Hidden links: Trait anxiety and the hostile attribution bias

Author

Sarah Gracia, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow
Ashley A. Hansen-Brown, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow

Volume

27

Number

1

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

2021

Abstract

The hostile attribution bias (HAB) is a tendency to interpret malevolent intentions when confronted by ambiguous actions of others. This project examines the relationship between HAB and trait anxiety and whether a metacognitive manipulation reduces HAB. In Study 1, our results showed that trait anxiety and HAB had a positive correlation using both methods of detecting hostility, even when negative affect was accounted for. In Study 2, overall analyses revealed that compared to a true control condition, the metacognition manipulation reduced the link between trait anxiety and HAB. This study needs to be replicated before we can definitively draw conclusions, but still guides us to a potential new method for reducing HAB in anxious individuals.

Keyword

trait anxiety; hostile attribution bias; metacognition

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Gracia, Sarah and Hansen-Brown, Ashley A. (2021) "Hidden links: Trait anxiety and the hostile attribution bias," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 27: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol27/iss1/7