Cognition, anxiety, and performance on a career-related oral examination.

A 4-stage model of evaluation anxiety incorporating ability, affective, cognitive, and performance variables was tested in the context of a career-related oral examination among enlisted personnel in the US Army. A path analysis supported the stage model for the most part, showing the influence of dispositional anxiety, preexamination anxiety, self-efficacy, and negative thoughts before and during the examination on participants' oral examination performance. The nature of the examination-stage cognitive variable appears to be important, because in the path analysis negative thoughts were predictive of performance, but state of mind (the ratio of positive to positive-plus-negative thoughts) was not. Results have implications for career counseling and suggest that cognitive-behavioral interventions may be effective for individuals with anxiety related to job evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive processes in mathematics anxiety and test anxiety: The role of appraisals, internal dialogue, and attributions.

In this study, I explored the functional similarities and differences in the cognitive processes involved in mathematics anxiety and test anxiety. Ninety-six students in an undergraduate psychology statistics course completed test and math anxiety measures shortly after the commencement of their course. Before and after each of their five midterm examinations, students completed questionnaires that assessed their anxiety, appraisals, internal dialogue, and performance attributions. Results indicated that both math and test anxiety accounted for unique variance in preexam appraisals, negative internal dialogue, postexam appraisals, pre- and postexam anxiety levels, and several types of performance attributions. Only test anxiety, however, accounted for variance in subjects' actual examination performances. I address the implications of a cognitive theory for math anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and consensus processes in group recognition memory performance.

This experiment applies signal detection theory and social decision schemes to investigate the potential impact of information pooling, error correction, and effective decision-making processes in the general finding that groups perform better than individuals on memory tasks. Groups and individuals completed a true/false recognition test regarding material presented in a videotaped simulated job interview. Various indexes of memory performance indicated that each of the processes contributed to the superiority of group recognition memory performance. Social decision scheme analyses indicated that the plurality-correct-wins decision scheme was the best summary of the decision process. Subsequent analyses suggested that the confidence that group members held in their initial preferences influenced the group decision process. Discussion emphasized the impact of consensus, correctness, and confidence on group memory performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between anxiety and oral word association performance.

To test the comparative validity of 2 theories of anxiety (Sarason's interfering response and Spence and Taylor's drive theory), associations to word stimuli were analyzed. According to drive theory, anxiety should interfere with the number of different associations to the same word. Words that stimulate few associations should result in short reaction times and few disturbance of responsiveness and rare responses. According to interference theory there should be an effect upon association without an interaction between the degree of association value of the word and anxiety level of S. The results were interpreted as supporting Sarason's theory. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HK68G. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive performance in rats differing in their inborn anxiety.

There is profound evidence that cognitive processes and anxiety are interrelated. To learn more about this interaction, the authors tested rats bred for either high (HABs) or low (LABs) anxiety-related behavior in a modified hole board task. This task allows parallel investigation of various cognitive processes and possibly related behavioral dimensions, both under baseline conditions and during cognitively stressful situations. The authors provide evidence that the degree of anxiety is differentially associated with enhanced performance for distinct informational processes in rats. As HABs and LABs did not differ in their anxiety-related behavior after habituation, that is, in a familiar environment during appetitive learning, the authors conclude that anxiety behavior in naive HABs may be due to differential cognitive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol on social anxiety in women: Cognitive versus physiological processes.

Randomly assigned 32 female social drinkers (18–25 yr old undergraduates) to 4 conditions in a 2?×?2 factorial design that controlled for drink content and expectations. Ss were administered either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage and were led to believe that their drinks contained or did not contain alcohol. After finishing their drinks Ss participated in a study of social anxiety in which they were requested to interact with a male confederate of the experimenter. Multiple measures, including heart rate, skin conductance, and overt behavioral and self-report responses, were recorded. Ss who expected alcohol showed significant elevations in physiological arousal and were rated as more anxious on observational measures of social behavior. Self-report measures failed to yield any differences among groups. Implications for the tension reduction theory of alcohol use and the importance of multiple response measures are discussed. (1? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond attribution theory: Cognitive processes in performance appraisal.

Construes performance appraisal as the outcome of a dual-process system of evaluation and decision making whereby attention, categorization, recall, and information integration are carried out through either an automatic or a controlled process. In the automatic process, an employee's behavior is categorized without conscious monitoring unless the decisions involved are problematic; a consciously monitored categorization process would then occur. Subsequent recall of the employee is viewed to be biased by the attributes of prototypes (abstract images) representing categories to which the employee has been assigned. Dispositional and contextual factors influence the availability of categories during both assignment and recall. Although automatic and controlled processes can create accurate employee evaluations, categorization interacting with task type tends to affect subsequent employee information with halo, lenient/stringent, racial, sexual, ethnic, and personality biases. Behavior taxonomies, individual differences in cognitive structure, validation of behavior-sampling techniques, and laboratory studies of appraisal processes are presented as potential topics for research. (93 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control, prediction, and performance on university examinations.

52 undergraduates were classified as internals or externals by the Fatalism subscale of D. W. Reid and E. E. Ware's multidimensional locus of control scale. Ss estimated what their outcomes would be for 2 term exams and their final grade. Internals' estimates and actual outcomes tended to be higher than those of externals. Accuracy of predictions as assessed by difference scores did not differentiate the 2 groups. However, internals' estimates from the 1st to 2nd exam were characterized by more typical expectancy shifts demonstrating a greater responsiveness to their initial performance feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encouragement, anxiety, and test performance.

"To determine the effect of encouragement on the individual test performance of Ss with varying amounts of anxiety, two anxiety scales were first administered to a sample of college students… three groups of Ss were selected and designated low-, medium-, and high-anxiety. To each S was individually administered the MacQuarrie Test for Mechanical Ability… . On the basis of scores on this test, each anxiety category was divided into two equated groups. Six weeks later the test was again individually administered to each S, this time encouraging comments being offered between subtests to one group in each category but not to the other. Two-tailed t tests revealed only one significant finding: the performance of the low-anxiety Ss displayed increased variability under encouragement." 23 references. (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)     

Overprediction of anxiety, and disconfirmatory processes, in anxiety disorders

The overprediction of anxiety phenomenon and its relationships with fear, dysfunctional and functional beliefs, and emotional experiences during confrontations with feared stimuli were investigated in two studies. Study 1 investigated exposure in vivo exercises executed by anxiety patients during treatment (n = 37). Study 2 investigated behavioural experiments executed by anxiety patients (n = 11) during cognitive treatment. In both studies patients rated various variables just before and immediately after their exercises. The results indicate that anxiety patients tend to overpredict the level of anxiety they are going to experience. There is no evidence that this phenomenon is a statistical artefact, caused for instance by a pre-test response style. There is also no evidence that the observed adjustment of incorrect anxiety predictions is a statistical artefact. A global negative emotional evaluation of the experience appears to have an adverse influence on the reduction of anxiety predictions and on the reduction of fear. Fear, and its reduction after exposure in vivo or after behavioural tests, appears to be influenced by both anxiety predictions and dysfunctional beliefs. Positive emotions and functional beliefs did not appear to play an important role. The interrelationships between these factors are comprised in a path-model which describes how emotional and cognitive information yielded by disconfirmatory experiences influences changes in anxiety predictions and changes in fear. Unexpectedly, change in dysfunctional belief did not relate directly to change in fear, but only indirectly, via change in anxiety predictions. Theoretical and therapeutical implications are discussed.     

A note on anxiety, instructions, and word association performance.

In earlier work, a word association test (WAT) was presented under 2 conditions as a "sensitive personality test" and under neutral conditions. The resultant WAT scores were correlated with 2 tests of anxiety. The present work investigates the results of presenting the WAT as a sensitive measure of intelligence rather than personality. Again, the resultant scores were correlated with measures of anxiety. Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale (1958) appeared to be more sensitive to S's anxiety in the experimental situation than Taylor's MAS or Bendig's (1956) Lack of Protection Scale. The results are related to the nature and theory of anxiety. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3HK53S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive processes and interpersonal predictions.

An investigation of the cognitive process by which one observer makes predictions about another person in a social situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders.

A review of studies of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, and social phobia indicates that CBT is consistently more effective than waiting-list and placebo control groups. In general, CBT has proved more beneficial than supportive therapy as well. Comparisons with active behavioral treatments provide more variable results. Converging evidence suggests that cognitive change may be a strong predictor of treatment outcome, but that such change may be produced by a number of therapeutic approaches. Pretest–posttest change with CBT is depicted in meta-analytic summary form for each disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive, physiological and behavioural components of anxiety in flooding.

Assessed the nature of the various physiological and cognitive changes which take place in the course of prolonged exposure to phobic stimulus. 40 snake-phobic female university students were assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions--continuous exposure (CE), interrupted exposure (IE), bibliotherapy (Bib), or reading control (RC). Behavioral, cognitive, and heart rate indices (Self-Perception Questionnaire, Snake Evaluation Questionnaire, and a Behavioral Avoidance Test) were obtained pre- and posttreatment as well as during the flooding procedure. Results indicate that CE was essential to successful flooding. Physiological and cognitive indices of anxiety were correlated with Ss exhibiting improved approach tendencies towards the phobic object if the S had an opportunity to experience cognitions of self-perceived lowered physiological arousal. Attitudes toward the phobic object did not change regardless of the physiological or cognitive change. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety, academic performance, and cognitive appraisals.

Investigated the impact of test anxiety on test performance and the cognitive appraisals of test-anxious students. To overcome limitations of previous research, state and dispositional measures of test anxiety were used over repeated performance trials. 62 Ss who were enrolled in an undergraduate statistics course that required multiple examinations were administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and served as Ss. Ss' expectations, thoughts, and performance were assessed at each of the 4 examination occasions. Results indicate that test anxiety was related to poor test performance both early and late in the term. When state anxiety levels were controlled for, the test anxiety–test performance relation was apparent only during the later stages of the course. The pattern of Ss' anxiety and appraisals suggests that test-anxious Ss experienced most doubt and concern early in the term. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive processes in counting.

Five experiments investigated the effects of articulatory suppression and unattended speech on performance in simple counting tasks. Results were consistent in showing substantial disruption of counting performance by concurrent articulatory suppression. However, when response errors occurred, they tended to be numerically close to the correct figure, suggesting that performance was not totally disrupted by suppression. A small effect of unattended speech on counting was obtained when the unattended speech was phonologically similar to numbers used in counting. A larger effect on counting was observed when the unattended speech consisted of random number sequences; however, this effect was much less than that found with suppression. These results are tentatively interpreted in terms of two separate components of the counting task: subvocalization of a running total and priming of the most recently accessed numbers in an input register or long-term memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and behavioral therapy for musical-performance anxiety.

Compared the efficiency of cognitive-behavioral therapy, emphasizing self-instruction and attention-focusing techniques, with behavior rehearsal and with a waiting-list control in the treatment of debilitating musical-performance anxiety. Ss were 53 pianists (aged 12–53 yrs old) who experienced extreme anxiety in performing situations. Therapy sessions were conducted over a 3-wk period; Ss met 3 times in small groups for 1?–2 hrs and also completed homework assignments. Self-report (e.g., Subjective Stress Scale, Expectations of Personal Efficacy Scale for Musicians), behavioral, and physiological indexes of anxiety were collected at baseline, treatment termination, and follow-up intervals. Multivariate analyses indicated that both the cognitive-behavioral therapy and behavior-rehearsal programs were effective in reducing musical-performance anxiety in comparison to the control condition at the follow-up assessment, although there were no differences among groups at treatment termination. Cognitive therapy was more effective than the behavior-rehearsal program on several measures. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety and intellectual performance.

High school students were administered 2 anxiety scales, the Test Anxiety Scale and a Need for Achievement scale. Scores on these tests were related to scores on the School and College Ability Test (SCAT). Test anxiety was found to be negatively correlated with SCAT scores. The negative correlations obtained tended to be larger for female than for male Ss. The Need for Achievement scale showed only a slight tendency to correlate negatively with SCAT scores. The results were interpreted as being consistent with the conception of anxiety as an interfering nonintellectual influence on intellectual performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)