Applied relaxation as training in self-control.

81 test-anxious (Sarason's Test Anxiety Questionnaire) undergraduates who were high or low in general anxiety (the Trait form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory--T-STAI) were treated with 1 of 4 procedures: applied relaxation, systematic desensitization, relaxation only, or no treatment (control). The effectiveness of each procedure both in reducing test anxiety and in generalizing to other fears was assessed with 3 measures of test anxiety (Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale, Wonderlic Personnel Test, and the State form of the STAI) and 3 measures of general anxiety (T-STAI, Institute for Personality and Ability Testing Anxiety Scale, and Geer's Fear Survey Schedule). Results indicate that applied relaxation was more effective in reducing anxiety than both relaxation only and no treatment on 2 of the measures of general anxiety and 2 of the measures of test anxiety, although significant differences between applied relaxation and systematic desensitization were limited to only 1 measure. (32 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)     

A self-control versus a counterconditioning paradigm for systematic desensitization: An experimental comparison.

Compared procedures that follow from the traditional counterconditioning paradigm and a self-control paradigm of systematic desensitization, using 47 test-anxious undergraduates as Ss. As predicted, the self-control procedures were superior to the counterconditioning procedures and control conditions, although only Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale was statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

EMG biofeedback training versus systematic desensitization for test anxiety reduction.

Investigated EMG biofeedback training as a method to reduce test anxiety among 40 university students. A procedure combining EMG biofeedback training with systematic desensitization (SD) was compared to an automated SD program not using EMG feedback. The study also evaluated the effectiveness of EMG feedback relaxation training without SD. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: (a) EMG biofeedback training with SD, (b) EMG biofeedback relaxation training, (c) automated SD, and (d) no-treatment control. At the end of the program, all participants were administered the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale, Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale, and an anagrams test, given under threat conditions. Results suggest that EMG biofeedback training is a useful technique for reducing test anxiety, but not necessarily more effective than SD. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and intellectual performance: A partial failure to replicate.

The study tried to replicate Sarason's (1957) findings of the interfering effect of test anxiety and the facilitating effect of general anxiety on academic work. The study also tested the generality of the Taylor-Spence (1952) hypothesis of the negative effect of anxiety on behavior. A study of the effects of different types of anxiety on academic performance, Taylor, Test, and General anxiety scores, course grades and grade-point averages were obtained on private college Ss (N = 55) and state college Ss (N = 70). Results failed to demonstrate a significant correlation between Test anxiety and academic work, but confirmed the facilitating influence of general anxiety on course grade. The differential effects of anxiety were discussed in terms of the interaction between anxiety and grade level, overlearning, nature of the tasks, and intellectual ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial placement of human figure drawings as an indicator of cognitive and personality characteristics among normal young adolescents.

Data from 13.7-yr-old Ss administered Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale for Children show that (a) contrary to common clinical interpretations, no relationship was found between test anxiety scores and spatial placement of human figure drawings; (b) Ss who used the upper left-hand space had lower levels of conceptual maturity, cognition inhibition ability, and accuracy in time estimates; and (c) placement of figures on the right-half or center of the sheet was related to higher levels of conceptual maturity and ability to delay time estimates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelationships among measures of field dependence, ability, and personality traits.

This study was devised to test the validity of findings of previous research with regard to the personality correlates of performance on Witkin's (1954) measures of field dependence (FD). The results (with a sample of college Ss) suggest that the Embedded Figure Test (EFT) and the Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT) do not necessarily measure the same cognitive or personality factors. Previous findings were not, to a considerable extent, duplicated; some personality correlates were not found to be related to either EFT or RFT. FD people were characterized by a tendency to react with affective disruption and intellectual deficit to an external situation that lacks clear structure. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HA27E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships among imaginative, direct verbal, and physiological measures of anxiety in an achievement situation.

The relationships among 3 dispositional measures and 2 physiological indices of anxiety were investigated. The dispositional measures were low n Achievement, the Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Skin conductance and respiratory volume were the physiological indices. 25 male college students served as Ss. The correlation between n Achievement and Test Anxiety was -.43; between Test Anxiety and Manifest Anxiety, .53; and between Achievement and Manifest Anxiety, -.25. Need Achievement and Test Anxiety were both related to changes in skin conductance, but the Manifest Anxiety Scale did not relate to conductance change. 15 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of interpersonal stress on the prediction of academic performance.

186 military cadets were administered measures of interpersonal stress (Study 1) and test anxiety (Study 2; the Test Anxiety Scale), and their GPAs and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were obtained. Results show that interpersonal stress, generated by competing demands for attention, decreased the power of intellectual ability tests (SAT) to predict academic performance (GPA). Stress in relations with parents and faculty reduced academic performance but did not moderate the correlations between the predictor test and the criterion. Findings have implications for selection research by indicating the need to specify the situations in which tests will best predict intellectual performance. Findings also suggest that cognitions associated with different sources of stress play a significant part in determining the impact of stress on performance. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of implosive therapy and systematic desensitization in the treatment of test anxiety.

Administered I. G. Sarason's 21-item Test Anxiety Scale as a pre- and posttest measure of the comparative efficacy of 2 techniques for reducing test anxiety in 34 undergraduates. Both desensitization and implosive therapy resulted in significant decreases in scores. However, the desensitization group also demonstrated a significant reduction in state anxiety assessed during simulated testing sessions and a significant increase in GPA, while the implosive therapy group showed no comparable improvement. Results are discussed in relation to a number of conceptual and methodological issues that have received relatively little empirical attention in behavior therapy research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Objective measurement of fear of success and fear of failure: A factor analytic approach.

Several objectively scored measures of fear of success and fear of failure have been designed in recent years, but there is little evidence that they measure 2 distinct, unidimensional constructs. The present study was undertaken primarily to determine if fear of success and fear of failure are operationally distinct and if all fear of success measures tap a single unidimensional construct. Eight Fear of Success and Fear of Failure scales (e.g., Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale and Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test) were administered to 415 male and female undergraduates, and the scores were intercorrelated. Results indicate that fear of success is not a unidimensional construct and that some of the measures of fear of success and fear of failure are highly related. Next, each scale was factor analyzed, and 37 new variables were created. These were in turn factor analyzed, and 5 highly stable orthogonal factors were obtained. One of these factors appears to be fear of success; another is clearly test anxiety (called fear of failure in the literature on achievement motivation). A 3rd factor is concerned with sex-role-related attitudes toward success in medical school. A 4th seems to reflect neurotic insecurity, and the 5th has to do with the value of success. Indices of psychological well-being and psychosomatic illness related differently to each of the 5 factors. Implications and further questions are discussed briefly. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of anxiety and threat on the solution of a difficult task.

"Two variables were manipulated in this research, anxiety and experimental instructions administered prior to the subjects' performance on a series of anagrams high in difficulty level. Three measures of anxiety were used: the Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) [Sarason, 1958], the Lack of Protection Scale (LP) [Sarason, 1958], and Bendig's version of the Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) [Bendig, 1956]. The two sets of instructions differed in that one set was designed to pose a personal threat to the subject and the other set was designed to reassure the subject. The results showed that TAS and LP, but not MAS, significantly interacted with the instructions." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3HK65S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some physiological correlates of Rorschach body image productions.

"The relationship between surface characteristics of Rorschach responses and physiological measures was investigated in order to test the hypothesis that the projected perception of one's body is related to the patterning of physiological responses… . Physiological indices related to bodily exterior (muscle potential, skin resistance, cardiovascular peripheral resistance) and bodily interior (pulse rate, stroke volume, cardiac output) physiological responsivity were abstracted… . The results indicate that the tendency to give impermeable or protective characteristics to Rorschach percepts is related to heightened physiological reactivity at an exterior body site and that the absence… is related to the heightened physiological response on interior indices… under stress." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of hypnotically induced anxiety on the Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Barron Ego-Strength Scale.

A measure of hypnotically-induced anxiety was correlated with scores on Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale and Barron's Ego-Strength Scale. A positive relationship was elicited between degree of experienced anxiety and the Taylor scale; a negative relationship between anxiety and Barron's scale. "These results suggest that the MAS is a valid indicator of clinical anxiety… [and] that the… [Barron scale] is genuinely measuring ego-strength or some similar trait associated with psychopathological conditions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor analysis of the Test Anxiety Scale and evidence concerning the components of test anxiety.

The scores of 1,200 undergraduates on Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale were factor analyzed. The analysis involved rotation to an orthogonal structure that produced 2 factors that accounted, respectively, for 53.45% and 31.50% of the total variance. Both cognitive "worry" and "emotionality" items loaded strongly on the 1st factor, which appears to reflect worry about oneself and one's performance on tests and a variety of physical and emotional consequences of this intense worry. The 2nd factor seems to reflect emotional distress in testing situations, but no worry or interference with performance, in persons who appear to lack a strong achievement orientation. Subscales based on these 2 factors were negatively correlated. Implications for the 2-component theory of test anxiety are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antisemitism and the expression of fantasy aggression.

"In order to test a hypothesis derived from the scapegoat theory of prejudice [Dollard, et al, 1939], two groups… chosen on the basis of… high and… low scores on the Levinson Anti-Semitism Scale, [A-S] were subjected to an aggression arousing situation. Following aggression arousal a specially designed fantasy test was administered, which yielded measures of aggression expressed toward fantasy characters with Jewish or non-Jewish names. Control subjects, matched with Arousal group subjects on… A-S scores, took the fantasy test without prior aggression arousal. Aggression arousal produced significant differences in the fantasy aggression of High and Low A-S subjects… . [supporting] the hypothesis that persons high in anti-Semitism have a greater… tendency… to displace aggression selectively onto Jews." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD54W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Covert reinforcement in the treatment of test anxiety.

Assigned 36 undergraduates who had high measured test anxiety (as measured by the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale) to 1 of 3 groups; covert reinforcement, placebo control, and no-treatment control. Pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up scores were obtained on 3 criterion measures (Test Anxiety Questionnaire, Suinn scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). Findings support the use of covert reinforcement for treating test anxiety. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mathematics anxiety: Some basic issues.

Investigated 4 considerations about mathematics anxiety (MA): (a) the degree of MA experienced by men and women, (b) the internal consistency and test–retest reliabilities of 3 MA measures, (c) the relationship of MA instruments to each other, and (d) the relationship of MA to test anxiety and its worry and emotionality components. 769 college students' MA was measured by the Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS), the Anxiety Toward Mathematics Scale (ATMS), and the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS). Ss also completed the Test Anxiety Inventory. Results indicate nonequivalent internal consistency and test–retest reliability coefficients for the 3 MA measures, with the ATMS having the lowest coefficients. Small but significant gender differences were found on the MARS and MAS. The MA measures were moderately related to each other, and almost invariably, they were more closely related to each other than to test anxiety and its components. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)