Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Trait and State Self-Esteem

Trait and State Self-Esteem

The term self-esteem is often used generically, to refer to how people feel about themselves. However, according to research, there are three distinct constructs that should not be used interchangeably (Brown & Marshall, 2006).

Polygenic Traits

Polygenic Traits

When more than one gene is responsible for a given phenotype, the trait is considered polygenic. Human height is a polygenic trait. Studies have uncovered hundreds of loci that influence height, and there are believed to be many more. Due to the high number of genes involved, as well as environmental and nutritional factors, height varies significantly within a given population. The distribution of height forms a bell-shaped curve, with relatively few individuals in the population at the...

Multiple Allele Traits

Multiple Allele Traits

The Concept of Multiple Allelism

Traits and States

Traits and States

Personality traits represent consistent patterns in behavior, thoughts, and emotions, reflecting an individual's tendencies across various situations. For example, extraversion, a well-known trait, manifests in individuals as talkative, energetic, and enthusiastic behaviors. These traits are stable over time, offering a reliable framework for predicting how people might act in different contexts. However, they do not define every moment of an individual's life. In contrast to traits,...

Anxiety: Overview

Anxiety: Overview

Anxiety is a common mental disorder featuring excessive worry, fear, and apprehension, significantly affecting daily life. People with anxiety disorders experience persistent and intense anxiety, interrupting their everyday functioning.
Individuals with anxiety often experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including sweating, trembling, tachycardia, and disturbances in sleep patterns. These symptoms vary in intensity and frequency but are generally disruptive and distressing.

X-linked Traits

X-linked Traits

In most mammalian species, females have two X sex chromosomes and males have an X and Y. As a result, mutations on the X chromosome in females may be masked by the presence of a normal allele on the second X. In contrast, a mutation on the X chromosome in males more often causes observable biological defects, as there is no normal X to compensate. Trait variations arising from mutations on the X chromosome are called “X-linked”.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Measuring Moral Injury Outcome and Distress in High-Risk Populations in Germany: A Validation Study.

Assessment·2026

Same author

Research on microaggressions and their impact assesses neither microaggressions nor their impact.

Current opinion in psychology·2026

Same author

The missing ecology in affordance management.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026

Same author

Identifying Evidence-Based Strategies in a Digital Mental Health Intervention for Depression: Qualitative Content Analysis.

Journal of medical Internet research·2026

Same author

Moving the field forward on moral injury: Possibilities and pitfalls of experimental research.

Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry·2026

Same author

How to design a trigger warning: An experimental study on the impact of trigger warning wording on affect, expectations, intrusions, and felt respect.

Cognition & emotion·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Published on: July 19, 2017

Deconstructing trait anxiety: a network perspective.

Alexandre Heeren^1,2,3, Emily E Bernstein¹, Richard J McNally¹

¹a Department of Psychology , Harvard University , Cambridge , MA , USA.

Anxiety, Stress, and Coping

|February 14, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Trait anxiety is now understood as a network of interacting thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, not a latent cause. This network perspective offers new insights into anxiety-related psychopathology.

Keywords:

Trait anxiety anxiety graph theory graphical gaussian model network analysis network theory of personality

More Related Videos

Perspectives on Neuroscience

Perspectives on Neuroscience

Published on: July 31, 2007

Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse

Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse

Published on: May 17, 2011

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Published on: July 19, 2017

Perspectives on Neuroscience

Perspectives on Neuroscience

Published on: July 31, 2007

Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse

Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse

Published on: May 17, 2011

Area of Science:

Psychology
Network Science
Personality Research

Background:

Traditional trait anxiety research views it as a latent cause of symptoms.
Emerging network theory proposes personality constructs arise from interactions.
Trait anxiety is reconceptualized as a system of interconnected elements.

Purpose of the Study:

To characterize trait anxiety using a network system approach.
To investigate the interconnectedness of trait anxiety's features.
To explore a novel perspective on trait anxiety.

Main Methods:

Estimated a graphical Gaussian model using a regularized partial correlation network.
Analyzed an unselected sample of 611 individuals.
Applied modularity-based community detection analysis.

Main Results:

Trait anxiety was confirmed as a single, coherent network system.
Empirical evidence supports the network conceptualization of trait anxiety.
Identified the interplay between constitutive features of trait anxiety.

Conclusions:

Trait anxiety can be effectively modeled as an interacting network.
This network visualization provides novel insights into anxiety's features.
Findings open avenues for future research on anxiety psychopathology.