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Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2003 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2003, Vol. 84, No. 2, 425–438 0022-3514/03/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.425 Cognitive and Motivational Processes Underlying Coping Flexibility: A Dual-Process Model Cecilia Cheng Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Discriminative facility was proposed as a cognitive process and need for closure was proposed as a motivational process underlying coping flexibility. The dual-process model posits that need for closure influences discriminative facility, which in turn modifies coping flexibility and psychological adjustment. In Study 1, results of structural equation modeling provided support for the dual-process model. This model was further examined using experimental methods (Study 2) and a prospective design (Study 3). Consistent with the dual-process model, results from all 3 studies showed that participants who were more motivated to seek alternative coping strategies tended to encode stressful situations in a more differentiated way. These individuals used a greater variety of strategies to fit different situational demands and were better adjusted. Coping flexibility has aroused interest among researchers over Folkman, 1984; Moos Schaefer, 1993), the quest