The impact of trait anxiety and situational stress on the categorization of natural objects

Abstract

The current series of studies assesses the impact of trait anxiety and situational stress on mental categorization. Subjects' trait anxiety was measured and they were exposed to different sources of situational stress while they performed categorization tasks. Results showed that both high trait anxiety subjects in control conditions and low trait anxiety subjects in stress conditions (a) reject more nonprototype members from a category, (b) set more narrow boundaries to categories, and (c) sort semantic material into more categories than low trait anxiety subjects in control conditions and high trait anxiety subjects in stress conditions. In addition, high anxiety subjects in stress conditions perceive less family resemblance among semantic stimuli than either low anxiety subjects or those exposed to control condition. Results were discussed in terms of Geen's theory of cognitive cautiousness and Eysenck's theory of limited working memory capacity.