| Abstract: | Tested the interactional model of anxiety that states that individuals who score high on a trait anxiety measure for a specific situation dimension will respond with elevated state anxiety only in reaction to encounters with congruent situations. 40 undergraduates who scored high or low on ego threat, physical danger, novelty ambiguity, and daily routine trait measures of the S-R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness were presented with stressors representative of the 4 situation dimensions. The interactional model was partially supported for ego threat trait anxiety. However, results generally support the influence of the situation rather than the trait or interaction on anxiety response. The lack of trait factor independence for the novelty ambiguity and daily routine trait dimensions is discussed as a potential reason for the nonsupport of the interactional model. It is suggested that the experimental design used in this study is a more accurate test of the differential hypothesis than past research. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
