Collaborative Research: An emotion-motivation-obstruction approach to waiting and worry

University Of California - Merced, Merced CA

Investigators

Abstract

People often face situations in which they must wait to learn important news. It may be the results of a medical test, the outcome of a job interview, or the performance of financial investments. These periods can be unpleasant and stressful for many people, and a variety of (often ineffective) coping strategies may be adopted in an effort to minimize the discomfort during these uncertain waiting periods. Past research on uncertain waiting periods has primarily focused on describing the phenomenon – identifying the emotions people feel and the coping strategies they use during these periods. What is still unknown are the reasons people choose specific coping strategies and which strategies are effective under various conditions. Although earlier work has established that high levels of worry are the primary reason people feel distress while awaiting uncertain news, little research has tackled the questions of where this worry comes from or why people experience it so intensely during waiting periods. This project aims to answer these unanswered questions. The central premise of the research is that people experience worry during some periods of uncertainty because worry serves a purpose: It motivates people to prevent bad things from happening. However, worry can only serve this useful function when people have some control over their outcome. During uncertain waiting periods – such as that following a medical test but before learning the results – worry cannot do its job because people have no control over the outcome at that point. Eight laboratory-based experiments and one field study investigate how people cope with worry when they find themselves trapped in such stressful waiting periods. By better understanding how people cope with the uncertainty of such situations, interventions may be developed to help reduce the discomfort and redirect energy in more productive and healthy directions. This project develops a broad theoretical framework for understanding emotions and coping. The emotion-motivation-obstruction (EMO) model brings together two related but largely disconnected areas of study: the action readiness theory of emotions and research on situation-specific coping processes. It is proposed that when circumstances prevent people from engaging in the action tendency associated with an emotion (preventing a bad outcome in the case of worry), they will select coping strategies that aim to down-regulate the emotion or to redirect the action tendency. By testing the EMO model in the context of worry and waiting, this research provides an instructive initial test of the framework in a domain with strong theoretical background. The project investigates how threatening uncertainty prompts worry, and in turn, its action tendency of prevention motivation and ultimately preventive behavior. The project also focuses on situations in which preventive behavior is not feasible (due to a lack of control) and tests whether coping efforts directed toward down-regulating worry or redirecting prevention motivation reduce people’s experience of worry and the urge to carry out its action tendency. A longer-term aim is to understand the consequences of these dynamics for health and well-being. A multi-method experimental approach addresses these goals, using self-report, behavioral observation, and assessments of related physiological responses. The findings of this research can serve as the basis for interventions to reduce worry and other negative emotional experiences, and to steer people toward coping strategies that are likely to be most effective for mitigating the health and well-being consequences of these experiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.