The effects of manifest anxiety and IQ on discrimination.

20 Ss were selected from a population of 400 high school students who had been given the Otis IQ test and the Taylor Scale of Manifest Anxiety so that five of them fell into each of the following groups: (a) high IQ, high anxiety, (b) high IQ low anxiety, (c) low IQ, low anxiety, and (d) low IQ, high anxiety. The Ss were asked to rate 10 attitudinal concepts on each of 10 scales. The results were tabulated to determine the frequency with which each S used each step in the scale. It was found that intelligence, as measured by the Otis IQ test, does significantly relate to scale discrimination. High IQ Ss made more use of the whole scale. High and low anxiety Ss make equally fine discriminations along a graduated series. However, IQ and anxiety do appear to interact with regard to discrimination. In general, the effect of increased anxiety on high IQ Ss is to make them less discriminating. The reverse effect is found for low IQ Ss. (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)     

Intellectual and personality correlates of test anxiety.

Ss were administered: Sarason's True-False Test Anxiety Scale, Bendig's 20-item version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Sarason's Lack of Protection Scale, and Edwards' Social Desirability Scale. These data were intercorrelated with 13 measures of intellectual performance. "Although all correlations between anxiety and intellectual measures were small, there was a consistent, significant tendency for… [Sarason's True-False Test Anxiety Scale] to correlate negatively with the intellectual measures. No similar tendency was observed for the… [other scales]." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement striving, social class, and test anxiety.

It was hypothesized that compared to working-class Ss, middle-class Ss would show little improvement in test performance under financial incentive. Tests used were a simple motor test and an intelligence test. Ss were high school juniors and seniors. Results with both tests support the hypothesis that middle-class test performance is more highly generalized and less subject to improvement through increased striving for material reward. "The main difference between the two groups seems to be that while working-class striving and performance tend to rise uniformly in response to reward stimuli, in the middle-class reward-induced increases in striving may either raise the level of performance or touch off anxiety responses that lower it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of stress on the draw-a-person test.

External stress was hypothesized to increase manifestations of anxiety on the DAP. Secondly, it was hypothesized that there are 2 sources of these manifestations of anxiety: (a) the laboratory stress situation and (b) anxiety producing intrapsychic processes, activated by drawing the human figure. 57 male college students drew a male, female, and automobile under stress and nonstress conditions. Both hypotheses were supported; 15 and 11 of the 21 indexes significantly differentiated between stress and nonstress conditions for the male and female drawings, respectively. 5 of 17 indexes differentiated for the auto drawings. 5 indexes differentiated in the opposite direction. Suggestions were made for the use of the auto drawing in checking out clinical hypotheses in a diagnostic evaluation. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sense of coherence, coping strategies, and test anxiety as predictors of test performance among college students.

The study tested sense of coherence (SOC; Antonovsky, 1987), coping strategies, and test anxiety as predictors of test performance in 216 1st-year undergraduates. The students attended 3 obligatory courses and completed inventories assessing SOC, coping, and test anxiety during the final session of the 2nd semester; their grades on the final examination were recorded. The results showed SOC to be negatively related to test anxiety, whereas emotion-focused coping and avoidance were positively related to it. Problem-focused coping contributed positively to performance on the test, and avoidance coping adversely affected test grades. The data suggest that test anxiety is minimally associated with performance grades, and the 2 measures are related somewhat differentially to coping strategies and SOC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A factor analysis of rating-scale item on the test anxiety questionnaire.

A principal components analysis and a varimax rotation were applied to scores on 34 items of the Test Anxiety Questionnaire (TAQ) obtained on 202 upperclassmen. 7 factors were extracted and interpreted as (a) confidence about individual intelligence testing, (b) perspiring about testing, (c) confidence during course examinations, (d) confidence about group intelligence testing, (e) heartbeat about testing, (f) confidence before course examinations, and (g) avoidance of intelligence testing. Factors or subtests of the TAQ when scored separately may provide more clear-cut relationships with intelligence, achievement, and learning measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional task aptitude and performance anxiety.

Anxious responding (trait, state, and test anxiety) has a negative impact on overt performance. Researchers have used a unidimensional method of assessing anxiety and performance, although a more informative approach would involve a comprehensive assessment battery and multiple performance tasks. Incorporating this strategy, the authors measured the impact of anxiety on 4 attentional processing tasks. Results revealed that "types" of anxiety symptoms were differentially related to attentional task performance; test anxiety accounted for the most variance in predicting performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (D. Wechsler, 1997) letter-number sequencing and digit-span subtests, trait anxiety and fear of negative evaluation were more significant in predicting Stroop performance, and math anxiety accounted for the largest variance toward understanding Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (C. W. Lejuez, C. W. Kahler, & R. A. Brown, 2003) scores. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the Taylor-Spence theory of anxiety.

"The present studies tested the Taylor-Spence theory under 2 conditions: (a) Competing and noncompeting materials were equated in difficulty for a nonanxious group. The prediction from the Taylor-Spence theory that the anxious Ss would perform more poorly on the competing than on the noncompeting material was not sustained. (b) Anxious and nonanxious Ss were tested on easy competing and difficult noncompeting materials. The prediction from the Taylor-Spence theory was that anxious Ss would do more poorly (relative to nonanxious Ss) on the easy competing than on the difficult noncompeting material. The results were opposite from those predicted and significant at beyond the .05 level." (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)     

Identifying patterns of appraising tests in first-year college students: Implications for anxiety and emotion regulation during test taking.

The authors explored patterns of appraising tests in a large sample of 1st-year college students. Cluster analysis was used to identify homogeneous groups of 1st-year students who shared similar patterns of cognitive appraisals about testing. The authors internally validated findings with an independent sample from the same population of students and examined the extent to which cluster membership differentiated undergraduates on the basis of external indicators (e.g., anxiety, emotion-regulation strategies, and achievement). The authors used 2 randomly drawn samples to conduct an initial cluster analysis (n = 1,107) and to replicate the solution on a 2nd, independent cluster and cross-classification analysis (n = 1,108). There may be 5 subtypes of test takers who differ in how they approach tests, their experience of anxiety, and how they manage problems that occur during test taking. Theoretical implications for emotion and emotion regulation, as well as practical implications for working with undergraduates who experience test anxiety, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speed of form recognition as a function of stimulus factors and test anxiety.

This study evaluated the usefulness of several theories about Rorschach color shock. Using an arabic-greco-latin square design, the influence of color, pattern of color, figure, and anxiety level on response time was investigated in 192 Ss. "The influence on response time of stimulus attributes affecting complexity was confirmed. The hypotheses that highly anxious persons are greatly affected by colors are not confirmed. Partially verified were predictions made from Hullian behavior theory. It was found that drive level and figure difficulty were related to response time in that highly anxious persons became slower with increasing difficulty of figure during warm-up trials. During the test series, however, the predicted relationship was not found." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of experimentally aroused achievement motivation to academic achievement anxiety.

180 Ss, balanced for sex, were administered the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) under experimental conditions producing either minimal or high arousal of achievement motivation. Regression of scholastic aptitude and AAT scores on grade-point average (GPA) showed both AAT scales accounting for the same variance in GPA. Analyses of variance of AAT scores showed no sex differences, but highly significant main effects for experimental condition and level of scholastic aptitude. It was concluded that test anxiety is a unidimensional construct, and that the AAT is a measure of anxiety aroused by stress cues present during test taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subject, experimenter, and situational variables in research on anxiety.

3 organismic variables, test anxiety of Ss and of Es, and sex of S were manipulated in a verbal-learning situation. 2 siuational variables, preliminary differential-motivating instructions, and success-failure reports were also studied. High test anxious Ss performed at lower level than did low test anxious Ss, and females were superior to males. Female Ss performed best when run by low test anxious Es. Many significant interactions involving both organismic and situational variables were obtained. The results strongly indicate the need for investigations which simultaneously manipulate these variables in psychological experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement motive and test anxiety conceived as motive to approach success and motive to avoid failure.

"… the following hypotheses are investigated: persons in whom the motive to achieve success is stronger than the motive to avoid failure (a) should prefer tasks of intermediate difficulty, (b) should show greater persistence in working at an achievement related task, and (c) should show more efficiency, or a higher level of accomplishment, than persons in whom the motive to avoid failure is stronger… . [Results] support the hypotheses." 3 measures of achievement related motives were not found to be correlated. "These results highlight the importance of discovering why different methods of measuring apparently the same human motive do not yield comparable results." 30 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of frustration and anxiety on overt aggression.

A study of the frustration-aggression hypotheses. Ss were required to count backwards from 100 by 3. A high and low level of frustration situation was constructed, with the "high" being characterized by a threat of electric shock if E was dissatisfied with Ss performance, and E interrupting S by making sarcastic and insulting comments. Following this, E made predictions on what might be S's response on a questionnaire assessing attitudes towards driving, and S was allowed to administer shock to E when S felt E was in error. Measures of frequency and duration of shock and pressure exerted in depressing a shock plunger were obtained as well as GSR and answers to an anxiety questionnaire. The findings generally confirmed the frustration-aggression thesis. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HK46H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety and blame assignment in a failure situation.

It was found that high anxiety Ss tended to blame the self for failure to a significantly greater extent than did the low anxiety Ss. Also, high anxiety Ss proved more consistent in the direction of blame assignment than did the low anxiety Ss. A discussion of the order of presentation of test materials reveals a possible source of significant difference between groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

N achievement, test anxiety, and subjective probability of success in risk taking behavior.

This study was concerned with the effects of n Ach and Test Anxiety on risk taking behavior and subjective probability of success in a sequential decision task. The principal findings were as follows: Ss who scored high on n Ach and low on Test Anxiety tended to make their decisions in the intermediate quartiles of the distribution of reported confidence at the trial of decision more often than Ss who scored high in Test Anxiety and low in n Ach. High n Ach tends to bias the overall level of subjective probability of success upward. Ss who scored high in n Ach and low in Test Anxiety tended to increase confidence rapidly up to the level of 50% confidence and then decrease their rate of increase in confidence after the 50% level of confidence has been attained in comparison to Ss who scored low in n Ach and high in Test Anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acute effects of qigong exercise on mood and anxiety.

Psychosocial stress may lead to increased rates of anxiety and depression. Aerobic exercise and mind-body therapies are frequently described as having positive effects on psychological well-being by enhancing mood and reducing anxiety. Few studies, however, have investigated the acute psychological effects of qigong exercise. Fifty-nine regular qigong exercisers (mean age 50.8 years) were randomized to a Qigong or Control group. Pre- and postmeasurements were then compared. POMS-Depression, Anger, and Fatigue, and STAI-State Anxiety scores decreased significantly in the Qigong group but not in the Control group. Results thereby suggest that qigong exercise can produce desirable psychological effects, and Qigong exercise may therefore be included among other activities performed to boost resistance to daily stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)