Cognition and desensitization in the group treatment of test anxiety.

Assessed the comparative effectiveness of cognitive, arousal reduction, and combined cognitive and arousal reduction treatments for test anxiety. 48 test-anxious volunteers who had scored above 32 on the Debilitating Anxiety scale of the Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 graduate-student therapists, who provided (a) cognitive therapy, (b) systematic desensitization, (c) a combination of cognitive therapy and systematic desensitization, or (d) a pseudotherapy control procedure. 12 other test-anxious Ss were assigned to a waiting-list control group. Test anxiety was assessed both on self-report measures, in an analog testing situation prior to treatment, at the completion of treatment, and at a 1-mo follow-up. GPA was also used as a measure of academic performance. Results indicate that cognitive therapy was more effective in reducing anxiety in the analog testing situation and improving GPA than other treatment and control procedures. Systematic desensitization, combined systematic desensitization and cognitive therapy, and the pseudotherapy control procedure were not reliably different from one another. Results underline the effectiveness of cognitive therapy in treating test anxiety. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's achievement strategies and test performance: The role of time pressure, evaluation anxiety, and sex.

155 3rd and 4th graders were divided into low test-anxious (LTA), middle test-anxious (MTA), or high test-anxious (HTA) groups on the basis of scores on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children. Ss were then tested in small groups on age-appropriate arithmetic problems either under time pressure typical of current achievement testing or under no time pressure. HTA boys displayed poor performance under time pressure compared to their less anxious peers yet improved significantly when time pressure was removed, with HTA and MTA boys matching the performance of LTA boys. LTA boys and HTA girls performed better under time pressure. Ss' rate–accuracy patterns are examined, and several maladaptive strategies are suggested. HTA and MTA boys tended to perform quickly but inaccurately, whereas MTA and HTA girls tended to perform slowly but with only medium accuracy. Nearly all LTA Ss showed high accuracy and a moderate performance rate. Suggestions are made for diversifying test procedures to take into account different children's motivational dispositions and test-taking strategies, as well as for teaching children appropriate strategies for coping with the demands of different tests. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Math anxiety: Relation with situational test anxiety, performance, physiological arousal, and math avoidance behavior.

Investigated the relation of mathematics anxiety to situationally assessed test anxiety, mathematics performance, physiological arousal, and mathematics avoidance behavior in 23 male and 40 female undergraduates. Ss completed the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale, the Mathematics Anxiety Scale, the Anxiety Toward Mathematics Scale, and the Test Anxiety Inventory prior to completing 3 mathematics tasks. During the tasks, heart rate, skin conductance level, skin fluctuations, and avoidance behavior were monitored. Ss also completed the Post-Task Questionnaire, a situational measure of test anxiety, worry, and emotionality. Results indicate that mathematics anxiety measures were more highly rated to each other than to test anxiety. Mathematics anxiety accounted for 14–23% of the variance in 2 tasks, whereas, ability accounted for 30–42%. Rarely, did anxiety add to the variance accounted for by ability. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduction of test anxiety through cognitive restructuring.

This collaborative clinical outcome study with 36 18–49 yr old Ss compared 2 procedures for reducing test anxiety with a waiting list control. In the first, systematic rational restructuring, the participants were trained to realistically reevaluate imaginally presented test-taking situations. In the second, a prolonged exposure condition, Ss were presented the same hierarchy items but with no instructions for coping cognitively. Ss were administered the following measures of test anxiety; the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness, Achievement Anxiety Test, Test Anxiety Questionnaire, Fear of Negative Evaluation, Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, and the Trait Scale of the Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results show greater anxiety reduction in the systematic rational restructuring condition, followed by the prolonged exposure group, with no changes for the control. Only those in the rational restructuring condition reported a significant decrease in subjective anxiety when placed in an analog test-taking situation. Ss in the restructuring condition also reported greater generalized anxiety reduction in social-evaluative situations. Within the broader context of cognitive behavior therapy, these results indicate that the cognitive reappraisal of anxiety-provoking situations can offer an effective treatment procedure for the reduction of anxiety. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of anxiety management training and self-control desensitization.

Compared the effects of anxiety management training (AMT) and self-control desensitization (SCD) in reducing targeted (test anxiety) and nontargeted anxieties. Comparisons revealed that AMT and SCD effectively reduced state (worry, emotionality, and state test anxiety) and trait (Debilitating scale of Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test and test items from the Fear Inventory) debilitating test anxiety and increased facilitating text anxiety (Facilitating scale of the Achievement Anxiety Test) relative to controls. A 6-wk follow-up demonstrated maintenance of debilitating test anxiety reduction. No performance differences were found in analog testing, but Ss receiving treatment had significantly higher psychology grades than those not receiving treatment. Posttreatment findings reveal some nontargeted anxiety reduction for SCD; however, by follow-up both treatments evidenced significant nontargeted anxiety reduction. The results are discussed in terms of remedial and preventive functions met by the self-control interventions; the possibility of treating diverse anxieties within a single AMT group is also considered. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive effects of test anxiety, test difficulty, and feedback.

Examined interactive effects of item difficulty, test anxiety, and failure feedback in a study of 67 undergraduates (mean age 20.1 yrs) using multiple-choice verbal aptitude items. Ss' levels of test anxiety were measured on the Achievement Anxiety Test and the Test Anxiety Scale. Ss were then randomly assigned to receive either a hard or an easy test either with or without immediate feedback. Results indicate that ability estimates can be affected in complex ways by the examinee's anxiety level. The least anxious Ss in the sample did best on a very hard test, and moderately anxious Ss did best on an easy test, whereas the most anxious Ss did poorly on both tests. In addition, it was found that immediate feedback improved performance, especially for Ss given an easy test. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitions of test-anxious children.

Compared the cognitions of 294 low, moderate, and high test-anxious (the Test Anxiety Scale for Children) 5th and 6th graders in an analog test situation. High test-anxious Ss reported significantly more task-debilitating cognitions than either moderate- or low-anxious Ss, including negative evaluations and off-task thoughts. High test-anxious Ss also reported fewer positive evaluations than low test-anxious Ss, whereas moderately anxious Ss did not differ significantly from either extreme group. It was unexpected that the moderate- and high-anxious groups reported significantly more on-task thoughts than the low-anxious group and did not significantly differ from each other. Both test anxiety and cognitions showed significant although modest relations with actual task performance after the effects of ability were partialled out. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Worry, emotionality, and task-generated interference in test anxiety: An empirical test of attentional theory.

Investigated sources of interference in highly test anxious Ss performing under evaluative stress. 185 college students were administered the Test Anxiety Scale. Those from the upper (34 Ss) and lower (34 Ss) 30% of the distribution solved difficult anagrams under 2 evaluative conditions: high stress (evaluative) and low stress (nonevaluative). Major findings are that the high-anxiety/high-stress group (a) reported more anxiety during testing; (b) rated themselves, their abilities, and the task more negatively; (c) solved fewer anagrams; (d) estimated spending less time on task; (e) experienced more interference from anxiety; and (f) reported greater distraction of attention to heightened autonomic arousal (emotionality), worrisome thoughts (worry), and task-produced competing responses (task-generated interference) than did either the high-anxiety/low-stress or low-anxiety/high-stress group. Findings are interpreted in terms of attentional theories of anxiety. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond the uniformity myth: A comparison of academically successful and unsuccessful test-anxious college students.

72 college students were administered a battery of tests including the Test Anxiety Scale, Worry-Emotionality Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation, and Academic Self-Evaluation Questionnaire. Two levels of test anxiety were crossed with 2 levels of academic performance in a factorial design. High-anxious Ss differed from low-anxious Ss on traditional cognitive and somatic indicators of test anxiety, but not on any measure of study or test-taking skills. Ss with high grades, regardless of their anxiety level, scored higher on measures of academic skills than Ss in both "low" performing groups. A measure assessing ability to control negative internal dialog revealed significant differences only between performance groups, implicating cognitive control as a factor influencing academic performance. Expectations that Ss had about the amount of material they needed to know to be prepared for examinations were related to test anxiety, especially among successful but anxious Ss. Implications are noted for designing interventions specifically tailored to the needs of 2 types of test-anxious students: those who perform well in school and those who are less successful. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear behavior, fear imagery, and the psychophysiology of emotion: The problem of affective response integration.

Exp I compared the psychophysiological reactions of 25 Ss with 2 fears, focal phobia and social-performance anxiety. Ss were determined by questionnaire (e.g., Differential Personality Questionnaire, Fenz-Epstein Anxiety Scale) and interview to be at the high extreme of their respective fear reference groups. Each group was exposed to both its own and the other group's primary fear stress (i.e., a snake-exposure test and a public speaking performance). These same Ss were also instructed to imagine both types of fear situations as well as control scenes. Results indicate a different psychophysiological response for the 2 fear groups across the 2 fear contents. Thus, snake-phobic Ss showed greater arousal when exposed to a live snake than did socially anxious Ss. Despite significantly greater verbal reports of fear and arousal by socially anxious Ss, both fear groups showed a similar marked increase in physiological arousal during speech performance. Neither group generated a significant physiological reaction to either fear content during imagery assessment. Exp II examined emotional imagery with 40 undergraduates from the same 2 fear populations. An imagery pretraining program, based on the reinforcement of verbal report of somatic response content in imagery, led to a significant visceral arousal response during fear imagery. Response-trained Ss showed a pattern of heart rate change during imagery that varied between Ss and fear contents. Response-trained Ss also showed relatively greater concordance between verbal and visceral measures than did untrained Ss. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eating in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: An application of the tripartite model of anxiety.

Investigated anxiety in 40 women before, during, and after eating, as well as during an earlier neutral activity. Ss were 10 restricting-anorexics, 10 bulimic-anorexics, 10 bulimic, and 10 normal-weight females. Anxiety was assessed by self-report (ratings of pleasure, arousal, and anxiety), psychophysiological indicators (heart rate and skin conductance), and food consumption measures. Controls reported little or no anxiety and ate almost all of the test meal. The eating-disordered Ss reported a high level of anxiety throughout the study. Bulimics and controls ate similar amounts, whereas the anorexics ate much less. Psychophysiological arousal during eating was high in all groups. (French abstract) (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)     

Cognitions, test anxiety, and test performance: A closer look.

Used a thought-listing procedure to investigate the cognitions of 207 undergraduates who varied in test anxiety (high, moderate, low), as measured by the Test Anxiety Scale, and past achievement levels (high, low). Ss were assessed at different points (beginning, middle, end) during a final exam. The dependent variables included 7 categories of thoughts, semantic differential scales to assess the meaning of tests, and exam grade. Results generally replicate previous research findings with the exception that thought-list generated cognitions did not vary as a function of test anxiety level per se. It is concluded that (1) there is no significant relationship between test anxiety and performance on an in-course exam, (2) there is no significant relationship between frequency of cognitions and exam performance, and (3) different cognitive assessment methods may yield different pictures of cognitive phenomena. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness, test anxiety, and acknowledgment of contingencies.

72 undergraduates designated as high or low test anxious (Test Anxiety Questionnaire) received either controllable of uncontrollable noise in a typical helplessness induction. Half of them subsequently received an acknowledgment of contingencies in the induction task, and the other half did not. An anagram task was then administered. Test anxiety theory successfully predicted group differences in anagram performance: Only high-test-anxious Ss were debilitated by the helplessness induction. The effects of providing acknowledgment of contingencies proved ambiguous, but this may have been due to the wording of the acknowledgment and the susceptibility of high-test-anxious Ss to social dimensions of the task situation. Because of differences in terminology, learned helplessness theory has failed to take into account a large body of literature that has similarly employed experimenter-induced failure, and there are numerous competing explanations for impairments following a helplessness induction. Test anxiety theory suggests that the deficits underlying impaired performance are likely to be attentional in nature. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior of high, moderate, and low test anxious students during an actual test situation.

A 3 by 2 by 3 Test Anxiety Level by Level of Past Academic Performance by Point of Assessment factorial design was employed to examine effects on 8 dependent variables: positive thoughts; negative thoughts; evaluation, potency, and activity semantic differentials; history test grade; bodily sensations; and Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale score. Results with 231 college students indicate that low test anxious Ss differed significantly from high test anxious Ss on all 8 dependent variables. Level of test anxiety had a significant effect on each dependent variable. In addition, Ss with high GPAs received significantly higher test grades and reported more bodily sensations indicative of arousal than Ss with low GPAs. Ss assessed toward the end of the test (last 10 min) reported significantly more negative thoughts and bodily sensations than Ss assessed after reading the history test questions for the first time (beginning) or at the middle of the test. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The discrepant repressor: Differentiation between low anxiety, high anxiety, and repression of anxiety by autonomic–facial–verbal patterns of behavior.

Examined the notion that personality questionnaires can be used to predict different styles of coping with anxiety, as expressed by individual differences in patterns of autonomic, verbal, and nonverbal reactions. In line with earlier modifications of the repression–sensitization concept, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) were used to select 4 groups of 12 Ss each from a pool of 206 male university students in Germany: low-anxious Ss, repressors, high-anxious Ss, and defensive high-anxious Ss. Measures of autonomic arousal, facial activity, and self-reported affect were obtained during a potentially anxiety-arousing free-association task and during a number of control conditions, including an amusing film. Significant differences in baseline-corrected heart rate and self-reported anxiety as well as rated facial anxiety all indicated that repressors exhibited a discrepancy between low self-reported anxiety and high heart rate and facial anxiety; low anxious Ss reported an intermediate level of anxiety, although they showed low heart rate and facial anxiety; high-anxious Ss had consistently high values on all 3 variables; and the defensive high-anxious Ss showed an intermediate level of anxious responding. These group differences were specific to the task of freely associating to phrases of mixed (sexual, aggressive, neutral) content and to self-reported anxiety, indicating that they reflect individual differences in coping with anxiety. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles of attribution, affect, and cognitive interference in test anxiety.

Examined the impact of performance outcome, task difficulty, and level of test anxiety on attributional accounts for performance and achievement-related affect. 83 undergraduates who had scored high or low on the Test Anxiety Scale worked on tasks of varying difficulty, evaluated their own performance, and then responded to 2 types of attribution items: the brief version of the Differential Emotions Scale and the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire. Meaningful attributional accounts were uncovered; in particular, performance outcome and task difficulty had independent effects on Ss' attributional judgments. Cognitive interference was implicated as a factor contributing to the attributional predispositions of Ss differing in test anxiety, and it was a major determinant of affective reactions. In addition, Ss' affective responses were predictably associated with their perceived performance outcome, level of test anxiety, difficulty of the task, and attributional accounts of the factors influencing their performance. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive components and phenomenological experience of test anxiety and the consequent impact anxiety may have on achievement-related behavior. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive modification of test anxious college students.

Assigned 15 male and 6 female test anxious 17-25 yr. olds (1 high school student and 20 undergraduates) to a group cognitive modification treatment, group desensitization, or a waiting list control group. The cognitive modification group combined an insight-oriented therapy which was designed to make test anxious Ss aware of their anxiety-engendering thoughts with a modified desensitization procedure which employed (a) coping imagery on how to handle anxiety and (b) self-instructional training to attend to the task and not ruminate about oneself. Results indicate that the cognitive modification group was most effective in significantly reducing test anxiety as assessed by (a) test performance obtained in an analog test situation, (b) self-reports given immediately after posttreatment and later at a 1-mo follow-up, and (c) GPA. Following treatment, the test anxious Ss in the cognitive modification group did not differ from a group of 10 low test anxious Ss, and in fact the cognitive modification Ss reported a significant increase in facilitative anxiety. (63 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of electromyographic biofeedback and cue-controlled relaxation in the treatment of test anxiety.

Studied the effect of using electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback to increase the efficacy of cue-controlled relaxation training in the treatment of test anxiety. 40 college undergraduates scoring in the upper third on the Test Anxiety Scale were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions—EMG-assisted cue-controlled relaxation, cue controlled relaxation alone, attention-placebo relaxation, and no-treatment control. Pre–post self-report measures of test anxiety, state anxiety, and trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) were obtained. In addition, a performance measure (Otis-Lennon Mental Abilities Test) was administered. Ss from the 3 relaxation groups received 6 45-min individual sessions over 2 wks. All treatments were conducted using audiotape recordings. Results indicate that cue-controlled relaxation is effective in increasing test performance for test anxious Ss, that EMG biofeedback does not contribute to the effectiveness of this procedure, and that self-report measures of anxiety are susceptible to a placebo effect. (26 ref) (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)