The effects of situational and instructional demand on indices of speech anxiety.

Assessed the effects of contextual (experimental location) and instructional cues on behavioral, self-report, and physiological indices of speech anxiety. 42 male and 48 female undergraduates were randomly assigned within sex to 1 of 4 conditions in the 2 * 2 design: (a) fear-anxiety clinic, (b) fear-speech laboratory, (c) simulate relaxation therapy-anxiety clinic, and (d) simulate relaxation therapy-speech laboratory. The clinic setting produced more behavioral anxiety than the laboratory setting. The fear test instructions produced both more behavioral and self-report anxiety than the simulate relaxation therapy instructions. The fear-clinic condition produced the greatest behavioral anxiety. No significant differences were obtained for the physiological measures. The demand and expectancy effects were comparable to those obtained for rat, spider, and snake phobic Ss in earlier studies. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some characteristics of the achievement motive in women.

The hypothesis that female Ss would respond to arousal cues with heightened achievement motivation scores and high moitvation performance relationships when the cues were related to a goal that was achievement-relevant to the Ss but not otherwise was advanced to explain hitherto inconsistent experimental results obtained in this area with female Ss. Additional hypotheses stated that both these effects would be greater when female figures were used in the projective measure of motivation except in the case of girls who valued both the goals—intellectual and woman's role—when they were presented with intellectual arousal cues. In this case the effects should be greater when male figures are used. The hypotheses were confirmed except that motivation scores were always higher under intellectual arousal when male figures were used and under woman's role arousal when female figures were used. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the self-serving function of social anxiety: Shyness as a self-handicapping strategy.

Tested the hypothesis that socially anxious or shy individuals use their anxiety symptoms as a strategy to control attributions made about their performances in social-evaluative settings (i.e., self-handicapping strategies). 70 female and 72 male undergraduates, classified as low and high socially anxious on the basis of the Social Anxiety and Distress Scale, were given role-play tasks in a 3?×?2?×?2 design. It was predicted that trait-socially anxious or shy Ss would report more symptoms of social anxiety in an evaluative setting in which anxiety or shyness could serve as an excuse for poor performance than would Ss in (a) an evaluative setting in which shyness was precluded as an excuse or (b) a nonevaluative setting. It was also predicted that this self-protective pattern of symptom reporting would not occur for Ss who were not trait-socially anxious because these Ss would not commonly use such symptoms as a self-handicapping strategy. Results support these predictions for males but not for females. Sex differences in the strategic use of shyness are discussed in relation to other research on sex differences in the etiology and correlates of social anxiety. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational specificity of laboratory-induced learned helplessness.

Investigated the effects of exposure to escapable or inescapable noise in either the original pretreatment setting or in a dissimilar experimental setting with 80 undergraduates. In the same setting, Ss receiving inescapable noise displayed more anagram debilitation than did Ss receiving escapable noise. However, when inescapable Ss were removed from the original noise-exposure setting under the guise of participating in a different experiment, equivalent anagram performance impairments were not found. In addition, there were no differences between the escapable and inescapable groups in pre- and postnoise change in depression, hostility, or anxiety as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Results do not support the learned helplessness theory, which suggests that exposure to an uncontrollable event is psychologically debilitating across diverse situations. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral consequences of crowding in the deermouse (Peromyscus maniculatus).

Hypothesized that, when the degree of crowding is manipulated by varying group size in cages of equal size, it is probable that crowded animals will engage in more contact than uncrowded animals. Home-cage observation of 24 male and 24 female deer mice indicates that crowded Ss do, in fact, engage in more contact behavior. Both home-cage observation and testing in pairs for pain-elicited aggression reveal that (a) crowded Ss display more agonistic behavior than uncrowded Ss, and (b) agonistic behavior increases with prolonged crowding. Support is obtained for the theory that the effect of crowding derives from contact with conspecifics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety, stress, and intelligence-test performance.

Administered the Test Anxiety Scale for Children and the CMA scale to 332 6th graders. Later Ss were given an intelligence test under a number of experimental conditions designed to induce varying amounts of stress. Results were analyzed by means of 2 (anxiety) * 5 (experimental conditions) * 2 (sex) analyses of covariance, Ss having been classified as high or low anxious on the basis of their anxiety-scale scores. These analyses revealed that none of the effects of the main independent variables or of their interactions were significant. Results do not support either of the hypotheses: that high-anxious Ss will be more adversely affected by stress; and that test anxiety is more directly related to test performance than is general anxiety. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-perception theory and unobtrusively biased interactions: A treatment for heterosocial anxiety.

Assessed the effectiveness of a technique predicated on D. J. Bem's (1972) self-perception theory for reducing heterosocial anxiety in college males. 26 heterosocially anxious (as measured by the Situation Questionnaire), infrequently dating undergraduate males were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a waiting-list-control group. "Real life," pleasant, prearranged social interactions with females produced a highly significant change in self-perceptions concerning anxiety as measured by the Fear of Negative Evaluation Questionnaire, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, the Security–Insecurity Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. When Ss later interacted with an attractive female coed in a separate setting, state anxiety was less, and behavioral performance improved on 2 conversational skills. When measured after a 6-mo interval, the reduction in perceived heterosocial anxiety maintained itself and resulted in Ss having a significantly greater number of dates. Results are discussed in terms of self-efficacy and self-regulation and control theory. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety and visual vigilance.

Conducted a visual vigilance task (VVT) to determine sensitivity and criterion measures for 20 male and 20 female undergraduate students scoring high or low in test anxiety under either test or no-test conditions. Ss, who were classified as high or low on the basis of the Test Anxiety Scale, were instructed to report the occurrence of brief visual signals over a 36-min period of continuous watchfulness. The VVT was described to half the Ss as a measure of ability on which they were being tested; to the other half, it was described as an investigation of the usefulness of the procedure for future research. Findings show that the detection rate declined across the 36 min of the task among Ss high in test anxiety who believed that they were being tested and in Ss low in test anxiety who did not. False detection rates revealed no significant differences among conditions. Analysis of sensitivity to signals according to statistical decision theory revealed low sensitivity in both the high-anxiety test and low-anxiety/no-test conditions than in the other 2. Analysis of decisional criteria showed that Ss in the high-anxiety test condition were more conservative in setting a criterion than Ss in the other 3 conditions. No sex differences were found. Results are discussed in terms of an elaboration of I. G. Sarason's (1979) model of test anxiety. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father absence in low-income Mexican-American families: Children's social adjustment and conceptual differentiation of sex role attributes.

Investigated the effects of paternal deprivation on 248 4th-grade Mexican-American students. Drawings of the human figure--1 male and 1 female--were obtained from each S, following the procedures of the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test. Ss were also administered Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Bender Gestalt Test. Each S was rated on degree of personal adjustment by his/her classroom teacher on a 4-point scale, ranging from well adjusted, no problems in relating to others, to serious maladjustment. Results show that father-present Ss obtained significantly higher Goodenough-Harris scores than father-absent Ss on both the male and the female figures drawn. The female figures drawn by the father-absent Ss had significantly fewer feminine attributes than those drawn by father-present Ss. Whereas teachers found father-present males and females and father-absent females fairly well adjusted, father-absent males were found to show significantly more signs of social and emotional maladjustment than all the other 3 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance, cognition, and physiological responding in test anxiety.

Autonomic (skin conductance and resistance, heart rate, and heart rate variability), self-report (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and causal attributions of task performance), and performance (modified Stroop Color–Word Test and 8 difficult anagrams) measures of anxiety were collected from 36 test-anxious and 36 non-test-anxious (Test Anxiety Scale) female undergraduates in an analog testing situation under 3 experimental conditions. High-test-anxious (HTA) Ss performed more poorly and reported higher levels of anxious arousal and worry in the analog testing situation than low-test-anxious (LTA) Ss. Also, self-evaluations of test performance made by HTA Ss differed from those made by LTA Ss in being more negative and unrelated to actual test performance. However, HTA and LTA Ss showed virtually identical changes in electrodermal activity and heart rate in response to the stress of the testing situation. Only heart rate variability, which appeared to reflect differences in the cognitive and attentional responses of the test anxiety groups, successfully differentiated HTA and LTA Ss. Results support cognitive formulations of test anxiety and indicate that deficits in information processing associated with test anxiety do not result from maladaptive levels of autonomic arousal. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effet du niveau de peur, de la nature des consignes et d'un re-test lors d'un test d'approche comportementale.

56 16–22 yr old female students with either a moderate or a strong fear of harmless snakes were selected on the basis of a combined score from the Fear Survey Schedule and another fear questionnaire. The 2 experimental groups were submitted twice to a test of behavioral approach whereas a control group was submitted only once to the test. For each level of fear, half of the Ss were given neutral instructions to approach the stimulus and the other half were strongly urged to approach it and go through the whole series of steps of the approach test. Ss in the experimental groups received the same instructions on both test occasions. Results show a retest effect (i.e., Ss were less fearful in the 2nd test), but no significant effect due to the type of instructions. Ss with the higher level of fear showed less approach behavior, went more slowly through the steps of the approach test, and verbally expressed stronger anxiety. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in coping with crowding: Stimulus screening and social overload.

Individual differences in response to crowded residential settings were studied by examining the mediating effects of screening tendencies on 214 college dormitory residents' response to high-density settings. Screening was conceptualized as part of a coping style in which social events are structured and ranked by priority. Ss who displayed this deliberate coping style were more successful in adapting to the crowded environment and showed fewer of the effects previously identified with high social density (e.g., fatigue or psychosomatic complaints) than were Ss who did not display screening. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional reaction to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting.

Studied the effects of interpersonal touch over a relatively long time frame, for a broad range of response dimensions, and in a nonreactive setting characterized by dependency. On an applied level, the research studied the value of touch as a concomitant of nurse–patient interactions; Ss were 48 patients who had entered the hospital for elective surgery. Specifically, a 2 (touch vs no touch) by 2 (male vs female) between-Ss design assessed the effects of nurses touching Ss during preoperative teaching on Ss' affective, evaluative, behavioral, and physiological responses. Female Ss in the touch condition experienced more favorable affective, behavioral, and physiological reactions than a no-touch control group. In contrast, males in the touch condition reacted more negatively than control Ss on these dimensions. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alternative responses to dissonance.

50 male and 50 female Ss were placed in an experimental situation in which they found their judgments contradicted by a respected associate of the same sex. Ss were free to resolve the dissonance by conforming to the contrary judgments of the associate, rejecting the associate as one who was less competent than he had been thought to be, underrecalling the disagreements, or, devaluating the importance of the topics about which disagreements had occurred. Female Ss made less use of rejection than did male Ss and were more inclined to tolerate the conflict. Other findings suggest that individuals are inclined to employ the 4 responses as alternative means of reducing dissonance rather than as supplementary means. Finally, correlations relating the MA scale to conformity, underrecall, and tolerance were significantly different for the 2 sexes, suggesting that the effect of anxiety upon Ss' choice of dissonance reducing response depends upon the sex of the Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual complexity and preferred coping strategies in anticipation of temporally predictable and unpredictable threat.

Conceptualized the coping strategies of vigilance and avoidance as information search patterns, which were viewed from an information-processing perspective. Conceptual complexity (measured here by the Paragraph Completion Test) was examined as a mediator of response to environmental stress. The major issues of interest were whether (1) the choice of a vigilant or avoidant coping strategy would be related to individual differences in conceptual complexity level, (2) differences in complexity level would be related to patterns of physiological arousal and subjective anxiety, and (3) the cognitive performance of conceptually complex and simple Ss would be differentially affected by variations in environmental threats. 120 female undergraduates served as Ss. Contrary to expectation, the results indicate that when anticipating a temporally unpredictable shock, conceptually simple Ss were more vigilant (behaviorally and cognitively) and reported more subjective anxiety than conceptually complex Ss. Results also indicate that the conceptually complex Ss exhibited higher levels of skin conductance overall than the conceptually simple Ss. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multidimensional measure of trait anxiety: The S-R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness.

Administered the S-R (Stimulus-Response) Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness to 182 male and 204 female normal high school students, 150 male and 197 female normal adults, 34 male and 91 female neurotic patients, and 35 male and 10 female psychotics. Ss responded differentially to the 4 general types of situations (interpersonal, physical danger, ambiguous, and innocuous) and reported the most anxiety for the physical danger situation and the least for the innocuous situation. Neurotic Ss reported more anxiety than either normal or psychotic Ss. Factor analyses indicated the existence of 2 situational factors (Interpersonal and Physical Danger) and 2 modes of response factors (Physiological-Distress and Approach). Individual differences accounted for very little variance, and for normal females, situations accounted for more variance than Person * Situation interactions. Reliabilities for the situations were relatively high, and evidence is presented for the validity of the inventory as a multidimensional measure of trait anxiety. Practical and theoretical uses of the inventory are discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist warmth and status in the systematic desensitization of test anxiety.

Randomly assigned 20 test-anxious undergraduates (as determined by the Sarason-Ganzer Test Anxiety Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) to 4 systematic desensitization conditions, representing 2 levels each of therapist warmth and status. Ratings by treated Ss and independent judges confirmed that the experimental warmth and status manipulations had been successful. Comparisons with 10 untreated, high test anxiety control Ss indicate that treated Ss evidenced significantly greater reductions in both test and trait anxiety. With treated Ss, changes in both test and trait anxiety were greatest in the 2 higher warmth conditions. There were no significant effects of therapist status. Ss ratings of satisfaction with treatment and likelihood of return to desensitization treatment should new problems occur were also highest in the 2 higher warmth conditions. Reasons for the differential effectiveness of the warmth and status factors are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor-subject sex variables in systematic desensitization.

44 male and female undergraduates who scored above the 80th percentile on the Suinn Test Anxiety Behvior Scale (STABS) were used in a test anxiety survey conducted by a state university counseling center. Ss were screened for appropriateness and were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups led by the counselor who had conducted their screening interviews. Treatment groups consisted of 5 male and 5 female Ss, and control groups of 6 male and 6 female Ss. Treatment consisted of accelerated massed desensitization of text anxiety using a standard hierarchy in 4 treatment blocks of 1 hr each, massed in 2 sessions. Outcome measures were the STABS and the Symptom Check List. Treatment was administered by experienced counselors. A 3-factor analysis of variance showed a significant treatment effect by both male and female counselors and a significant effect by the male counselor with female Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and perceived causation in social success and failure experiences: Disconfirmation of an attribution hypothesis in two experiments.

Two experiments were designed to test hypotheses derived from an attribution model of psychopathology as applied to social anxiety. In the 2 studies with 64 male undergraduates each, Ss first interacted with a female confederate who behaved either warmly (success) or coldly (failure) toward them. All Ss then interacted with a 2nd confederate who behaved warmly. It was predicted that high social anxiety (Social Avoidance and Distress Scale) would be associated with the internal attribution of social failure and the external attribution of social success (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale). By contrast, it was predicted that low social anxiety would be associated with the internal attribution of social success and the external attribution of social failure. In Exp I, patterns of attribution were manipulated in normal Ss, and the effects of the manipulations were examined with respect to their subsequent social anxiety. In Exp II, the attributional patterns of high and low socially anxious men were examined in success and failure situations. Neither study provided any support for the hypothesis relating attibutional patterns to social anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)