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Repression‐sensitization differences in responses to a decision
Author(s) -
Olson James M.,
Zanna Mark P.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1982.tb00744.x
Subject(s) - cognitive dissonance , psychology , intellectualization , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , psychological repression , sensitization , cognition , developmental psychology , communication , neuroscience , biochemistry , gene expression , chemistry , psychotherapist , gene
Repression‐sensitization differences in postdecisional dissonance reduction were investigated. Repressors (who typically employ “avoidance” strategies for dealing with threatening stimuli) and sensitizers (who typically “approach” threatening stimuli) were allowed to choose and keep, as payment for participation in the experiment, one of two pairs of long‐playing record albums. Control subjects indicated which pair of albums they preferred, but did not expect to keep the albums. Measures of postdecisional intellectualization (an “approach” strategy for dealing with dissonance, which involves separating affect from cognition) showed that experimental sensitizers intellectualized more than subjects in any other group. Measures of postdecisional attitude change, on the other hand, revealed no differences between any of the groups. The implications of these results for our understanding of repression‐sensitization differences in responses to a decision were discussed.