Anxiety symptom interpretation in high-anxious, defensive high-anxious, low-anxious and repressor sport performers

For the first time in a sport setting this study examined the intensity and direction of the competitive state anxiety response in collegiate athletes as a function of four different coping styles: high-anxious, defensive high-anxious, low-anxious and repressors. Specifically, the study predicted that repressors would interpret competitive state anxiety symptoms as more facilitative compared to high-anxious, defensive high-anxious, and low-anxious performers. Separate Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) were performed on the intensity and direction subscales of the modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2). A significant main effect was identified for trait worry revealing that low trait anxious athletes reported lower intensities of cognitive and somatic anxiety and higher self-confidence and interpreted these as more facilitative than high trait anxious athletes. The prediction that performers with a repressive coping style would interpret state anxiety symptoms as more facilitative than performers with non-repressive coping styles was not supported.     

Anxiety symptom interpretation in high-anxious,defensive high-anxious,low-anxious and repressor sport performers

Abstract

For the first time in a sport setting this study examined the intensity and direction of the competitive state anxiety response in collegiate athletes as a function of four different coping styles: high-anxious, defensive high-anxious, low-anxious and repressors. Specifically, the study predicted that repressors would interpret competitive state anxiety symptoms as more facilitative compared to high-anxious, defensive high-anxious, and low-anxious performers. Separate Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) were performed on the intensity and direction subscales of the modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2). A significant main effect was identified for trait worry revealing that low trait anxious athletes reported lower intensities of cognitive and somatic anxiety and higher self-confidence and interpreted these as more facilitative than high trait anxious athletes. The prediction that performers with a repressive coping style would interpret state anxiety symptoms as more facilitative than performers with non-repressive coping styles was not supported.     

Effects of focus of attention on physiological,behavioural, and reported state anxiety in repressors,low-anxious,high-anxious,and defensive high-anxious individuals

Abstract

Discrepancies between physiological activity, behavioural anxiety, and self-reported anxiety were examined when focus of attention was manipulated in a public speech task for four groups of individuals: repressors, low-anxious, high-anxious, and the defensive high-anxious. They were exposed to self-focus (when their behaviour was socially evaluated) and other-focus (when their behaviour was not socially evaluated) conditions. Repressors had consistently the lowest level of self-reported anxiety, but had consistently greater physiological activity in all conditions and greater behavioural anxiety in the self-focus condition. The high-anxious showed the opposite pattern, i.e. their self-reported anxiety was greater than their physiological and behavioural anxiety, and this finding was significant in the self-focus condition. No significant pattern of discrepancy was found for the low-anxious or defensive high-anxious groups. The findings are discussed and interpreted within the framework of recent cognitive models of anxiety.     

Defensive high-anxious individuals with chronic back pain demonstrate different treatment choices and patient persistence

The aim of this study is to determine whether the experience of, and response to chronic back pain was different for defensive high-anxious individuals than other personality types (defensive high-anxious, high-anxious, repressor and low-anxious). Participants (n = 111) were recruited from a heterogeneous sample of individuals who had reported back pain within the last 6 months. Self-report measures of trait anxiety and defensiveness were used to determine personality type. In addition, pain, treatment history, disability, depression and satisfaction with treatment were recorded. Despite reporting similar levels of pain to other personality groups, defensive high-anxious individuals reported significantly greater disability and depression (p < 0.01). Of the defensive high-anxious individuals, 92% sought more than one intervention. In comparison, repressors predominantly self-managed their pain with only 10% utilising more than one intervention. Surprisingly, there were no differences in treatment satisfaction between the four groups. The present study suggests that personality type is an important factor influencing patients’ treatment options, with defensive high anxious individuals substantially more likely to seek multiple interventions and remain within the care system. The present study provides a basis for future research into the role of personality type in the management of chronic pain.     

The effects of success and failure on the patterning of neuromuscular energy

Weinberg and Hunt (1976) demonstrated that high- and low-anxious subjects differed in their patterning of neuromuscular energy in performance under failure feedback. The present study extends these findings to conditions that involve success feedback. The Sport Competition Anxiety Test and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to distinguish A-State and A-Trait subjects, while EMG indicated qualitative aspects of throwing. High-and low-trait anxiety subjects received either success, failure, or no feedback. High-anxious subjects performed best under success feedback, and low-anxious subjects performed best after failure feedback. High-anxious subjects used more EMG energy before, during, and after the throw in all conditions, and success feedback was beneficial for high-anxious subjects. The results are discussed in terms of the inter-relationships between efficiency of neuromuscular energy, motor performance, and state anxiety.     

The discrepant repressor: differentiation between low anxiety, high anxiety, and repression of anxiety by autonomic-facial-verbal patterns of behavior

This study examined the notion that personality questionnaires can be used to predict different styles of coping with anxiety as expressed by individual differences in patterns of autonomic, verbal, and nonverbal reactions. In line with earlier modifications of the repression-sensitization concept, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) were used to select four groups of 12 subjects each from a pool of 206 male students in Germany: low-anxious subjects (low MAS, low SDS), repressors (low MAS, high SDS), high-anxious subjects (high MAS, low SDS), and defensive high-anxious subjects (high MAS, high SDS). Several measures of autonomic arousal, facial activity, and self-reported affect were obtained during a potentially anxiety-arousing free-association task and during a number of control conditions, including a funny film. Significant differences in baseline-corrected heart rate and self-reported anxiety as well as rated facial anxiety all indicated that repressors exhibited a discrepancy between low self-reported anxiety and high heart rate and facial anxiety; low-anxious subjects reported an intermediate level of anxiety, although they showed low heart rate and facial anxiety; high-anxious subjects had consistently high values on all three variables; and the defensive high-anxious group showed an intermediate level of anxious responding. These group differences were specific to the task of freely associating to phrases of mixed (sexual, aggressive, neutral) content (but not to other experimental situations) and to self-reported anxiety (but not to other self-rated emotions or task difficult), indicating that they reflect individual differences in coping with anxiety.     

Manipulation of focus of attention and its effects on anxiety in high-anxious individuals and repressors

Abstract

There were four groups of participants: low-anxious (low anxiety-low defensiveness), repressors (low anxiety-high defensiveness), high-anxious (high anxiety-low defensiveness), and defensive high-anxious (high anxiety-high defensiveness). They were exposed to self-focus and other-focus conditions, and self-report, physiological, and behavioural measures of anxiety were recorded. The focus manipulation (self vs. other) was effective, with all four groups having higher self-reported anxiety in the self-focus condition. It was found that self-focused attention accounted for a significant amount of variation in self-reported anxiety. The findings were discussed within the theoretical framework proposed by Eysenck (1997).     

Working Memory Capacity in High Trait-anxious and Repressor Groups

The verbal reasoning performance of high-anxious (high trait anxiety, low defensiveness), defensive high-anxious (high trait anxiety, high defensiveness), repressor (low trait anxiety, high defensiveness), and low-anxious (low trait anxiety, low defensiveness) groups was examined under high and low memory load conditions. As predicted by the processing efficiency theory (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992), the slowing of reasoning speed with the high memory load was disproportionately great for the high-anxious and defensive high-anxious groups. The effects of high memory load on reasoning speed were the same for the low-anxious and repressor groups, suggesting that both groups had equivalently low levels of worrying (and other anxiety related) task-irrelevant thoughts. Theoretical implications of these, and other findings, for the understanding of repressors were discussed.     

Anxiety and Repression in Attention and Retention

High- and low-anxious college students (as determined by scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale; A. W. Bendig, 1956) and repressors (low anxiety and high scores on the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale; D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1964) were compared on 3 cognitive tasks. High-anxious participants more often spelled the negative emotional meaning of ambiguous homophones (e.g., pane/pain) and forgot more of their free associations to emotional cue words than did the low-anxious participants. The repressors also detected the emotional meaning of the homophones but unlike the anxious, the repressors did recall their associations to the emotional words. In a working memory task using nonemotional items, the moderately anxious participants recalled fewer words than did the low- and high-anxious participants. The results confirm that both trait anxiety and repression affect information processing at a variety of stages but not in the same way. Repressors were sensitive to, and retentive of, negative emotional stimuli.     

Anxiety and repression in attention and retention

High- and low-anxious college students (as determined by scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale; A. W. Bendig, 1956) and repressors (low anxiety and high scores on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale; D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1964) were compared on 3 cognitive tasks. High-anxious participants more often spelled the negative emotional meaning of ambiguous homophones (e.g., pane/pain) and forgot more of their free associations to emotional cue words than did the low-anxious participants. The repressors also detected the emotional meaning of the homophones but unlike the anxious, the repressors did recall their associations to the emotional words. In a working memory task using nonemotional items, the moderately anxious participants recalled fewer words than did the low- and high-anxious participants. The results confirm that both trait anxiety and repression affect information processing at a variety of stages but not in the same way. Repressors were sensitive to, and retentive of, negative emotional stimuli.     

Effects of test anxiety,ego stress,and attentional skills training on arithmetic reasoning: An experimental evaluation of a brief counseling strategy

Abstract

Two hundred forty high school students (120 male and 120 female) in India performed a moderately difficult multiple choice Arithmetic Reasoning task after undergoing short-term (40 minutes) cognitive treatment in the form of Attentional Skills Training. A 2 × 2 × 2 (Test Anxiety x Attentional Skills Training x Stress) design with separate analysis for boys and girls indicated these results: with intervention the high anxiety subjects under ego stress conditions, compared to their high-anxious control, low-anxious ego stress, or low-anxious control counterparts, reported the maximum significant improvement in performance on the Arithmetic Reasoning test. The low-anxiety subjects performed consistently well with or without treatment or stress conditions. The findings shed new light on the attentional theory of test anxiety, and it was reasoned that long-term effects of cognitive treatment be studied by using varied performance tasks (difficulty level controlled) on different gender and age groups across cultures.     

Effects of test anxiety, ego stress, and attentional skills training on arithmetic reasoning: An experimental evaluation of a brief counseling strategy

Abstract Two hundred forty high school students (120 male and 120 female) in India performed a moderately difficult multiple choice Arithmetic Reasoning task after undergoing short-term (40 minutes) cognitive treatment in the form of Attentional Skills Training. A 2 × 2 × 2 (Test Anxiety x Attentional Skills Training x Stress) design with separate analysis for boys and girls indicated these results: with intervention the high anxiety subjects under ego stress conditions, compared to their high-anxious control, low-anxious ego stress, or low-anxious control counterparts, reported the maximum significant improvement in performance on the Arithmetic Reasoning test. The low-anxiety subjects performed consistently well with or without treatment or stress conditions. The findings shed new light on the attentional theory of test anxiety, and it was reasoned that long-term effects of cognitive treatment be studied by using varied performance tasks (difficulty level controlled) on different gender and age groups across cultures.     

Anxiety not only increases,but also alters early error-monitoring functions

Anxiety has profound influences on a wide range of cognitive processes, including action monitoring. Eventrelated brain potential (ERP) studies have shown that anxiety can boost early error detection mechanisms, as reflected by an enhanced error-related negativity (ERN) following errors in high-anxious, as compared with low-anxious, participants. This observation is consistent with the assumption of a gain control mechanism exerted by anxiety onto error-related brain responses within the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, whether anxiety simply enhances or, rather, alters early error detection mechanisms remains unsolved. In this study, we compared the performance of low-versus high-trait-anxious participants during a go/no-go task while high-density EEG was recorded. The two groups showed comparable behavioral performance, although levels of state anxiety increased following the task for high-anxious participants only. ERP results confirmed that the ERN/Ne to errors was enhanced for high-anxious, relative to low-anxious, participants. However, complementary topographic analyses revealed that the scalp map of the ERN/Ne was not identical between the two groups, suggesting that anxiety did not merely increase early error detection mechanisms, but also led to a qualitative change in the early appraisal of errors. Inverse solution results confirmed a shift within the ACC for the localization of neural generators underlying the ERN/Ne scalp map in high-anxious participants, corroborating the assumption of an early effect of anxiety on early error-monitoring functions. These results shed new light on the dynamic interplay between anxiety and error-monitoring functions in the human brain.     

焦虑对社会决策行为的影响

焦虑是在人类日常生活中常见的一种负性情绪。探讨焦虑情绪在个人生活和工作中扮演的角色, 是生理学界和心理学界的一项重要课题。过往研究显示焦虑水平的提高会对社会能力和社交技巧造成显著的影响。在社会决策领域中, 这种影响的具体表现是高焦虑者比低焦虑者更倾向于采取回避风险的策略。但是, 过往研究主要关心包含经济因素的社会决策, 而对其他类型的社会行为的探索存在不足。以下问题值得未来研究者们关注：在个体层面上, 高焦虑者是否会更容易受到外界信息的影响, 表现出更强的从众行为和权威依从倾向, 与他人进行社会比较或社会竞争的动机是否会被削弱？在群体层面上, 高焦虑者是否更容易表现出人际信任, 以及是否会表现出更强的服从集体倾向？考察这些问题将会为针对焦虑情绪的认知研究和临床研究起到促进作用。     

Physical self-presentation and competitive anxiety in male master divers

This study investigated the link between physical self-presentation and competitive anxiety in male, master-level, high-board divers (N=84, M age = 29.3 yr., SD = 14.3). Competitive trait anxiety, social physique anxiety, and physical self-presentation confidence were assessed using the Sport Anxiety Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, and the Physical Self-presentation inventory. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that variance in competitive anxiety was accounted for by the physical self-presentation variables and that these variables were more strongly associated with the cognitive anxiety subscale Worry, and to a lesser extent, Somatic Anxiety. The results of this study provide support for the argument that physical self-presentation is associated with competitive anxiety in male athletes.     

Measurement and correlates of sport-specific cognitive and somatic trait anxiety: The sport anxiety scale

Abstract

Previous research indicates the viability of a distinction between cognitive and somatic components of the anxiety response, and multidimensional anxiety scales have proven useful in relating cognitive and somatic anxiety to behavioral outcomes. This article describes the development and validation of a sport-specific measure of cognitive and somatic trait anxiety. The Sport Anxiety Scale measures individual differences in Somatic Anxiety and in two classes of cognitive anxiety, Worry and Concentration Disruption. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported these dimensions in several different athlete samples. Psychometric properties of the Sport Anxiety Scale are described, as are its relations with other psychological measures and with precompetition affective state measures. In the last of the four studies reported, scores on the Concentration Disruption scale were negatively related to the performance of college football players over the course of a season. The studies suggest that the Sport Anxiety Scale may be useful in defining sport-related anxiety more sharply and assessing how the cognitive and somatic anxiety components relate to performance and other outcome measures in sport.     

Intensity and direction as dimensions of competitive state anxiety and relationships with competitiveness.

This study examined differences in intensity and direction of symptoms of competitive state anxiety in high and low competitive subjects from the sports of rugby union, basketball, soccer, and field hockey. The 69 men were dichotomized via a median-split into high and low competitive groups based on their scores on the Sport Orientation Questionnaire. All subjects completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 30 minutes prior to competition. This inventory included the original intensity scale plus a direction scale on which subjects rated the extent the experienced intensity of each symptom was either facilitative or debilitative to subsequent performance. There were no significant group differences on intensity of cognitive anxiety or of somatic anxiety or on direction of somatic anxiety; however, the highly competitive group of 34 subjects reported their anxiety as more facilitative and less debilitative than the low competitive group (n = 35). This supports the proposal that sports performers' directional perceptions of their anxiety symptoms may provide further understanding of the competitive state-anxiety response.     

The physical activity and sport anxiety scale (PASAS): Scale development and psychometric analysis

Research suggests that social anxiety may be elicited in athletic or sporting situations, resulting in decreased physical activity due to avoidance behavior. Given the myriad physical and psychological health consequences of a non-active lifestyle, valid assessment of social anxiety and avoidance in this domain is warranted. However, none of the common measures of social anxiety appear to assess social anxiety in physical activity or sporting domains. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a brief measure of social anxiety in physical activities and sports. A 16-item self-report questionnaire, the Physical Activity and Sport Anxiety Scale (PASAS), was extracted from a larger pool on empirical and theoretical grounds. The PASAS demonstrated excellent internal consistency across a number of samples, and excellent temporal stability. The PASAS also demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity, and is related to self-perceived performance biases as postulated by cognitive-behavioral models of social anxiety.     

Intensity and direction of competitive state anxiety as interpreted by rugby players and rifle shooters

This study reports the findings of part of an ongoing research program examining sports performers' interpretations of competitive anxiety prior to competition. The notion of 'directional perceptions' has questioned the limited utility of examining only the intensity of competitive anxiety responses as has Jones. The purpose of this study was to examine intensity and direction, i.e., interpretation of intensity as facilitative or debilitative, of anxiety symptoms as a function of two types of sport. The types of sport were explosive (rugby league) versus fine motor skills (target rifle shooting). The sample comprised 50 male rugby league participants and 50 target rifle shooters who completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 prior to competition. Contingency analysis yielded a significant difference in the number of rugby players who reported somatic anxiety as facilitative and the number of rifle shooters who reported somatic states as debilitative. No such differences were evident for cognitive anxiety. Analysis of variance indicated no differences between the two groups on the intensity of cognitive and somatic anxiety, but the performers competing in rugby league interpreted both states as being more facilitative to performance; the rugby league players also had higher scores on self-confidence than the shooters. These findings provide continuing support for the measurement of directional perceptions of competitive anxiety and highlight the importance of examining individual sports.     

Deficient response modulation and emotion processing in low-anxious Caucasian psychopathic offenders: results from a lexical decision task

The clinical and research literatures on psychopathy have identified an emotion paradox: Psychopaths display normal appraisal but impaired use of emotion cues. Using R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and the G. S. Welsh Anxiety Scale (1956), the authors identified low-anxious psychopaths and controls and examined predictions concerning their performance on a lexical-decision task. Results supported all the predictions: (a) low-anxious psychopaths appraised emotion cues as well as controls; (b) their lexical decisions were relatively unaffected by emotion cues; (c) their lexical decisions were relatively unaffected by affectively neutral word-frequency cues; and (d) their performance deficits were specific to conditions involving right-handed responses. The authors propose that deficient response modulation may underlie both the emotional and cognitive deficits associated with low-anxious psychopaths.