Styles of information seeking under threat: Personal and situational aspects of monitoring and blunting

Abstract

Using the Miller Behavioral Style Scale with 47 introductory psychology students we investigated relations between the concepts of monitoring (information seeking under threat) and blunting (information avoidance) with some relevant coping and personality variables. In addition, we studied their ecological significance. As predicted, monitoring turned out to be positively related to internal locus of control and to problem-focused coping, but a relationship with 'wishful thinking/escape' was also established. Blunting turned out to be related to the latter only. No relationship, however, was found between monitoring and blunting, reliably assessed on the basis of subjects' written reports of their reactions in real life threatening situations, and MBSS scores. This unexpected result led us to conduct a second study, directed at situational characteristics. Subjects were 55 volunteers from the general population. It was shown that the four threatening situations, figuring in the MBSS, differ on several important characteristics and also in the extent to which monitoring and blunting are used. Monitoring turned out to be positively related to perceived degree of threat and to unpredictability. Taken together, the results suggest an interactional approach in the assessment of coping styles. © 1991.