A. Byrne et Mw. Eysenck, INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE INTERPRETIVE BIASES, Personality and individual differences, 14(6), 1993, pp. 849-851
Student subjects were given the task of writing down the spellings of
a series of words (many of them homophones) presented auditorily. Some
of the homophones had a negative and neutral interpretation, whereas
others had a positive and neutral interpretation. Subjects low in trai
t anxiety (high extraversion, low neuroticism) produced more positive
homophone interpretations than did those low in positive affectivity;
this constitutes a positive interpretive bias. Subjects very high in n
egative affectivity (in terms of trait anxiety) produced more negative
homophone interpretations than did those lower in trait anxiety; this
constitutes a negative interpretive bias. Theoretical implications of
these biases were discussed.