The colour naming of socially threatening words

An emotional Stroop task was used to investigate colour naming of socially threatening words in individuals who possess a repressive coping style. The Marlowe-Crowne scale (MC) and the Bendig version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were used to select repressor and control subjects, who subsequently completed the Stroop task. Repressors (high MC, low MAS) did not show an emotional Stroop effect, whereas low anxious (low MC, low MAS), high anxious (low MC, high MAS) and defensive high anxious (high MC, high MAS) all exhibited retarded colour naming of emotional words compared with neutral words. These results are discussed in terms of previous research in this area.