Role of Model's Affect in Test Anxiety

Abstract

Thirty high test-anxious and 30 low test-anxious undergraduate females were exposed to either an anxious model, a non-anxious model or no model before performing on a spatial visualization task. The STAI A-State scale was also given before and after performance to determine the effects of model conditions and task performance on state anxiety levels. Subjects were then asked to evaluate their performance. Highly test-anxious subjects performed more poorly, reported higher levels of anxiety, and evaluated their performance more negatively than low test-anxious subjects. Type of model had no differential effect on the anxiety level and performance of subjects. Thus, the vicarious effects of a model may sometimes be superceded by task demands even on highly test-anxious subjects.