The dynamics of threat and challenge appraisals prior to stressful achievement events.

Research on cognitive appraisal of stressful achievement events has emphasized threat appraisals and anxiety. The present research also focused on challenge and positive emotion. Study 1 used hypothetical scenarios of stressful events. Study 2 explored temporal pattems of appraisal and emotion prior to an exam. Compared with threat appraisals, trait and state challenge appraisals were associated with more confident coping expectancies, lower perceptions of threat, higher positive emotion, and more beneficial perceptions of the effects of appraisal and emotion on performance. Beneficial perceptions of state appraisals were associated with higher exam performance. These findings were interpreted in the context of theoretical perspectives on the cognitive appraisal of stressful events and the adaptive functions of challenge and positive emotion.

[1]  J. Moskowitz,et al.  Positive affect and the other side of coping. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[2]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues. , 2000 .

[3]  N. Brewer,et al.  Temporal characteristics of evaluation anxiety. , 1999, Journal of anxiety disorders.

[4]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[5]  J. M. Carroll,et al.  On the bipolarity of positive and negative affect. , 1999, Psychological bulletin.

[6]  M. Wiggins.  Anxiety intensity and direction: Preperformance temporal patterns and expectations in athletes , 1998 .

[7]  B. Fredrickson.  What Good Are Positive Emotions? , 1998, Review of general psychology : journal of Division 1, of the American Psychological Association.

[8]  Jean M. Williams,et al.  Relationship of Intensity and Direction of Competitive Trait Anxiety to Skill Level and Gender in Tennis , 1998 .

[9]  J. Russell,et al.  Independence and bipolarity in the structure of current affect. , 1998 .

[10]  The effects of imagery-manipulated appraisal on intensity and direction of competitive anxiety. , 1998 .

[11]  Philip M. Wilson,et al.  The relationship between competitive anxiety and self-presentational concerns , 1998 .

[12]  D. Burton,et al.  Is anxiety really facilitative? reaction to the myth that cognitive anxiety always impairs sport performance , 1997 .

[13]  R. Rapee,et al.  A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia. , 1997, Behaviour research and therapy.

[14]  J Blascovich,et al.  Cognitive and physiological antecedents of threat and challenge appraisal. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  Susan Folkman,et al.  Meaning in the Context of Stress and Coping , 1997 .

[16]  J. Ptacek,et al.  Facilitating and debilitating trait anxiety, situational anxiety, and coping with an anticipated stressor: a process analysis. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[17]  S. Hanton,et al.  Interpretation of Competitive Anxiety Symptoms and Goal Attainment Expectancies , 1996 .

[18]  Ira J. Roseman.  Appraisal Determinants of Emotions: Constructing a More Accurate and Comprehensive Theory , 1996 .

[19]  Irwin G. Sarason,et al.  Domains of cognitive interference. , 1996 .

[20]  Charles S. Carver,et al.  Cognitive interference and the structure of behavior. , 1996 .

[21]  Graham R. Jones,et al.  Explaining performance variance: The relative contribution of intensity and direction dimensions of competitive state anxiety , 1996 .

[22]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  The Biopsychosocial Model of Arousal Regulation , 1996 .

[23]  G. Jones,et al.  More than just a game: research developments and issues in competitive anxiety in sport. , 1995, British journal of psychology.

[24]  T. Husén,et al.  The International Encyclopedia of Education , 1994 .

[25]  C. R. Glass,et al.  Validity issues in self-statement measures of social phobia and social anxiety. , 1994, Behaviour research and therapy.

[26]  T. Borkovec,et al.  The nature, functions, and origins of worry. , 1994 .

[27]  G. Davey,et al.  Worrying: Perspectives on theory, assessment and treatment. , 1994 .

[28]  Charles S. Carver,et al.  Situational coping and coping dispositions in a stressful transaction. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[29]  L. Hardy,et al.  Intensity and direction dimensions of competitive state anxiety and relationships with performance. , 1993, Journal of sports sciences.

[30]  G. Jones,et al.  Intensity and frequency dimensions of competitive state anxiety. , 1993, Journal of sports sciences.

[31]  R. Lazarus,et al.  In search of the "hot" cognitions: attributions, appraisals, and their relation to emotion. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[32]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  Subjective, physiological, and behavioral effects of threat and challenge appraisal. , 1993 .

[33]  T. Gilovich,et al.  Effect of Temporal Perspective on Subjective Confidence , 1993 .

[34]  Graham R. Jones,et al.  Relationships between Sport Achievement Orientation and Competitive State Anxiety , 1992 .

[35]  E. Diener,et al.  The psychic costs of intense positive affect. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[36]  A. Cale,et al.  Genier Differences in Precompetition Temporal Fattening ami Antecedents of Anxiety and Self-Confidence , 1991 .

[37]  Craig A. Smith.  The self, appraisal, and coping. , 1991 .

[38]  R. Lazarus.  Emotion and Adaptation , 1991 .

[39]  Donelson R. Forsyth,et al.  Handbook of social and clinical psychology : the health perspective , 1991 .

[40]  Norman S. Endler,et al.  An assessment of appraisal, anxiety, coping, and procrastination during an examination period , 1989 .

[41]  A. Cale,et al.  Precompetition temporal patterning of anxiety and self-confidence in males and females. , 1989 .

[42]  G. Kent,et al.  A longitudinal study of the intrusiveness of cognitions in test anxiety. , 1989, Behaviour research and therapy.

[43]  R. Ingram,et al.  Assessment of positive automatic cognition. , 1988, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[44]  Phoebe C. Ellsworth,et al.  Shades of Joy: Patterns of Appraisal Differentiating Pleasant Emotions , 1988 .

[45]  Craig A. Smith,et al.  From appraisal to emotion: Differences among unpleasant feelings , 1988 .

[46]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[47]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Illusion and well-being: a social psychological perspective on mental health. , 1988, Psychological bulletin.

[48]  C. Carver,et al.  A control-process perspective on anxiety , 1988 .

[49]  Irwin G. Sarason,et al.  Interrelations of social support measures: Theoretical and practical implications. , 1987 .

[50]  D. Gill.  Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology , 1987 .

[51]  Craig A. Smith,et al.  Patterns of appraisal and emotion related to taking an exam. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[52]  R. Thayer.  Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List: Current Overview and Structural Analysis , 1986 .

[53]  Craig A. Smith,et al.  Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[54]  D. Clark,et al.  The nature of depressive and anxious, intrusive thoughts: distinct or uniform phenomena? , 1985, Behaviour research and therapy.

[55]  S. Folkman,et al.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology If It Changes It Must Be a Process: Study of Emotion and Coping during Three Stages of a College Examination , 2022 .

[56]  W. E. Turner,et al.  Facilitating and Debilitating Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement , 1983 .

[57]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[58]  B. R. Schlenker,et al.  Social anxiety and self-presentation: a conceptualization and model. , 1982, Psychological bulletin.

[59]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Stress and Anxiety , 1981 .

[60]  Mark A. Davis,et al.  Cognitive and emotional components of anxiety: literature review and a revised worry-emotionality scale. , 1981, Journal of educational psychology.

[61]  K. Korabik,et al.  A further test of the inverted-U hypothesis relating achievement anxiety and academic test performance. , 1970, The Journal of psychology.

[62]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , 1970 .

[63]  R. Haber,et al.  Anxiety in academic achievement situations. , 1960, Journal of abnormal and social psychology.

[64]  K. Lewin,et al.  Field theory in social science , 1951 .