A researcher is interested in examining whether self-affirming oneself leads to decreased anxiety in response to threatening information. The researcher conducts a research study in which an...

A researcher is interested in examining whether self-affirming oneself leads to decreased anxiety in response to threatening information. The researcher conducts a research study in which an individual is self-affirmed prior to receiving threatening information. Researchers know that on average individuals tend to have anxiety levels of µ = 10 with a standard deviation ofσ = 2 when presented with this threatening information. If a self-affirmed individual has an anxiety level of X = 5 following the threatening message, it is reasonable to conclude that self-affirmation ______.