Interpretive bias, repressive coping, and trait anxiety.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Vigilance-avoidance theory posits that individuals with a repressive coping style exhibit an avoidant interpretive bias.
• This bias involves interpreting ambiguous, self-relevant situations in a less threatening manner.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define the specific situations and domains where repressors demonstrate an avoidant interpretive bias.
• To differentiate the influence of trait anxiety and defensiveness on this bias.

Main Methods:

• Categorized participants (N=163) into four groups based on low/high trait anxiety and defensiveness, identifying repressors (low anxiety, high defensiveness).
• Assessed participants' likelihood of interpreting 32 ambiguous scenarios (social, intellectual, physical, health; self- vs. other-relevant) non-threateningly.
• Measured state anxiety following scenario interpretation.

Main Results:

• Repressors exhibited an avoidant interpretive bias specifically for ambiguous threats in social and intellectual domains.
• No avoidant bias was observed in the health or physical domains for repressors.
• The observed bias was primarily attributed to low trait anxiety, not high defensiveness.

Conclusions:

• Individuals with high trait anxiety are particularly attuned to social evaluation threats.
• Conversely, high trait anxiety does not appear to heighten sensitivity to health or physical danger scenarios.