The Effectiveness of Three Modes of Conversation on Coping with Stress in Same Sex Friendship Dyads

To induce stress, pairs of friends, serving as subjects, were told they would be moving a spider through a maze. In three experimental conditions the friends were allowed to talk with one another prior to interacting with the spider; in the fourth condition the subjects waited alone. The conversations were structured so that the differential effects of problem-solving, emotion-based, or situationally unrelated discussion between friends could be observed on measures of negative mood state and behavioral fear. Subjects in the emotion-based condition generally experienced the greatest amounts of negative mood and fear. Problem-solving and unrelated discussions resulted in lower levels of self-reported anxiety and fear than did the emotion based or alone conditions. The effectiveness of problem-solving and unrelated conversations as means of socially supportive conversation is discussed in terms of avoidant versus vigilant modes of coping.