| Abstract: | Studies from the Iowa laboratory and elsewhere that have involved a comparison of the eyelid conditioning performance of Ss scoring at the extremes of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MA) scale are reviewed. In 21 of 25 independent comparisons, differences between groups were in favor of the high anxiety (HA) Ss, with the majority being statistically significant. Although these data provide substantial confirmation of the implication of the drive interpretation of MA scale that HA Ss should exhibit a higher level of performance than LA Ss, an attempt was made to ascertain what factors might be responsible for failure of the difference to occur in some studies. The major factors appeared to be small numbers of Ss and the presence of "voluntary form" responders in the samples. Significant differences appear to be related to the degree of experimental naiveté of the Ss and the extent to which the experimental situation is designed to arouse some degree of apprehensiveness. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
