Spontaneous activation of Schemata under stress: getting control over earthquake threat

Abstract

Beliefs of personal control over uncontrollable events have often been found to be related to a sense of well being (Taylor & Brown, 1988). In this paper we argue that, under threat and when personal control is impossible, subjects will automatically activate other types of control beliefs (secondary control beliefs) to cope with the threat. In three studies, earthquake threat and the feeling of personal uncontrollability were made salient in the experimental condition, and the RT to secondary-related control words were assessed. Results show that two types of secondary control beliefs were activated under threat: religious control and political control. This result shows that these more social types of beliefs are used to cope the threat when more personal beliefs are not available.