K. Mogg et al., INTERPRETATION OF HOMOPHONES RELATED TO THREAT - ANXIETY OR RESPONSE BIAS EFFECTS, Cognitive therapy and research, 18(5), 1994, pp. 461-477
Three studies investigated the relationship between anxiety, social de
sirability, and an interpretative bias favoring threat in nonclinical
subjects. Interpretative bias was assessed with Mathews, Richards, and
Eysenck's (1989) homophone task. In Study 1, the tendency to produce
threatening interpretations Of ambiguous words was associated with low
er social desirability, rather than anxiety. In Study 2, the interpret
ative bias measure correlated with trait anxiety, but not with social
desirability. In Study 3, trait anxiety and social desirability had in
dependent effects on interpretative bias, which were different in the
first and second halves of the homophone task. The predicted effect of
trait anxiety was only apparent in the first half of the task. Possib
le reasons for the discrepant results, and the importance of assessing
the influence of social desirability on cognitive bias measures, are
discussed.