domains of cognition, emotion, and motivation. The emotional (e.g., state
anxiety) and cognitive (e.g., intellectual impairment) correlates of trait anxi-
ety are well known, but some of the potential benefits are not. For example,
there is a substantial literature on decision making that suggests that negative
mood (correlated with trait anxiety) may sometimes lead to more considered,
substantive reasoning (Forgas, 1995). Motivational factors are also impor-
tant. Trait anxiety may sometimes relate to increased effort that compensates
for cognitive deficits (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992), especially in structured envi-
ronments that offer a clear course of action for compensatory coping
(Matthews, 1999). In other settings, trait anxiety is characterized by avoid-
ance and escape motives (Geen, 1987).
Again, we have a diverse set of empirical correlates of the trait that cannot
easily be reduced to a single mechanism. Matthews (1999) suggested that trait
anxiety relates to individual differences in strategies for dealing with threat.
Broadly, there are two adaptive options. First, the person may be geared to
anticipating and avoiding threat. Such a strategy requires a heightened
awareness of threat, readiness to reflect on whether events are potentially
- TRAITS, STATES, AND INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING 153
FIG. 6.4. Examples of cognitive, emotional, and motivational correlates of
neuroticism–trait anxiety.