Anxiety and the mental representation of events

Temperaments can influence the development of adult personality through their effects on the content and structure of the mental representations people form of their personal experiences (Fuhrman & Ahadi, 1989). The present study investigated whether subjects' experiences in a moderately stressful performance situation are encoded and stored in long-term memory differently as a function of their trait or chronic levels of anxiety. Subjects performed a cognitively demanding task that was represented to them as a measure of intelligence. In addition, performance norms were manipulated. Subjects' chronic anxiety increased the degree of distress and worry or fear evidenced in subjects' representations of the situation, and also the level of detail in which the situation was represented. It did not, however, appear to influence either the cognitive content of the representation or the organization of the event in memory.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ahadi, Stephan Ahad

Contributors dc:contributor

• Wyer, Robert S., Jr.

• Psychology, Social
• Psychology, Personality

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1991 Ahadi, Stephan Ahad

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9210719
(UMI)AAI9210719

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/23301