Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 24, 2025
07:59
Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
Published on: June 14, 2019
8.1K
Anticipatory stress during an election: A daily diary study
Xianghe Zhu1, Shevaun D Neupert1
1Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Summary
Forecasting future election stressors increases negative affect (NA) even before the event occurs. This anticipatory stress response was stronger in conservatives and during the pre-election period.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Political Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Previous research on election stress primarily focused on reactions to past stressors.
- The forecasting of future stressors and associated psychological responses remain underexplored in the context of elections.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine anticipatory stress response to future election stressors.
- To investigate the within-person association between daily forecasts of election stressors and negative affect (NA).
- To explore the influence of time, partisanship, and political orientation on anticipatory stress.
Main Methods:
- A 29-day daily diary study was conducted with 125 adults in the U.S. surrounding the 2018 mid-term election.
- Participants provided 1056 daily reports detailing stressor forecasts and negative affect.
- Statistical analyses examined the relationship between daily stressor forecasts and negative affect, controlling for exposure.
Main Results:
- Daily forecasts of election stressors were associated with increased negative affect, independent of actual stressor exposure.
- Anticipatory stress responses were more pronounced during the pre-election and election days compared to post-election days.
- Conservatives reported greater election stressor forecasting compared to liberals.
Conclusions:
- Anticipatory stress, or worrying about future stressors, significantly contributes to negative affect during election periods.
- Understanding and managing anticipatory stress is crucial for mitigating the psychological impact of elections.
- Political orientation and the temporal proximity to election day influence the experience of anticipatory election stress.
Related Concept Videos
01:20Psychological Responses to Stress
120
Psychological responses to stress encompass the various cognitive and emotional reactions individuals experience when faced with challenging or threatening situations, such as a job loss. Prolonged exposure to stressors can disturb emotional balance, increasing negative emotions (e.g., anxiety and sadness) and diminishing positive emotions (e.g., joy and satisfaction). These persistent emotional shifts are associated with an increased risk of both physical illness and mental health issues, such...
120
01:27Introduction to Stress and Lifestyle
240
Stress is a multifaceted response to events perceived as challenging or threatening, highlighting physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions. Physically, stress can lead to fatigue, sleep disruptions, and various health issues such as frequent colds, chest pains, and nausea. Emotionally, it can manifest as anxiety, depression, irritability, and anger triggered by both minor and major life events. Cognitively, it may result in difficulty in concentration, memory, and...
240
01:12Hindsight Biases
4.0K
Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now?
4.0K
01:21General State of Stress
315
The general state of stress within a material can be accurately depicted using a stress tensor. This tensor encapsulates the internal forces distributed within a material subjected to external forces or deformations.
Specifically, consider a tetrahedral element where one face, labeled XYZ, is perpendicular to the line OA, and the remaining faces align with the coordinate axes with point O as the origin. At any point, such as point O, the stress tensor can be used to determine the stress...
Specifically, consider a tetrahedral element where one face, labeled XYZ, is perpendicular to the line OA, and the remaining faces align with the coordinate axes with point O as the origin. At any point, such as point O, the stress tensor can be used to determine the stress...
315
02:09Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
39.1K
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
39.1K