In their experiment in which women participants preferred to wait with the other "future shock victims," Gump and Kulik said that this occurred because
A) the attribution of the cause of a threatening or unfamiliar situation helps us to alleviate fear and anxiety.
B) the use of denial in coping with negative emotions tends to occur most readily in groups.
C) other people tend to encourage us in using positive defense mechanisms, such as sublimation and compensation.
D) seeing that other people are reacting calmly can help reassure and soothe us when a situation is threatening or unfamiliar, or when we are in doubt.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to Gump and Kulik's experiment, women participants preferred to wait with the other "future shock victims" because seeing other people react calmly helped reassure and soothe them when the situation was threatening or unfamiliar, or when they were in doubt. This supports option D as the correct choice. Option A is incorrect because attribution of cause helps reduce fear and anxiety, but it doesn't explain why the women preferred to wait with others. Option B is incorrect because denial is not a positive defense mechanism, and the experiment did not suggest that coping with negative emotions tended to occur most readily in groups. Option C is incorrect because the experiment did not suggest that other people encouraged positive defense mechanisms such as sublimation and compensation.

In Their Experiment in Which Women Participants Preferred to Wait