Anxiety is an important factor affecting creativity. At present, the academic community is still
divided on whether anxiety promotes or hinders creativity. Some studies have found that different types of
anxiety have different effects on creativity. This paper mainly reviews previous studies on the influence of
general anxiety, special anxiety and creative anxiety on creativity, and explains the cognitive mechanism
of the influence of different types of anxiety on creativity through the theory of processing efficiency, the
complementary structure theory of interference and cognitive ability, and the theory of fear management,
so as to provide a new perspective for the current research differences. Future research needs to be
more standardized in sample selection, research tools, research methods, research object selection and
operation.