Abstract
An attentional model of fear-based behavior is proposed and a study that tested the model is reported. It was predicted that among subjects with moderate fear of snakes, heightened self-attention during an approach attempt would cause increased awareness of existing anxiety, followed by one of two courses of events: Subjects who believed that they could do the behavior in spite of their fear were expected to redirect their attention to the behavior--goal comparison and exhibit no behavioral deficit. Subjects who doubted their ability to do the behavior were expected to divert their attention from the behavior--goal comparison and to withdraw behaviorally from the approach attempt. The results of the study support this reasoning. Discussion centers on relationships between the proposed model and previous theory.
Keywords
PsychologyExpectancy theoryAnxietyStimulus (psychology)Developmental psychologyCognitive psychologySocial psychology
MeSH Terms
AffectAnxietyArousalAttentionAwarenessFearFemaleHumansMale
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1979
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1186-1195
- Citations
- 130
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Charles S. Carver,
Paul H. Blaney,
Michael F. Scheier
(1979).
Focus of attention, chronic expectancy, and responses to a feared stimulus..
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 37
(7)
, 1186-1195.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.7.1186
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.37.7.1186
- PMID
- 490310