In a Study by Mario Mikulincer and Colleagues (2000), Participants

Multiple Choice

In a study by Mario Mikulincer and colleagues (2000) , participants viewed "prime" words, some of which were threatening (e.g., "failure') , and some neutral (e.g., "chair") . After each prime word, a "target" string of letters was displayed; the participant's task was to decide as quickly as possible whether the string was a word or not. Results showed that participants detected "target" words with close relationship themes (e.g., "love") faster after seeing a threatening prime than after a neutral prime. Which of the following best describes the main implication of these results?

A) When adults are threatened, their minds turn automatically to thoughts of social support.
B) People are emotionally disturbed by the idea of failure.
C) People recognize relationship-themed words more quickly than words without relationship themes.
D) The average person is very concerned that their close relationships might fail.