced helpless situations elicit the same feelings as real-life helplessness situations.The study was conducted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. degree at Bar Ilan University under the supervision of Prof. R. E. Lubow.     

The impact of cognitive interference on performance during prolonged sleep loss

Summary A study was conducted on the effects of off-task cognitions on performance during sleep deprivation. Subjects answered the Thought Occurrence Questionnaire, assessing their proneness to engage in off-task cognitions, and were deprived of sleep for 72 hours, during which they performed a variety of tasks including visual discrimination and three versions of a logical reasoning task in which cognitive load was varied systematically. In addition, every day subjects answered the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire, which taps off-task cognitions during the experiment. Results indicated that subjects who habitually engage in off-task cognitions performed worse during 72 hours of sleep loss than subjects who do not engage in such distracting activities. In addition, it was found that the engagement in off-task cognitions increased during the 72 hours of sleep loss and such an engagement was related to deficits in performance accuracy. The mechanisms of off-task cognitions and sleep loss underlying these effects are discussed.     

The relationship of probability of success and performance following unsolvable problems: Reactance and helplessness effects

The present study assessed the effects of amount of helplessness training and probability of success given prior to performance on motivational involvement and on subsequent task performance. Subjects were exposed to either high, low, or no helplessness training on a series of cognitive discrimination problems and were given instructions regarding the probability of success on those problems. In the low helplessness condition, subjects who received moderate probability of success exhibited higher motivation to perform, higher levels of frustration and hostility, and better performance than subjects in the no helplessness condition. In the high helplessness condition, subjects who received moderate or high probability of success exhibited higher motivational involvement and greater performance decrements in the subsequent task than did control subjects. The results are discussed within the context of Wortman and Brehm's theory of reactance and helplessness.     

Self-serving biases in the perception of freedom: the impact of previously experienced failure

The purpose of five experiments was to investigate the use by Israeli students of a perceived lack of freedom as a self-protective device against the negative implications of poor performance in an achievement task. I hypothesized that a reduction in perceived freedom might be used to protect self-esteem following failure. A reduction in perceived freedom would weaken a person's sense of responsibility for failure and thereby protect self-esteem. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that subjects exposed to failure retrospectively reported having had less freedom during the experimental sessions than those who experienced success or no feedback at all. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 demonstrated that failure reduces the perception of freedom when other external rationalizations for failure (high consensus, high distinctiveness, low consistency) are unavailable. The results are interpreted in the light of self-protective strategies.     

When sex is more than just sex: attachment orientations, sexual experience, and relationship quality

The authors explored the contribution of individual differences in attachment orientations to the experience of sexual intercourse and its association with relationship quality. In Study 1, 500 participants completed self-report scales of attachment orientations and sexual experience. The findings indicated that whereas attachment anxiety was associated with an ambivalent construal of sexual experience, attachment avoidance was associated with more aversive sexual feelings and cognitions. In Study 2, 41 couples reported on their attachment orientations and provided daily diary measures of sexual experiences and relationship interactions for a period of 42 days. Results showed that attachment anxiety amplified the effects of positive and negative sexual experiences on relationship interactions. In contrast, attachment avoidance inhibited the positive relational effect of having sex and the detrimental relational effects of negative sexual interactions. The authors discuss the possibility that attachment orientations are associated with different sex-related strategies and goals within romantic relationships.