The Role of Thinking in the Comforting Process

Abstract

Using data from 192 undergraduates asked to imagine a stressful experience, this study finds support for two primary contentions of a dual-process theory of supportive message outcomes: (a) message content impacts anticipated affect improvement (AAI) when processing motivation is high but not when low and (b) processing extent mediates the relationship between verbal person centeredness (VPC) and AAI for highly motivated participants. In addition, the dual-process framework was used to forward a modified theory of conversationally induced reappraisals. In support of this model, positive emotion words and situation reappraisal mediated the VPC-AAI link only when recipients afforded close attention to message content. The discussion focuses on how the dual-process framework might assist in modifying theories of supportive communication in other ways.

The Influence of Emotional Support Quality on Advice Evaluation and Outcomes

“…Given the range of problems experienced by participants in this study, we anticipate that higher levels of person centeredness have a positive influence on recipient outcomes even when problems are more or less consequential or emotionally involving. However, given evidence of some variation in response to emotional support efforts as a function of problem severity or emotional state (Bodie, 2011), further research is desirable to determine when VPC is more and less appropriate and effective.…”

The Implications of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) for Social Support Message Processing and Outcomes: When and Why Are the Effects of Support Messages Strengthened During CMC?

“…The mean of these two items was computed to form the measure of perceived ability to receive support (M = 5.82, SD = 1.11, α = .75). The motivation measure was adapted from previous research on the dual-process theory of supportive message outcomes (Bodie, 2011). Participants were asked to report the degree to which they wanted to hear feedback and were motivated to hear feedback from the confederate.…”

Communication Channel, Sex, and the Immediate and Longitudinal Outcomes of Verbal Person-centered Support

“…These studies informed the adaptation of dual-process models of persuasion to account for the influence of supportive communication on recipients (Bodie & Burleson, 2008;Bodie et al, 2011;Burleson, 2009). The dual-process approach suggests that message content has its strongest effect on outcomes when receivers engage in in-depth message processing, and it recognizes that support receivers use their cognitive resources to process messages thoroughly only when they are able and motivated to do so (Bodie, 2011). When receivers cannot or do not closely process messages, other factors, including the context and attributes of a support provider, act as heuristic cues that influence outcomes.…”

“…Several studies have measured emotional improvement as an outcome of VPC messages (Bodie, 2011;Jones, 2005;Jones & Wirtz, 2006). In this study, we measured longitudinal outcomes that highlighted both people's lasting perceptions of their conversations and improvement in the stressor they discussed in the lab.…”

“…The support recipients in femalefemale dyads perceived particularly negative longitudinal outcomes in the LPC condition when they interacted online rather than FtF. The negative outcomes of LPC support are neither confined to immediate impressions of messages nor to reductions in people's affect after message exposure (see Bodie, 2011;Bodie et al, 2012). Rather, the deleterious effects of LPC support persist, and they influence people's perceptions of support quality and improvement in a stressor, especially if a woman provided the support.…”