Manipulation of focus of attention and its effects on anxiety in high-anxious individuals and repressors

There were four groups of participants: low-anxious (low anxiety-low defens iveness), repressors (low anxiety-high defensiveness), high-anxious (high a nxiety-low defensiveness), and defensive high-anxious (high anxiety-high de fensiveness). They were exposed to self-focus and other-focus conditions, a nd self-report, physiological, and behavioural. measures of anxiety were re corded. The focus manipulation (self vs. other) was effective, with all fou r groups having higher self-reported anxiety in the self-focus condition. I t was found that self-focused attention accounted for a significant amount of variation in self-reported anxiety. The findings were discussed within t he theoretical framework proposed by Eysenck (1997).