An Intercorrelational Study of Some Indices of Verbal Fluency

Abstract

This article reports an intercorrelational study of nine variables, assumed to be relevant to the occurrence of hesitation and anxiety in verbal behavior. Six verbal indices are used, including productivity, “Ah” and “non-ah” speech disturbance ratios, silent pauses, reaction time, and articulation rate. In addition Eron's rating scale for Affective Arousal in TAT responses, an adaptation of this scale for rating negative affect or anxiety, and a GSR measure are used. These measures are applied to stories given in response to 16 selected TAT cards by 30 nursing students, ages 20 to 22. In the intercorrelations of the variables and their loadings on three orthogonal factors, the relevance of the verbal indices to the concepts of hesitation and anxiety is sought. Some of the correlations are consistent with an uncertainty or hesitation concept; however, no uncertainty or hesitation factor emerges. On the other hand, an anxiety factor, on which negative affect and GSR both load, is present. Unfortunately, there are no verbal index loadings on this factor. The significant relationship of GSR to anxiety and its unrelatedness to a non-directional measure of affective activation is a finding of interest. Because of the degree of independence of each other manifested by the different verbal indices it is necessary to continue to study them separately in investigations of verbal interactions.