Suggestibility and state anxiety: how the two concepts relate in a source identification paradigm
Source identification tests provide a stringent method for testing the suggestibility of memory because they reduce response bias and experimental demand characteristics. Using the techniques and materials of Maria Zaragoza and her colleagues, we investigated how state anxiety affects the ability of undergraduates to identify correctly the source of misleading post-event information. The results showed that individuals high in state anxiety were less likely to make source misattributions of misleading information, indicating lower levels of suggestibility. This effect was strengthened when forgotten or non-recognised misleading items (for which a source identification task is not possible) were excluded from the analysis. Confidence in the correct attribution of misleading post-event information to its source was significantly less than confidence in source misattributions. Participants who were high in state anxiety tended to be less confident than those lower in state anxiety when they correctly identified the source of both misleading post-event information and non-misled items. The implications of these findings are discussed, drawing on the literature on anxiety and cognition as well as suggestibility.
Department of Psychology, London South Bank University, UK. ridleyam@lsbu.ac.uk
Posted: 01/03/2006
This article provided by The International Hypnosis Research Institute.
Enter your email address to subscribe to the IHRI Newsletter.
|
Sleep Talking NO MORE! This hypnosis session can eliminate sleep talking because it works directly with the inner mind, where your dreams and talking take place.
|
|
Snoring NO MORE! If you have no physical problems that are causing your snoring, this hypnosis session can revolutionize your sleeping habits because it works to actually retrain muscles in your mouth and throat.
|
|
Exercise gives you a natural high.These chemicals help reduce feelings of anxiety,stress,& mild to moderate depression.During this hypnosis session your mind will be tuned to associate the great feeling of chemicals through exercise.
|
