An Investigation of the Effects of Worry and Anger on Threatening Interpretations and Hostile Attributions of Ambiguous Situations

Abstract

Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) frequently report elevated anger. Information processing biases may underlie this finding. We examined the effects of worry (n = 51) and anger rumination (n = 50) inductions, relative to relaxation (n = 49), on information processing biases associated with GAD and trait anger using an experimental design. We also examined whether participants who met diagnostic criteria for GAD via self-report (n = 41) exhibited greater negative information processing styles than less anxious individuals (n = 109) following the mood inductions. Participants completed tasks assessing threatening interpretations of ambiguous situations and hostile and benign attributions of ambiguous intent. There were no differences in information processing across the three conditions. However, GAD analogues demonstrated greater threatening interpretations and hostile attributions than their less anxious counterparts, regardless of experimental condition. This suggests that GAD symptoms relate to both threatening interpretation and hostile attribution biases.