Information seeking of high- and low-anxiety subjects after receiving positive and negative self-relevant feedback.
The present paper reports an experiment in which subjects received fictitious intelligence test feedback that was either negatively or positively discrepant with their self-evaluation. They were then given an opportunity to choose among several articles containing information that either derogated intelligence tests (test-disparaging information) or argued for their validity (test-supporting information). The main finding of this study consists of an interaction between the personality factor anxiety and the feedback variable: High-anxiety subjects prefer test-disparaging information significantly more in the negative feedback condition than in the positive feedback condition, whereas low-anxiety subjects show no difference in preference for test-related information as a function of the feedback condition. These results are in line with past theoretical reasoning and experimental findings showing that high-anxiety subjects feel more threatened by negative self-relevant feedback than do low-anxiety subjects.
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D012649:Self Concept; D012718:Set, Psychology