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

合作研究：一种情绪-动机-阻碍的方法来应对等待和担忧

• 批准号: 1941591
• 负责人: Jennifer Howell
• 金额: $ 21.46万
• 依托单位: University of California - Merced
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1941591&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; emotion; motivation; obstruction

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.

人们经常面临这样的情况，他们必须等待才能听到重要的消息。 它可能是一个医疗测试的结果，一个工作面试的结果，或金融投资的表现。这些时期对许多人来说可能是不愉快和紧张的，并且可以采取各种（通常无效）应对策略，以尽量减少这些不确定等待期间的不适。 过去对不确定等待期的研究主要集中在描述这种现象-确定人们在这些期间感受到的情绪和他们使用的应对策略。人们选择特定应对策略的原因以及在各种情况下哪些策略是有效的仍然是未知的。 虽然早期的研究已经证实，高度的担忧是人们在等待不确定消息时感到痛苦的主要原因，但很少有研究解决这种担忧来自哪里，或者为什么人们在等待期间会如此强烈地感受到这种担忧。这个项目旨在回答这些未回答的问题。这项研究的核心前提是，人们在某些不确定的时期会感到担忧，因为担忧是有目的的：它激励人们防止坏事发生。然而，只有当人们对自己的结果有一定的控制权时，担忧才能发挥这种有用的功能。在不确定的等待期间--比如在医学测试之后但在得知结果之前--焦虑无法发挥作用，因为人们无法控制当时的结果。八项实验室实验和一项实地研究调查了人们在发现自己陷入如此紧张的等待期时如何科普担忧。 通过更好地了解人们如何科普这种情况的不确定性，可以制定干预措施，以帮助减少不适，并将精力重新引导到更有成效和健康的方向。该项目为理解情绪和应对开发了一个广泛的理论框架。情绪-动机-障碍（emotion-motivation-obstruction，EMO）模型将两个相关但基本上不相关的研究领域结合在一起：情绪的行动准备理论和特定情境应对过程的研究。有人提出，当环境阻止人们从事与情绪相关的行动倾向（防止在担心的情况下的不良结果），他们会选择应对策略，旨在下调情绪或重新定向的行动倾向。 通过在焦虑和等待的背景下测试EMO模型，本研究提供了一个具有较强理论背景的领域的框架的指导性初步测试。本研究探讨威胁性不确定性如何引发焦虑，进而引发预防动机的行动倾向，并最终导致预防行为。 该项目还侧重于预防行为不可行的情况（由于缺乏控制），并测试是否应对努力，以减少调节担心或重新引导预防动机减少人们的担心和迫切需要进行其行动倾向的经验。 长期目标是了解这些动态对健康和福祉的影响。 多方法的实验方法解决了这些目标，使用自我报告，行为观察和相关生理反应的评估。 这项研究的结果可以作为干预措施的基础，以减少担忧和其他负面情绪体验，并引导人们采取可能最有效的应对策略，以减轻健康和良好的-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

The role of uncertainty, worry, and control in well-being: Evidence from the COVID-19 outbreak and pandemic in U.S. and China.

不确定性、担忧和控制对幸福感的作用：来自美国和中国的 COVID-19 爆发和大流行的证据。

• DOI: 10.1037/emo0001163
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Emotion
• 影响因子: 4.2
• 作者: Howell, Jennifer L.;Sweeny, Kate;Hua, Jacqueline;Werntz, Alexandra;Hussain, Maryam;Hinojosa, Bianca M.;Johnson, Angela E.;Lindgren, Kristen P.;Meese, William;O'Shea, Brian A.
• 通讯作者: O'Shea, Brian A.