Attentional bias to threatening information has been considered to be one of the cognitive features of anxiety mood. Although Bower's associative network theory (1981, 1991) has been used to explain attentional bias, Bower's theory is insufficient to explain the maintenance of anxiety mood. The present study aimed to investigate whether activation of a network was maintained by emotional words acquired through attentional bias. Thirty-four undergraduates who served as participants were induced into a positive mood (Positive Condition) or a negative mood (Negative Condition) through music induction and the Velten induction method. Results of a dot-probe task revealed that reaction time to probes following negative words was faster than to probes following neutral words in the Negative Condition, while reaction time to probes following positive words was not significantly different from reaction time to that of neutral words in the Positive Condition. Further, attentional bias was observed only in the negative condition. Subjective mood judgement results revealed that only negative mood was maintained in the Negative Condition. These results suggest that selective attention to threatening information can maintain a negative mood.

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The purposes of this study were to develop a Japanese version of the MÜller Anger Coping Questionnaire (MAQ), and to examine its validity and reliability. Participants, 1262 undergraduate students (617 male, 645 female), were asked to complete the translated questionnaires. Factor analysis revealed four components of anger coping: Aggressivitat, Kontrollierter Affekt, Schuld, and Soziale Hemmung. Evidence for factorial validity, criterion-related validity, and external validity for three of the sub-scales was also obtained. Scale reliability was measured using Cronbach's α, and test-retest reliability was confirmed in a 16-week time frame. Results of these analyses offered evidence as to the reliability of the sub-scales. Further research concerning the relationship between AHA (Anger, Hostility, and Aggression) and health is suggested.

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The present study examined the effects of situation and other-consciousness on suppression of the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. Situations were operationalized using a combination of people and places. Based on results of a cluster analysis, 10 situations were selected from 55 person-place situations. Results suggested that the negative emotions of anger, disgust, and sadness were easier to suppress than was happiness. Further, level of suppression varied with the situation; different situations presented different patterns of emotional suppression. Gender differences were found in the emotions of anger, fear and sadness. However, no significant effects were found for other-consciousness on suppression. Significant differences in the tendency to express positive emotions was found in the person condition, but not in the place condition.

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