Temporal patterns of stress appraisals for high- and low-anxious individuals

Abstract

According to the cognitive-relational theory of stress, emotions, and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, 1987), cognitive appraisals are seen as mediating processes that refer to the stakes a person has in a stressful encounter and to the coping options. They result in either challenge, threat, or harm/loss. It is undetermined, however, how these appraisals are interrelated over time and whether they can occur simultaneously. An idealized motivation model has been established to stimulate research on this issue. The present experiment has been set up to assess the dynamic pattern of cognitive appraisals at nine points in time under stress, defined as continuous failure at demanding academic tasks. Trait anxiety is considered to represent a personal vulnerability component among other antecedents of appraisals. Therefore, anxiety was used as a between-groups factor. Very different patterns of appraisals emerged for low- and high-anxious subjects, indicating that low trait anxiety buffers the experience of stress, whereas high anxiety puts individuals at risk for a dramatic increase in threat and loss appraisals.