Relationship between Private Self-Consciousness and Anxiety Scores in Threatening Situations

The present study explored the hypothesis that, when facing a threatening situation persons high in dispositional self-focus will exhibit higher state-anxiety than persons low in dispositional self-focus. It was predicted that dispositional self-focus is positively correlated with trait-anxiety and in a threatening situation is associated with increased ‘worry.’ The relation between the experience of anxiety and the direction of attention was investigated using the private self-consciousness subscale as a measure of dispositional self-focus. 64 undergraduate male and female students scored high on a measure of state-anxiety prior to a course examination. Women had significantly higher state-anxiety scores than men. Significant correlations were found for private self-consciousness with state-anxiety, trait-anxiety, and ‘worry.’ These results are discussed in relation to the experience of anxiety.