Trait versus state anxiety, authoritarianism and ego threat versus physical threat.

Examined the effects of individual differences (authoritarianism, trait anxiety) and situational factors (ego and physical threat) on state anxiety (A-state). 60 male undergraduates were given Kohn's Authoritarianism-Rebellion Scale, the WAIS Block Design subtest, Endler's S-R Inventory of Anxiousness, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. It was predicted that high and low authoritarian Ss, and high and low trait anxiety (A-trait) Ss would report different amounts of A-state arousal as a function of ego threat. Ss were divided into 2 groups of high and low authoritarians and performed a task under ego-threat (failure) or physical-threat (shock) conditions. A post hoc split of Ss' A-trait scores provided A-state data on high vs low A-trait under threat conditions. Ego threat and physical threat both produced A-state arousal. Physical threat created greater A-state arousal than ego threat for high A-trait Ss. Contrary to W. F. Hodges's 1968 findings, under physical threat high A-trait Ss reported greater A-state arousal than low A-trait Ss. C. D. Spielburger's trait-state anxiety theory is compared with N. S. Endler and J. McV. Hunt's interaction model of anxiety. (French summary) (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of two types of counseling analogues.

Compared Ss' attraction to the counselor, self-reported and physiological anxiety, and susceptibility to persuasion, using 2 types of counseling analogs, quasi-counseling, and vicarious participation. Ss were 85 undergraduates. Participants in the quasi-counseling analog were significantly more attracted to the counselor than were vicarious-participation Ss. An attempt to indirectly structure perception of counselor empathy was unsuccessful in both analogs. The need for greater delineation of counselor and counseling process variables appropriate for different types of analogs is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in psychological distress between effective and ineffective problem solvers.

213 undergraduates completed the Problem Solving Inventory. 43 Ss who scored at least 1 standard deviation (SD) above the mean were classified as ineffective problem solvers; 38 Ss scoring at least 1 SD below the mean were designated as effective problem solvers. These 81 Ss then completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, and the Problem Check List. MANOVA and univariate tests indicated that self-appraised effective problem solvers, as compared to self-perceived ineffective problem solvers, reported less depression, less trait and state anxiety, a more internal control orientation, less frequent problems, and less distress associated with these problems. Findings suggest that self-appraised problem-solving effectiveness is strongly associated with emotional distress. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Math anxiety: Relation with situational test anxiety, performance, physiological arousal, and math avoidance behavior.

Investigated the relation of mathematics anxiety to situationally assessed test anxiety, mathematics performance, physiological arousal, and mathematics avoidance behavior in 23 male and 40 female undergraduates. Ss completed the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale, the Mathematics Anxiety Scale, the Anxiety Toward Mathematics Scale, and the Test Anxiety Inventory prior to completing 3 mathematics tasks. During the tasks, heart rate, skin conductance level, skin fluctuations, and avoidance behavior were monitored. Ss also completed the Post-Task Questionnaire, a situational measure of test anxiety, worry, and emotionality. Results indicate that mathematics anxiety measures were more highly rated to each other than to test anxiety. Mathematics anxiety accounted for 14–23% of the variance in 2 tasks, whereas, ability accounted for 30–42%. Rarely, did anxiety add to the variance accounted for by ability. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The independence of positive and negative affect.

Five studies, with 776 undergraduates and 34 33–85 yr old community residents, investigated the relation beween positive and negative affect. Instruments included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Eysenck Personality Inventory, and 16PF. In Studies 1 and 2, positive feelings were remembered as being nearly independent of negative feelings in the past year, but the 2 types of affect were moderately negatively correlated for the past month. In Studies 3 and 5, Ss completed daily mood reports for 70 and 30 days, respectively. In Study 4, Ss completed 3-wk, daily, and moment mood reports and also filled out reports when they experienced strong emotions. The principal finding was that the relation between positive and negative affect differed greatly depending on the time frame. The strongest negative correlation between the 2 affects occurred during emotional times. The correlation decreased in a linear fashion as the time span covered increased logarithmically. It appears that positive and negative affect are independent in terms of how much people feel in their lives over longer time periods. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of empathy as a function of the measuring instrument.

Studied the perceptions of empathy among 12 clients, 12 counselors, 12 observers, and 2 judges on the empathy subscale of the Truax Relationship Inventory and on R. R. Carkhuff's (1969) empathy rating scale. Psychology graduate students served as counselor Ss; all other Ss were undergraduates. Results indicate strong agreement among all participants of the counseling process on their perceptions of empathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety: States, traits—situations?

Investigated the utility of situational assessments of trait anxiety in predicting state anxiety reactions. 96 male undergraduates preselected as either high or low on 3 measures of trait anxiety—Stimulus–Response Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness (S–R GTA) Physical Danger; S–R GTA Evaluation; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI A-Trait) Anxiety Trait scale—were exposed to 2 experimentally induced stresses (a physical danger stress and an evaluation stress). Results indicate that the STAI A-Trait and the S–R GTA Evaluation measures correlated significantly higher with each other than either did with the S–R GTA Physical Danger measure and that both stresses produced a significant increase in state anxiety. In addition, the triple interaction of type of stress, trait level, and trait measure was, as predicted, significant. This finding indicates that high-trait-anxious Ss responded with greater state reactions when the trait measure corresponded with type of stress. Results are discussed as support for the interaction model of anxiety and for the need to measure situational components of trait anxiety. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why do people need self-esteem? Converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function.

Three studies were conducted to assess the proposition that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that raising self-esteem would reduce anxiety in response to vivid images of death. In support of this hypothesis, Ss who received positive personality feedback reported less anxiety in response to a video about death than did neutral feedback Ss. In Studies 2 and 3, it was hypothesized that increasing self-esteem would reduce anxiety among individuals anticipating painful shock. Consistent with this hypothesis, both success and positive personality feedback reduced Ss' physiological arousal in response to subsequent threat of shock. Thus, converging evidence of an anxiety-buffering function of self-esteem was obtained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of response styles on the report of psychological and somatic distress.

Assessed the impact of self-deception and impression management on the report of psychological and somatic symptoms among 94 male and 152 female undergraduates. Ss completed self- and other-deception questionnaires, a repression–sensitization scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Response styles were more predictive of psychological than somatic symptoms. Nevertheless, self-deception and repression–sensitization explained 13–25% of the variance in physical symptom reports over and above the effects of impression management. Self-deceivers and repressors reported significantly fewer symptoms of both types. Although females reported more symptoms of both types, no significant sex differences were noted in the effects of response style on symptom reporting. Both anxiety and depression were associated with a high rate of physical symptoms, particularly among females. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of self-reported distress and empathy on egoistic versus altruistic motivation to help.

Proposed that a distinction be made between 2 emotional responses to seeing another person suffer—personal distress and empathy—and that these 2 emotions lead to 2 different kinds of motivation to help: Personal distress leads to egoistic motivation; empathy, to altruistic motivation. These distinctions were tested in 3 studies, each using 10 male and 10 female undergraduates. Across the 3 studies, factor analysis of Ss' self-reported emotional response indicated that feelings of personal distress and empathy, although positively correlated, were experienced as qualitatively distinct. The pattern of helping in Studies 1 and 2 indicated that a predominance of personal distress led to egoistic motivation, whereas a predominance of empathy led to altruistic motivation. In Study 3, the cost of helping was made especially high. Results suggest an important qualification on the link between empathic emotion and altruistic motivation: Ss reporting a predominance of empathy displayed an egoistic pattern of helping. Apparently, making helping costly evoked self-concern, which overrode any altruistic impulse produced by feeling empathy. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group vicarious desensitization of test anxiety.

Examined whether vicarious desensitization, using videotapes and a small group format, could be used as a treatment for test anxiety. 43 test anxious college students were administered the Test Anxiety Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Ss received either vicarious desensitization, study skills training, or both treatments; there was also a no-treatment control condition. Self-report measures indicated that vicarious desensitization resulted in lower test and trait anxiety than study-skills training alone or no treatment. Academic performance measures, obtained posttreatment and at a 3-mo follow-up, indicated no differential effectiveness. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of anxiety, curiosity, and perceived instructor threat on student verbal behavior in the college classroom.

Investigated the verbal behavior of 152 undergraduates in 4 different classes. Trait anxiety, trait curiosity, and perceived instructor threat were measured by the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, the State–Trait Curiosity Inventory, and the Tuckman Teacher Feedback Form. Student-initiated questions and responses to instructor questions were rated by trained observers during 8 1-hr class sessions. In general, males gave more responses than females, and Ss who perceived their instructors as threatening gave fewer responses than those who rated their instructors as nonthreatening. High curiosity stimulated student-initiated verbal behavior for both sexes, but only when the instructor was perceived as nonthreatening. For males, high anxiety inhibited the students' responses to instructor questions when the instructor was perceived as threatening, whereas females gave few responses to instructor questions regardless of their personality characteristics. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and components of attributional complexity.

Tested the hypothesis that depression is associated with increased attributional complexity. In Study 1, 208 Ss completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Attributional Complexity Scale. Analyses provided support for the hypothesis. Examination of individual components of attributional complexity revealed that depressed Ss, relative to nondepressed Ss, were higher in level of motivation to engage in attributional processing, the tendency to make complex external attributions, and the use of temporal information. In Study 2, 132 Ss completed the Beck Depression Inventory and made simple or complex causal attributions for naturally occurring positive and negative outcomes. As in Study 1, the depressed Ss made a greater number of complex attributions. The roles of complexity and motivational factors in the attribution process and in depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of negative feedback, threat of shock, and level of trait anxiety on the arousal of two components of anxiety.

Investigated the effects of threat of failure and threat of shock on the state anxiety reactions of 175 male undergraduates differing in level of trait anxiety. Consistent with the worry-emotionality distinction, worry scores were aroused only in the failure-threat situation, while emotionality scores tended to be elevated only in the shock-threat condition. Contrary to predictions derived from Spielberger's 1966 State-Trait anxiety theory, A-state scores were higher for high A-trait Ss than for low A-trait Ss in all groups. The prediction of a relationship between A-trait and worry scores was not supported. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional bias in emotional disorders.

Tested a visual attention paradigm with 16 Ss referred by general practitioners for anxiety management training and 16 undergraduate controls. Ss were administered the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. Words (either threat related or neutral) were simultaneously presented on 2 areas of the screen of a microcomputer. The ensuing distribution of visual attention was measured. Findings indicate that clinically anxious (but not clinically depressed) Ss consistently shifted attention toward threat words, resulting in reduced detection latencies for probes appearing in the vicinity of such stimuli. Control Ss, on the other hand, tended to shift attention away from such material. Results support the existence of anxiety-related encoding bias. It is suggested that this cognitive mechanism may contribute to the maintenance of such mood disorders. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of electromyographic biofeedback and cue-controlled relaxation in the treatment of test anxiety.

Studied the effect of using electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback to increase the efficacy of cue-controlled relaxation training in the treatment of test anxiety. 40 college undergraduates scoring in the upper third on the Test Anxiety Scale were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions—EMG-assisted cue-controlled relaxation, cue controlled relaxation alone, attention-placebo relaxation, and no-treatment control. Pre–post self-report measures of test anxiety, state anxiety, and trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) were obtained. In addition, a performance measure (Otis-Lennon Mental Abilities Test) was administered. Ss from the 3 relaxation groups received 6 45-min individual sessions over 2 wks. All treatments were conducted using audiotape recordings. Results indicate that cue-controlled relaxation is effective in increasing test performance for test anxious Ss, that EMG biofeedback does not contribute to the effectiveness of this procedure, and that self-report measures of anxiety are susceptible to a placebo effect. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relaxation and cognitive treatments of anger.

60 undergraduates, selected on the basis of scores on the Trait form of the State-Trait Anger Scale, participated in cognitive and relaxation coping skill interventions for anger reduction or in a no-treatment control. Ss also completed measures such as the State form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. By 4-wk follow-up, cognitive and relaxation groups reported significantly less general anger, physical symptoms of anger, daily ratings of anger, and less state anger and tendency to cope with verbal antagonism in response to imaginal provocations than did controls and did not differ from one another. Constructive coping in the imaginal provocations and trait anxiety showed the cognitive condition improved relative to the control, whereas the relaxation group did not differ significantly from other groups. No between-groups differences were found for personal anger situations, depression, or heart rate and coping via physical antagonism in response to provocations. One-year follow-up revealed maintenance of patterns for general anger and anxiety reduction. Results are discussed in terms of the value of applied relaxation for anger reduction. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliabilities and concurrent validities of popular self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and social desirability.

135 male and 256 female undergraduates completed the Self-Rating Depression Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Depression Adjective Check Lists, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, S-R Inventory of Anxiousness, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and Edwards Social Desirability Scale. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated strong relationships between measures of depression and between measures of anxiety. However, pairs of anxiety and depression measures correlated almost as strongly. All depression and anxiety measures were significantly associated with the Edwards Social Desirability Scale. Findings question the use of a self-report measure of depression to select "depressed" Ss among college students. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ways to deter law violators: Effects of levels of threat and vicarious punishment on cheating.

Determined whether threat of severe, moderate, or mild sanctions and/or vicarious punishment would deter law violators from cheating, and whether law violators could be deterred as easily as law abiders. 123 undergraduates completed a sexual and a criminal behavior checklist (to differentiate law violators from abiders) and the Test Anxiety Scale. On the sexual and criminal behavior checklists, Ss indicated which specific offenses or behaviors they had committed, how many times they had committed them, and whether they had been apprehended. Ss then completed the School and College Ability Test under 7 conditions. Results show that (a) law violators cheated more than law abiders, (b) Ss cheated less if they witnessed a model apprehended for cheating, (c) law violators who were just severely threatened were the most dishonest, (d) law violators who saw a model apprehended and treated leniently cheated significantly more than law violators who saw a peer model caught and punished, and (e) high test-anxious Ss cheated more than low test-anxious Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)