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Into the dangerous world: An in vivo study of information processing in agoraphobics
Author(s) -
Hayward Peter,
Ahmad Tayseer,
Wardle Jane
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1994.tb01126.x
Subject(s) - stroop effect , psychology , information processing , task (project management) , agoraphobia , situational ethics , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , cognition , social psychology , anxiety , anxiety disorder , psychiatry , economics , management
The differential processing of threatening information in anxious patients is now well established, but there has been little attention to situational variation in information processing. A review of the experimental literature suggests that agoraphobics should show interference in the performance of the modified Stroop task for threat words and that this interference should increase in phobic situations. In the present study, agoraphobics and normal controls carried out the Stroop task either in a safe setting or a public place. Agoraphobics showed greater interference with threat words but this interference was not affected by setting. The implications of this result are considered.