The effect of stress mindset on appraisal tendencies and affect
The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the effectiveness of stress mindset on stress appraisal tendencies and positive and negative affect. Chapter 1 reviews the current literature on stress mindset and stress appraisals, and how they each relate to adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Chapter 2 set out to investigate the relationships between stress mindset, challenge and threat appraisal tendencies, and positive and negative affect through a cross sectional study. Chapter 2 also investigated whether challenge and threat mediated the relationship between stress mindset and positive and negative affect. Chapter 3 built on Chapter 2’s findings and used an experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of a brief online video intervention in manipulating stress mindset, appraisal tendencies, and positive and negative affect in university students. Chapter 3 also investigated the effectiveness of the intervention on challenge and threat appraisals, positive and negative affect and the interpretation of anxiety in relation to an upcoming assessment period. Chapter 4 discusses the collective results of both Chapter 2 and 3 and suggests avenues for future research.