Test-anxious Subjects Research Articles

Autonomic Nervous System Response Patterns of Test-Anxious Individuals to Evaluative Stress.

Test anxiety is a widespread and primarily detrimental emotion in learning and achievement settings. This research aimed to explore the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response patterns of test-anxious individuals in response to evaluative stress. By presenting a standard interview task, an evaluative scenario was effectively induced. Heart rate variability (HRV), a biomarker that can accurately reflect the ANS activity, was used to reflect the physiological responses of 48 high test-anxious subjects and 49 low test-anxious subjects. Results indicate that: (1) both groups show a significantly increased emotional arousal in the evaluative scenario; (2) high test-anxious individuals show a significantly decreased emotional pleasantness in the evaluative scenario, whereas low test-anxious individuals show no significant changes; (3) both groups show a significantly increased low-frequency HRV; (4) high test-anxious individuals show a significantly decreased high-frequency HRV and root mean square of successive heartbeat interval differences (RMSSD), whereas low test-anxious individuals remain stable. These findings suggest that high test-anxious individuals display an increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity and a decreased parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity in response to evaluative stress, while low-anxious individuals display an increased SNS activity and a stable PNS activity in response to evaluative stress.

Test anxiety and metacognitive skillfulness: Availability versus production deficiencies

This paper focuses on the role of metacognition in test anxiety. In two experiments, the metacognitive skillfulness of high vs. low test-anxious secondary school students was contrasted. Low test-anxious subjects exhibited a superior metacognitive skillfulness during math performance relative to high test-anxious subjects. Furthermore, differences in metacognitive skillfulness were performance related. In order to unravel causality in the relation between metacognition and test anxiety, two types of test-anxious students may be distinguished analogous to Naveh-Benjamin (1991). Type-1 students would lack metacognitive skills (availability deficiency), through which they experience failure and develop test anxiety. Type-2 students would experience task irrelevant thoughts, which causes cognitive interference with available metacognitive skills (production deficiency). Results of Study 1 reveal that metacognitive cueing may represent an adequate method for the identification of both types. Due to time-constraints, metacognitive cueing in Study 2 failed to do so.

Effects of humor on test anxiety and performance.

The present study evaluated the moderating effects of humor in test items on the hypothesized relationship between test anxiety and performance. Subjects initially completed anxiety scales, as well as coping-humor and sense-of-humor scales. 34 women and 26 men received achievement tests under one of three test conditions: (1) nonhumorous, (2) low-humor (15% of test items), or (3) moderate-humor (30% of test items). These test versions were administered under both low, i.e., short quiz, and high, i.e., examination, outcome-value conditions. Humor frequency did not improve the test performance of highly test-anxious subjects under either outcome-value condition. Together with other previous disconfirmatory findings, the present results suggest that the hypothesized moderating role of item humor in the anxiety-performance relationship may be overstated. Ancillary analyses suggest that individual differences in the use of humor as a coping strategy significantly predict examination scores.

Behavioral inhibition and anxiety sensitivity: A reanalysis

Gray's theory proposes that chronic over-sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) is associated with anxiety proneness characterized by increased state anxiety and a tendency toward behavioral inhibition. The construct of anxiety sensitivity has been conceptualized as an individual difference in the degree to which an individual believes the symptoms of anxiety will be harmful. Both constructs suggest an increased anxiety proneness, and both suggest similar sequelae—increased state anxiety and behavioral inhibition. Despite the similarity between these constructs, research to date has not examined the relationship between the BIS and anxiety sensitivity. In the current study, we reanalyzed data presented in an earlier study in which behavioral inhibition on a discrimination task was examined among high and low test-anxious subjects (Hagopian & Ollendick, 1994). Regression analyses indicated that, relative to other measures of anxiety, anxiety sensitivity was the best predictor of behavioral inhibition and state anxiety during the discrimination task. Subsequent analyses provided additional support for a relationship between anxiety sensitivity and behavioral inhibition, suggesting the need for further investigations using clinical populations.

The influence of brief episodes of aerobic exercise activity, soothing music-nature scenes condition, and suggestion on coping with test-taking anxiety

This study examines the influence of aerobic exercise activity, soothing musicnature scenes condition, and suggestion on coping with test-taking anxiety. Sixty test anxious subjects were randomly assigned to four treatment groups consisting of 15-min episodes of exercise or soothing music-nature scenes condition with or without verbal suggestion that the treatment task in which they were engaged would be helpful to them. A videotaped “intelligence test” used to stimulate test-taking anxiety was given to the subjects after the soothing music-nature scenes condition or exercise tasks. The Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL) was used to appraise anxiety during the laboratory procedures. Results indicate that exercise, soothing music-nature scenes condition, and suggestion play a role in reducing anxiety. While relaxation activity proved to be superior to exercise in reducing anxiety immediately following the “treatment” episode, these differences disappear following exposure to a stressful “IQ test” and exercise (as well as suggestion) had a better stress inoculation effect than soothing music-nature scenes condition or no suggestion.

Performance realism in test-anxious students

Abstract Twenty-four high test-anxious and 24 low test-anxious students completed two cognitive tasks under either high or low performance demand manipulations. Before each task subjects rated anxiety levels and performance expectations, with performance evaluations being conducted following completion of each task. Results revealed lower actual, anticipated and self-evaluated performance scores for high test-anxious students compared to their low test-anxious counterparts. Expected and self-evaluated performance ratings were then compared with actual performance. No difference was found between high and low test-anxious subjects in terms of the discrepancy between expected and actual performance. Both groups of students tended to be overoptimistic in their performance predictions. However, following the first cognitive task the test-anxious group demonstrated accurate self-evaluation, whereas the low test-anxious group were overoptimistic in their self-evaluation. This effect was not found for the second task, on which both groups were accurate in their performance-evaluation. The results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of anxiety, self-focussed attention and realism amongst test-anxious students.

The effects of test anxiety and task variables on predecisional information search

This study examined high and low test anxious subjects' search for information prior to making a decision. Task variables were high and low performance evaluation pressure; high, medium, and low task complexity; and important versus unimportant decisions. In general it was found that high anxious subjects inspected more information, and that more of it was redundant, than did low anxious subjects. The amount of information inspected was influenced by all three task variables in addition to anxiety; task complexity and decision importance, but not evaluation pressure, as well as anxiety influenced the amount of reinspection (redundancy) of information. The implications for future research are discussed in terms of further laboratory studies and of linking laboratory and nonlaboratory studies in which decision making effectiveness plays an important role.

Thought listing and endorsement measures of self-referential thinking in test anxiety

Abstract The primary purpose of the present study was to examine cognitive reactions of high and low test-anxious subjects while performing a task of extreme difficulty. A sample of 44 subjects (28 females, 16 males) attempted a difficult analogies task and then reported their thoughts during the task. Subjects also completed the Sarason Test Anxiety Scale and several other self-report measures of their cognitive reactions to the task. Thought listings were classified according to their referent (self, task, or unrelated) and their valence (positive, negative, or neutral). Correlational analyses were then performed with the various measures and revealed an association between test anxiety and reports of negative thoughts involving the self. Test anxiety was not related significantly to the number of thoughts involving the task nor to actual performance on the task. However, test-anxious subjects did report more negative expectancies for their performance and greater cognitive interference during the task....

Cognitive processes in test anxiety: An analysis of two assessment procedures in an actual test

Two methods of assessing cognitive processes in test anxiety were investigated in an actual classroom test. Subjects (N =96) listed their thoughts and filled out a checklist of positive and negative thoughts either after one-third of the test, after two-thirds of the test, or immediately after completing the test. The checklist negative thoughts score was related to test anxiety, whereas none of the thought-listing categories differentiated among levels of test anxiety. This finding, together with the results of previous studies, suggests greater construct validity for the checklist than for the thought listing. Among the checklist and thought-listing scores, checklist negative thoughts were also the mostly strongly related to performance. The combined assessment was found to be reactive, in that high test-anxious subjects who completed the measures two-thirds of the way through the test obtained lower test scores than some other subjects. This finding implies that caution may be needed in using multiple cognitive measures that require students to interrupt their work during a real exam.

Calculation of significance regions for multiple predictors by the Johnson-Neyman technique

One advantage of multiple regression over traditional analysis of variance (ANOVA) is that continuous independent variables need not be artificially divided (say via median-split) prior to their analysis (cf. Cohen & Cohen, 1975). In practice, however, the researcher is likely to encounter some difficulties when more fine-grained analyses are desired. For example,considerthe case in which a continuous independent variable (e.g., test anxiety) is investigated in an experiment along with a two-level manipulated independent variable(e.g., high vs. low task importance). In this case it is hypothesized that low test anxious subjects will outperform high test anxious subjects, particularly when the task is important (see Figure I). This interaction is easily tested in multiple regression, and its significance would indicate that the regression of performanceon test anxiety is significantly different between the two groups. The next step would be to determine the nature of this interaction more specifically. In ANOVA, this is accomplished by post hoc comparisonsof means, perhapsusingtestsof simplemain effects or pairwise comparisons. In the regression approach, the ability to compare points on the two regression lines is needed to determine when the lines diverge to a significant degree. The solution provided by Johnson and Neyman (1936) establishes regions of significancefor which two groups differ significantly (see also Kerlinger& Pedhazur, 1973; Potthoff, 1964). Recently, two computer algorithms for calculating the Johnson-Neyman significance regionshave been described (Lautenschlager, 1987; Scialfa, 1987). Both providethe user withthe pointsalonga singlepredictor continuum (as in Figure 1) for which two groupsdiffer significantly. The presentprogramextends calculation of the JohnsonNeyman significance regions to the case of one or more predictors. This program represents an advance over previous programs in that regressionapplications may involve the finding that two continuouspredictors interact with a grouping variable. For example, if the curvilinear effect of a continuous variable is of interest, the multiplepredictor case is invoked(e.g., Y= bo+b1X +b1X1). As an example, consider the hypothetical data in Figure 2, in which test anxiety is related to performance in a more complex fashion requiringtwo predictors(i.e., linear and quadratic componentsof test anxiety). Alternatively, the multiple predictors could be different variables (rather

Expectancy and Self-Focused Attention: Experimental Support for the Self-Regulation Model of Test Anxiety

In an attempt to evaluate the self-regulation model of test anxiety, the effects of outcome expectancy, self-focused attention, and test anxiety were examined with regard to the performance of college student subjects. Forty high-test-anxious and 40 low-test-anxious subjects received prior success (positive expectancy) or failure (negative expectancy) feedback on a word association task that was presented as predictive of performance on verbal achievement tasks. Half the subjects then completed the subsequent achievement tasks in the presence of a mirror to induce self-focused attention. A triple interaction was found on two of the three dependent measures: among test-anxious subjects with induced self-focused attention, significant performance facilitation occurred under conditions of positive expectancy and significant performance decrements occurred under conditions of negative expectancy. Failure appeared to induce a reactance effect among low-test-anxious subjects. The results are consistent with tho...

Influence of Social-Desirability Responding on the Sarason Test Anxiety Scale: Implications for Selection of Subjects

The relationship between the concepts of social desirability and test anxiety as assessed by Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale was examined. Sarason's scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were administered to 137 women and 62 men under nonanonymous evaluative conditions. Although high social-desirability respondents reported lower levels of test anxiety, the correlation was significant for women only. It was concluded that the Test Anxiety Scale is not seriously compromised by social desirability bias. However, the meanings and implications of the significant relation were further explored by considering two-factor interpretations of social desirability. The use of the Marlowe-Crowne scale to identify defensive subjects low in test anxiety was examined. Approximately 30% of potential low-anxious subjects were classified as defensive low-anxiety subjects. The results suggest that the Marlowe-Crowne scale may be used in research to differentiate genuine from defensive low test-anxious subjects.

Assessing variations of the thought-listing technique: Effects of instructions, stimulus intensity, stimulus modality, and scoring procedures

The effects of variations in procedures for the administration of the thought-listing technique were examined. Test-anxious subjects imagined themselves in test-taking situations of increasing stressfulness and participated in similarly designed behavioral test-taking tasks. Subjects were requested to list the self-statements that occurred to them after each stimulus, recording either all thoughts (general instructions) or only those specific thoughts that reflected what they were thinking and feeling in response to each stimulus (focused instructions). Anxiety elicited by each stimulus was also assessed, and the utility of scoring variations was examined. Behavioral test-taking stimuli failed to produce expected differences in stressfulness. However, in response to increasingly stressful imaginal stimuli, subjects reported more frequent negative self-statements and less frequent positive self-statements. Also, as stimulus intensity increased, the number of thoughts listed by subjects receiving focused instructions decreased. Frequency counts of specific thought categories and a scoring procedure incorporating ratings of thought salience produced nearly identical patterns of cognitive response. Limitations of the study are discussed, and implications of the results for the conduct of cognitive assessment are examined.

A comparison of the coping and restructuring components of cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring can be thought of as having two goals: a coping goal, in which individuals learn to cope more effectively with a stressful situation using such means as coping self-statements, and a restructuring goal, in which individuals change their beliefs about events, so that formerly stressful situations will no longer be stressful. These two goals were contrasted in a treatment outcome study employing test-anxious subjects who were assigned (a) to a coping treatment, which taught coping self-statements to be used in a test situation, (b) to a restructuring treatment, which involved discussion of general beliefs about evaluation, or (c) to a waiting list control. Outcome measures of test anxiety, irrational beliefs, and thoughts 1 hour before a final exam each showed treatment effects. Though the treated groups did not differ from each other on these measures, the coping group showed more improvement relative to the control group. The results for the two cognitive measures, chosen to reflect the different goals of the two treatments, did not directly correspond to treatment content, suggesting that the change processes resulting from a treatment cannot be predicted from the content of the treatment procedures alone.

Cognitive, emotional, and physiological components of Test Anxiety

This study investigated sources of interference in highly test-anxious subjects performing under evaluative stress. Students from the upper and lower quartiles of the Test Anxiety Scale (Sarason, 1972) distribution took a short intellective test under either the usual test instructions or reassuring instructions. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed no effects for sex of subject, type of instructions for testing, or any of the interactions involving sex of subject, testing condition, and subject anxiety level. Subject anxiety level, however, was significant and yielded a consistent main effect on every variable except pulse rate, for which there was no effect either pretesting or posttesting. High-anxious subjects performed more poorly; felt less positive about themselves, their abilities, and the task; experienced more anxiety and felt it interfered more with performance; estimated spending less time on task; and rated themselves engaging in more worry, emotionality, and task-generated interference than did low-anxious subjects. Comparisons among the means for the high-anxious group revealed that worry and task-generated interference levels were not significantly different, but that both were higher than emotionality level. Regression analyses, however, suggested that worry was the primary source of interference, as only it consistently predicted performance and estimated time on task when common variance was controlled.

Endemic images and the desensitization process

Forty-eight test-anxious subjects were selected and randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions. The subjects in the first group were asked to imagine a series of images that reflected relaxing motifs and these images were counterposed with a series of items from a test-anxiety hierarchy. The second group received a course of group systematic desensitization. The third group (control) was asked to “think about relaxing” as recorded chamber music was played. Two one-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) and a series of Scheffé multiple comparisons revealed that the subjects' post-therapy levels of anxiety as measured by the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale (STABS), as well as their grade point averages (GPA) were significantly different under the endemic image and control procedures. Significant differences were also observed for these measures when the scores of the systematic desensitization and control groups were compared. No significant differences were observed between the post-therapy scores of the endemic image and systematic desensitization groups. The utility of the endemic imagery treatment for clients who are unable to undergo deep muscle relaxation because of physical infirmities, for example, cerebral palsy, is noted and a call for more extensive research is made.

Effects of test anxiety and sex of subject on neuropsychological test performance: Finger Tapping, Trail Making, Digit Span and Digit Symbol tests.

To determine the effects of anxiety and sex on various neuropsychological tests, 28 male and 28 female non-impaired, high and low test-anxious subjects were given the Finger Tapping, Trail Making (Forms A and B), Digit Span, and Digit Symbol tests. Sex significantly affected only the Finger Tapping Test; females made significantly fewer taps. High test-anxious subjects reported an increase in posttest state anxiety. However, test anxiety did not significantly affect performance.

Test anxiety and self-schemas

High and low test-anxious subjects evaluated positively and negatively toned statements as either self-descriptive or other-descriptive. The endorsement results were in accord with the existence of different self-schemas. Specifically, anxious subjects accepted more negative material as self-descriptive. Because the self-concept provides a highly effective cognitive structure for the integration of information, consideration of this difference should be beneficial in altering the effect of test anxiety on learning.

Coping imagery and relaxation instructions in a covert modeling treatment for test anxiety

The present study compared the efficacy of instructing test-anxious subjects to use personalized coping imagery based on nonacademic experiences of competence with coping imagery based on academic experiences of competence. The effect of relaxation was also examined and the relationship of imagery elaborateness and content to treatment effectiveness was assessed. Sixty-three subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treatments or a waiting list control group. Test anxiety as measured by self-report instruments significantly decreased in all treatment groups. Improvement in grade point average occurred for all treatment groups except for academic coping imagery without relaxation which was also the least efficient treatment. The waiting list control group significantly deteriorated in academic performance. Relaxation training did not appear to enhance treatment effectiveness or influence the elaborateness or content of the imagery used. Test anxiety scenes elicited highly response-oriented images by all subjects. However, the stimulus/response content of the subjects' images was not influenced by treatment outcome. In contrast, successful treatment was primarily associated with reduction in negative coping imagery descriptions, although an increase in positive coping statements occurred as well.

Electromyographic response to evaluative stress in test anxiety.

High and low test-anxious subjects performed a challenging tracking task after receiving instructions designed to maximize or minimize their evaluative apprehension. Electromyographic measures of frontalis muscle tension were recorded during the task. Actual tracking performance, subjective tension, and estimates of relative success on the task were also assessed. There were no statistically significant differences between high and low test-anxious subjects on either the physiological or the performance measures. There were, however, significant differences on the two self-report measures, suggesting a primary role for cognitive factors in test anxiety. Highly test-anxious subjects described themselves as more tense, and they more harshly evaluated their own performance.