| Abstract: | The study begins with the proposition that the individual's mode of coping with anxiety and his ability to resist and overcome the interference of anxiety in cognitive functioning are important determinants of performance under stress. It was decided to employ output or speed of performance as a measure of changes in motivation, and errors as a measure of interference. A suitable instrument that combined both measures was at hand in the Minnesota Clerical Test (MCT; Andrew & Paterson, 1946). This is a test of speed and accuracy which involves the scanning of pairs of numbers and of names and the detection of minor differences between the members of a pair. Subjects (65 student nurses) were divided into goal oriented and ego oriented groups and subdivided into high and low interference prone groups. Various aspects of performance on a cognitive task preceding and following failure in a situation in which they were motivated to succeed were compared. The results supported the hypotheses (a) that the goal oriented subjects increase output significantly following failure, whereas the ego oriented subjects do not, and (b) that the high interference prone subjects make more errors after failure than before, whereas the low interference prone subjects do not. Some of the implications of these results for the general problem of individual differences in performance under stress were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
