Citation

Claeys W. Anxiety Research 1989; 2(1): 27-43.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08917778908249324

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Subjects high in dispositional social anxiety, as compared to subjects low in it, are found to show better incidental recall of self-descriptive unlikable trait words in a Craik and Tulving paradigm (Study 1) but not likable trait words. This phenomenon is not found when anxiety is experimentally created through exposing subjects to social-evaluative threat (Study 2), and is likely to be a consequence of the negatively biased self-schema in trait-anxious subjects. Anxious self-preoccupation created through experimentally induced evaluative stress results into poor incidental recall of all words (Study 2). The debilitating effect of anxious self-preoccupation seems to be the joint result of reduced attention to task-relevant stimuli in working memory and of reduced accessibility of preexisting cognitive structures in long-term memory. Emotional arousal per se cannot account for the observed performance deficit. The relationship between anxiety, depression, and self-focused attention is discussed.