Journal of Undergraduate Psychological Research2008, Vol. 3 - PDF document

Journal of Undergraduate Psychological Research2008, Vol. 3 Debilitating and Facilitating Anxiety Effects on Identification Katherine H. Moyer Western Connecticut State University in limited time one of two structures built of Wedgits, a building toy. Anxiety has been shown to affect 1,381,38 .05, partial .11, and the observed power = .55, = .05. The 30, points higher than Facilitating Anxiety, were very close to those for Facilitating Anxiety ( 23, 5.10). It has been shown that deficits in sensory task completion existin samples with clinical anxiety disorders as compared to the Katherine H. Moyer, Psychology Department, The University ofMississippi, University, MS 38677. Email: khmoyer@olemiss.edu. university voluntarily participated in the experiment. At the Wedgits, a building toy. Abox covered the structure. Numberedcardswith ten different pictures of Wedgits structures were placed inenvelopes. Participants also received the Alpert Haber AchievementAnxiety Test (AAT). The AATis presented in the Appendix. The Procedure A2 x 3 experiment was conducted. Participants were randomlyassigned to view one of two Wedgits structures. Separately, each group was seated in a test room. Each participantÕs participant. All participants were asked to turn over the questionnaireand complete it. Participantsparticipants would have five seconds to view the building. Theypicture that corresponded to the structure they saw. Participants Awas used to analyze theresults. The first, fixed factor was the condition, the two differentWedgits structures viewed. The second, covariant factor was neutral. The dependent variable was correct identification of theWedgits structure. The hypothesis that dominant DebilitatingFacilitating Anxiety was supported, 1,381,38 .05, .11, and the observed power = .55, = .05. Participants with dominant Debilitating Anxiety represented with Neutral Anxiety 2%. The mean and standard deviation of 30, scored overall five points higher than Facilitating Anxiety, were 23, Descriptive statistics of these curves are presented in Table 1.Table 1 Facilitating and Debilitating Anxiety Descriptive Statistics Min Max Mean SD ac Anx41 11 33 23.05 5.10Deb Anx41 194430.00 5.66Anx Type41 -18272.39 9.47Overall Anx41 436352.98 4.22Valid listwiselistwise41 The hypothesis that dominant Debilitating Anxiety would correspond to more errors than dominant Facilitating Anxiety wassupported. However, a more informative test of performancetification trials. The number of errors would be scored as a ratiovariable. The difference between a consistent pattern and onetime error in identification could be shown. The relationshipvery close. However, performance anxiety is usually understoodFacilitating Anxiety was expected to be significantly smaller thanthe standard deviation for Debilitating Anxiety. That was not thecase here. The results may be explained by the presence of skill and competitive components of the task. Those elementshave been suggested to be necessary for anxiety type to affectthree dimensions. When skill and competition involved in a taskare low, as anxiety increases, success increases then decreasesbell curves for Debilitating and Facilitating Anxiety emerge.apex of the Facilitating Anxiety curve when overall FacilitatingAnxiety is greater than overall Debilitating Anxiety. Given thismodel, perception of a participantÕs skills as equivalent to alleffort rather than competition against others should eliminate the effects of anxiety type. Further research is needed to test DEBILITATING AND FACILITATING7 8DEBILITATING AND FACILITATING olmont, B., Gangloff, P., Vouriot, A., & Perrin, P20022002 euroscience Letters, 329 Cunningham, G., & Ashley, F20022002 Perceptual and Motor Skills, 93 Hainaut, J-P20052005fects of mood states andanxiety as induced by the video-recorded Stroop color- Perceptual Hollandsworth, J., Glazeski, R., Kirkland, K., Jones, G., & Van 19791979An analysis of the nature and effects Cognitive Therapy and Research, Kaplan, J., Erickson, K., Luckenbaugh, D., Weiland-Fiedler, P., 20062006ferential performance on tasks of affective processing and panic disorder with comorbid major depressive disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 95 165-171.20042004direction of competitive anxiety as a function of sport type and experience [Abstract]. Medicine and Science in Sports, 14 McKay20052005. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29 Pollock, R., Carter, A., Amir20062006Anxiety Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44 Raffety19971997debilitating trait anxiety, situational anxiety and coping with an anticipated stressor: Aprocess analysis Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,72 892-906. 20062006attention and threat: Quick orienting versus slow disengagement and two versions of the dot probe task. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45 Yechiam, E., Goodnight, J., Bates, J., Busemeyer, J., Dodge, K., 20062006Aformal cognitive model of sychological Assessment, 18 239-249. Appendix A Questionnaire on Attitudes Toward Examination answers to any of these kinds of questions. They merely offer by circling the most appropriate statement. You can always 2. I work most effectively under pressure, as when the task is 3. In a course where I have been doing poorly, my fear of a bad 4. When I am poorly prepared for an exam or test, I get upset, anddo less well than even my restricted knowledge should allow.A. This never happens to meB. This hardly ever happens to meD. This often happens to meE. This practically always happens to me5. The more important the examination, the less well I seem to do.6. or may notor may notonce I start, I seem to forget to be nervous.exam is over.B. This often happens to meC. This sometimes happens to meE. I never block on questions to which I know the answers9. When I start a test, nothing is able to distract me.B. This is often true of meC. This is sometimes true of meE. This is never true of meE. Almost always11. I find that my mind goes blank at the beginning of an exam,almost donÕt care how well I do by the time I start the test.14. Time pressure on an exam causes me to do worse than the restA. Time pressure always seems to make me do worse onC. Time pressure sometimes seems to make me do worseD. Time pressure hardly ever seems to make me to worseTime pressure never seems to make me do worse on 15. Although ÒcrammingÓ under pre examination pressure is notA. I am always able to use the ÒcrammedÓ material successfullyB. I am usually able to use the ÒcrammedÓ material successfullyC. I sometimes can use the ÒcrammedÓ material successfullyD. I hardly ever use the ÒcrammedÓ material successfullyE. I am never able to use the ÒcrammedÓ material successful DEBILITATING AND FACILITATING9 10DEBILITATING AND FACILITATING 16. I enjoy taking a difficult exam more than an easy one.E. Almost Always18. The more important the exam or test, the better I seem to do.A. This is true of meC. This is sometimes true of meWhen I donÕt do well on difficult items at the beginning of anA. This never happens to meB. This very rarely happens to meC. This sometimes happens to meD. This frequently happens to meE. This almost always happens to meFacilitating Anxiety Score:Range 9-45Debilitating Anxiety Score:Range 10-50