Issue 3/4 Vol. 32 1990

Anxiety as conceptual knowledge about oneself

LAZARUS-MAINKA, G., KERRES, A., SIEBENEICK, S. M.

The central proposal of this paper is that anxiety functions as conceptual knowledge about oneself. This knowledge is based on a specific set of rules which determine the processing of information. Proceeding on the assumption that individuals build up cognitive structures - so called self-concepts - for themselves as they do for other phenomena, various experimental research has been carried out. With anxiety (measured by questionnaire) as moderator variable verbal data was used for the identification of cognitive schemata and concepts. Experiments were carried out on:

1.) Description and identification of the self- concept and

2.) Concept- driven information processing (effects of typicality, memory failures, connotation of verbal stimuli, spontaneous speech production, autobiographical memory).

The results of these studies allow to describe anxiety as a conceptual system of the self which has regulating influence on information processing.

Keywords: anxiety, conceptual knowledge, information processing, self-concepts

Short Title: Lazarus-mainka, G. et al. (1990) PsyBeit 3-4:394

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