INTERPRETIVE BIASES FOR ONES OWN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY IN HIGH-TRAIT-ANXIOUS INDIVIDUALS AND REPRESSORS

The experiments reported here were designed to test predictions from a cognitive theory of personality proposed by M. FV. Eysenck (1997). Ac cording to that theory many of the observed differences between indivi duals high in trait anxiety and repressors (individuals low in trait a nxiety and high in social desirability) depend on underlying individua l differences in cognitive biases. It follows from the theory that hig h-anxious individuals should have an interpretive bias for their own b ehavior in social situations, that is, they exaggerate how anxious it is. In contrast, repressors should have an opposite interpretive bias for their own behavior, that is, they underestimate how anxious it is. Evidence consistent with these predictions was obtained in Experiment s 1 and 2. Implications of these findings for cognitive theories of pe rsonality are discussed.