To reduce negative psychological affect from information or behavior that is inconsistent with one’s positive self-concept, individuals use a variety of defensive strategies. It is unknown whether correlates differ across defenses. We examined correlates of four levels of defensive information processing about colorectal cancer screening. Cross-sectional surveys were completed by a convenience sample of 287 adults aged 50–75 years. Defenses measures were more consistently associated with individual differences (especially avoidant coping styles); however, situational variables involving health-care providers also were important. Future research should examine changes in defenses after risk communication and their relative impact on colorectal cancer screening.
AltshulerJLRubleDN (1989) Developmental changes in children’s awareness of strategies for coping with uncontrollable stress. Child Development60: 1337–1349.
2.
AndrykowskiMACarpenterJSStudtsJL. (2002) Psychological impact of benign breast biopsy: A longitudinal, comparative study. Health Psychology21: 485–494.
3.
BijttebierPVertommenHSteeneGV (2001) Assessment of cognitive coping styles: A closer look at situation-response inventories. Clinical Psychology Review21: 85–104.
4.
BlascovichJTomakaJRobinsonJP. (1991) Measures of self-esteem. In: RobinsonJPShaverPRWrightsmanLS (eds) Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 115–160.
5.
BlockLGWilliamsP (2002) Undoing the effects of seizing and freezing: Decreasing defensive processing of personally relevant messages. Journal of Applied Social Psychology32: 803–833.
6.
BondMP (1995) The development and properties of the Defense Style Questionnaire. In: ConteHRPlutchikR (eds) Ego Defenses. New York: Wiley-Interscience, pp. 202–220.
7.
BuunkBPDijkstraP (2001) Rationalizations and defensive attributions for high-risk sex among heterosexuals. Patient Education and Counseling45: 127–132.
8.
CacioppoJTPettyREKaoCF (1984) The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment48: 306–307.
9.
CarverCS (1997) You want to measure coping but your protocol’s too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine4: 92–100.
10.
ChewLDBradleyKABoykoEJ (2004) Brief questions to identify patients with inadequate health literacy. Family Medicine36: 588–594.
11.
CompasBEBeckjordEAgochaB. (2006) Measurement of coping and stress responses in women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology15: 1038–1054.
12.
CroyleRTSunYHartM (1997) Processing risk factor information: Defensive biases in health-related judgments and memory. In: PetrieKWeinmanJ (eds) Perceptions of Health and Illness: Current Research and Applications. London: Harwood Academic Publishers, pp. 267–290.
13.
Danoff-BurgSAyalaJRevensonTA (2000) Researcher knows best? Toward a closer match between the concept and measurement of coping. Journal of Health Psychology5: 183–194.
14.
De WitJBFDasEVetR (2008) Which works best: Objective statistics or a personal testimonial? An assessment of the persuasive effects of different types of message evidence on risk perception. Health Psychology27: 110–115.
15.
DiBonaventuraMDErblichJSloanRP. (2010) A computerized stroop task to assess cancer-related cognitive biases. Behavioral Medicine36: 37–43.
16.
DuganETrachtenbergFHallMA (2005) Development of abbreviated measures to assess patient trust in a physician, a health insurer, and the medical profession. BMC Health Services Research5: 1–7.
17.
EisenbergSAShenBJSchwarzER. (2012) Avoidant coping moderates the association between anxiety and patient-rated physical functioning in heart failure patients. Journal of Behavioral Medicine35: 253–261.
18.
FestingerL (1957) A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
19.
FranksHMRoeschSC (2006) Appraisals and coping in people living with cancer: A meta-analysis. Psycho-Oncology15: 1027–1037.
20.
GlockSMullerBCNRitterSM (2013) Warning labels formulated as questions positively influence smoking-related risk perception. Journal of Health Psychology18: 252–262.
21.
GoodAAbrahamC (2007) Measuring defensive responses to threatening messages: A meta-analysis of measures. Health Psychology Review1: 208–229.
22.
GreenwaldAG (1988) Self-knowledge and self-deception. In: LockardJSPaulhusDL (eds) Self-Deception: An Adaptive Mechanism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 113–131.
23.
GreenwaldAGLeavittC (1984) Audience involvement in advertising: Four levels. Journal of Consumer Research11: 581–592.
24.
HarrisPREptonT (2009) The impact of self-affirmation on health cognition, health behaviour and other health-related responses: A narrative review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass3: 962–978.
25.
HodginsHSYackoHAGottleiebE (2006) Autonomy and nondefensiveness. Motivation and Emotion30: 283–293.
26.
KellerPA (1999) Converting the unconverted: The effect of inclination and opportunity to discount health-related fear appeals. Journal of Applied Psychology84: 403–415.
27.
KesselsLTERuiterRACJansmaBM (2010) Increased attention but more efficient disengagement: Neuroscientific evidence for defensive processing of threatening health information. Health Psychology29: 346–354.
28.
KleinjanMVan den EijndenRJJMDijkstraA. (2006) Excuses to continue smoking: The role of disengagement beliefs in smoking cessation. Addictive Behaviors31: 2223–2237.
29.
KnauperBRabiauMCohenO. (2004) Compensatory health beliefs: Scale development and psychometric properties. Psychology and Health19: 607–624.
30.
KneerJGlockSRiegerD (2012) Fast and not furious? Reduction of cognitive dissonance in smokers. Social Psychology43: 81–91.
31.
KrohneHWEgloffBVarnerLJ. (2000) The assessment of dispositional vigilance and cognitive avoidance: Factorial structure, psychometric properties, and validity of the Mainz Coping Inventory. Cognitive Therapy and Research24: 297–311.
32.
McCraeRRCostaPT (1987) Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology54: 81–90.
33.
McQueenAKreuterMWKalesanB. (2011) Understanding narrative effects: The impact of breast cancer survivor stories on message processing, attitudes, and beliefs among African American women. Health Psychology30: 674–682.
34.
McQueenAVernonSWSwankPR (2013) Construct definition and scale development for defensive information processing: An application to colorectal cancer screening. Health Psychology32: 190–202.
35.
MevissenFEFMeertensRMRuiterRAC. (2009) HIV/STI risk communication: The effects of scenario-based risk information and frequency-based risk information on perceived susceptibility to Chlamydia and HIV. Journal of Health Psychology14: 78–87.
36.
MilesAVoorwindenSChapmanS. (2008) Psychologic predictors of cancer information avoidance among older adults: The role of cancer fear and fatalism. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention17: 1872–1879.
37.
MillerPG (2005) Scapegoating, self-confidence and risk comparison: The functionality of risk neutralisation and lay epidemiology by injecting drug users. International Journal of Drug Policy16: 246–253.
38.
MillerSM (1987) Monitoring and blunting: Validation of a questionnaire to assess styles of information seeking under threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology52: 345–353.
39.
Moyer-GuseENabiRL (2010) Explaining the effects of narrative in an entertainment television program: Overcoming resistance to persuasion. Human Communication Research36: 26–52.
40.
NemeroffCJHoytMAHuebnerDM. (2008) The Cognitive Escape Scale: Measuring HIV-related thought avoidance. AIDS and Behavior12: 305–320.
41.
NordinKLidenAHanssonMG. (2002) Coping style, psychological distress, risk perception, and satisfaction in subjects attending genetic counseling for hereditary cancer. Journal of Medical Genetics39: 689–694.
42.
OrbellSPeruginiMRakowT (2004) Individual differences in sensitivity to health communications: Consideration of future consequences. Health Psychology23: 388–396.
43.
PaveyLJSparksP (2010) Autonomy and reactions to health-risk information. Psychology and Health25: 855–872.
44.
PengchitWWaltersSTSimmonsRG. (2011) Motivation-based intervention to promote colonoscopy screening: An integration of a fear management model and motivational interviewing. Journal of Health Psychology16: 1187–1197.
45.
Peretti-WatelP (2003) Neutralization theory and the denial of risk: Some evidence from cannabis use among French adolescents. British Journal of Sociology54: 21–42.
46.
Peretti-WatelPHalfenSGremyI (2007) Risk denial about smoking hazards and readiness to quit among French smokers: An exploratory study. Addictive Behaviors32: 377–383.
47.
RosenbergM (1965) Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
48.
SandfortTMGVan ZessenG (1992) Denial as a barrier for HIV prevention within the general population. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality5: 69–87.
49.
ScheierMFCarverCSBridgesMW (1994) Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology67: 1063–1078.
50.
SchwarzerRSchwarzerC (1995) A critical survey of coping instruments. In: ZeidnerMEndlerNS (eds) Handbook of Coping: Theory, Research, Applications. New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 107–132.
51.
SkinnerEAEdgeKAltmanJ. (2003) Searching for the structure of coping: A review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin129: 216–269.
52.
SlaterMDRounerD (2002) Entertainment-education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of narrative persuasion. Communication Theory12: 173–191.
53.
SteinerHAraujoKBKoopmanC (2001) The Response Evaluation Measure (REM-71): A new instrument for the measurement of defenses in adults and adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry158: 467–473.
54.
SteptoeA (1989) An abbreviated version of the Miller Behavioral Style Scale. British Journal of Clinical Psychology28: 183–184.
55.
StrahanRGerbasiKC (1972) Short, homogeneous versions of the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology28: 191–193.
56.
StrathmanAGleicherFBoningerDS. (1994) The consideration of future consequences: Weighting immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology66: 742–752.
57.
SykesGMatzaD (1957) Techniques of neutralisation: A theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review22: 664–670.
58.
TesserA (2001) On the plasticity of self-defense. Current Directions in Psychological Science10: 66–69.
59.
ThompsonSCSchlehoferMM (2008) Control, denial, and heightened sensitivity reactions to personal threat: Testing the generalizability of the threat orientation approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin34: 1070–1083.
60.
ThompsonSCSchlehoferMMBovinMJ (2006) The measurement of threat orientations. American Journal of Health Behavior30: 147–157.
61.
TuncayTMusabakIGokDE. (2008) The relationship between anxiety, coping strategies and characteristics of patients with diabetes. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes6: 79.
62.
VaillantGE (1994) Ego mechanisms of defense and personality psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology103: 44–50.
63.
Van KoningsbruggenGMDasE (2009) Don’t derogate this message! Self-affirmation promotes online type 2 diabetes risk test taking. Psychology and Health24: 635–649.
64.
Van ZuurenFJDe GrootKIMulderNL. (1996) Coping with medical threat: An evaluation of the Threatening Medical Situations Inventory (TMSI). Personality and Individual Differences21: 21–31.
65.
Van’t RietJRuiterRAC (2011) Defensive reactions to health-promoting information: An overview and implications for future research. Health Psychology Review. DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2011.606782.
66.
WerrijMQRuiterRACVan’t RietJ. (2011) Self-efficacy as a potential moderator of the effects of framed health messages. Journal of Health Psychology16: 199–207.
67.
WitteK (1991) The role of threat and efficacy in AIDS prevention. International Quarterly of Community Health Education12: 225–249.
68.
WitteK (1994) Fear control and danger control: A test of the extended parallel process model (EPPM). Communication Monographs61: 113–134.
69.
WitteKCameronKAMcKeonJK. (1996) Predicting risk behaviors: Development and validation of a diagnostic scale. Journal of Health Communication1: 317–341.
