An experimental examination of the situational variables that influence the traumatic stress response

Research suggests that trauma characteristics influence posttraumatic outcomes. Dangerous life-threatening events are associated with fear and anxiety; moral transgressions with guilt, shame and anger; perpetrating moral transgressions with self-conscious moral emotions (e.g., guilt, shame); and witnessing transgressions with other-condemning moral emotions (e.g., contempt, disgust). However, research linking situational features to posttraumatic outcomes is limited. This study investigated the influence of trauma-related situational variables on cognitive-emotional appraisals of stressful events.

Undergraduate and Community participants imagined themselves as the protagonist in auditory vignettes depicting moral transgressions or life-threatening situations. They were randomly assigned to a self-condition (e.g., protagonist-enacted events; n = 114), or other-condition (e.g., protagonist-witnessed events; n = 131). After each vignette, participants provided ratings of self-conscious and other-condemning emotions and cognitions, and fear on a 7-point scale.

Moral vignettes evoked stronger moral emotions and cognitions than life-threat vignettes, with Bayesian t-tests yielding extreme evidence for these differences (all BF₁₀ > 100). Compared to the other-condition, moral vignettes in the self-condition evoked greater self-conscious emotions and cognitions (BF₁₀ > 100), lower other-condemning emotions (BF₁₀ > 100), and no difference in other-condemning cognitions (BF₁₀ = .085).

Findings strengthen the theoretical rationale for integrating situational factors into conceptualizations of posttraumatic outcomes.