Effects of anxiety on attitudes--a semantic differential study

Eighteen female out-patients suffering from chronic anxiety states and 25 normal women matched for age filled in an anxiety inventory and completed semantic differential forms on 21 concepts grouped into four areas: characters, locations, human interactions and abstractions. Each concept was rated on 15 scales grouped into four types: evaluation, activity-potency, sex evaluation and danger. The normal subjects were divided into high anxiety and low anxiety subgroups on the basis of their trait anxiety scores. Anxious patients rated themselves with lower self-esteem and confidence. They reacted with apprehension to unfamiliar locations and perceived danger in other people. Sexual activity and the human body were viewed negatively. Anxious patients' apprehension were particularly raised by vague abstractions.