from thinking about the upcoming arithmetic problems. The researchers mea-
sured the participants ’mood just prior to taking the test and looked at how
well they did on the problems. As shown in Figure 8.5, the defensive pessi-
mists allowed to worry and fret about the upcoming test actually felt better
than the participants not allowed to do this. Moreover, the defensive pessi-
mists who were allowed to list their thoughts performed better on the arith-
metic problems than the participants who were distracted prior to the test.
The results of this experiment suggest that thinking about all that can go
wrong before a test actually helps some people. But is this true for everyone?
Anxiety Level
Listed
ThoughtsDistracted304050
OptimistsDefensive
PessimistsArithmetic Test Score
Listed
ThoughtsDistracted3035Optimists
Defensive
Pessimists4045
FIGURE 8.5 Anxiety Level and Arithmetic Test Scores
Source: From “Strategy-dependent Effects of Reflecting on Self and Tasks: Some Implications of Optimism and
Defensive Pessimism, ”by J. K. Norem and S. S. Illingworth, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ,
1993, 65, 822 –835. Copyright © 1993 by the American Psychological Association.218 CHAPTER 8 The Trait Approach