学习焦虑、学习态度和投入动机与学业成绩关系的研究——关于《心理统计学》学习经验的调查

本研究对122名本科生《心理统计学》课程的学习经验进行调查,其结果为:(1)在该课程的学习经验和考试成绩上男、女生差异显著,它表现在学习态度层面的有用性和成就态度,投入动机层面的自我投入上女生均优于男生;研究还发现,考分低则焦虑水平较高;(2)学习焦虑、学习态度、投入动机与考试成绩之间有显著相关,其中学习焦虑与成绩呈负相关,学习态度、投入动机与成绩呈正相关;(3)学习焦虑,学习态度和投入动机均影响学习成绩。学习成绩不仅受到学习焦虑和投入动机的直接影响,还受到学习态度等因素的间接影响。     

The Use of Time Limits in Brief Psychotherapy: A Comparison of Six-Session,Twelve-Session,and Unlimited Treatment with Families

This study compared the relative effectiveness of two durations of time-limited psychotherapy with time-unlimited treatment and a waiting list control group. Thirty-seven families applying for treatment at a child guidance clinic were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: (a) time-limited therapy of 6 sessions within 8 weeks; (b) time-limited therapy of 12 sessions within 16 weeks; (c) time-unlimited therapy; and (d) a waiting list control group in which families waited approximately four months before beginning treatment. Outcome was assessed from multiple sources: parents, child, therapist, family interaction ratings, and missed and canceled sessions. Analysis of data provided some evidence that families who received treatment fared better than those on the waiting list. There were no consistent differences between 6-session, 12-session, and unlimited therapy. A model is proposed for the further investigation of time-limited treatment.     

Differences in mathematics anxiety by sex, program, and education of university mathematics students in Turkey

In this study, we aimed to re-examine sex-related differences in mathematics anxiety and to investigate the effects of two different programs associated with mathematics education applied in Turkish universities on mathematics anxiety. Mathematics anxiety scores were assessed in 221 male and 142 female students, 238 in the education faculty and 125 in the science faculty. There were no sex-related mean differences for mathematics anxiety scores, and scores were not related to faculty program. The lower mean mathematics performance on the university entry examination of the students of science faculty may be associated with the mathematics anxiety.     

The effects of implicit anxiety on the performance of skin self‐examinations

This study examined the effects of implicit anxiety on the performance of skin self‐examinations. It was hypothesized that implicit anxiety would contribute to the prediction of skin self‐examinations beyond the contributions of variables suggested by social‐cognitive models of health behavior. In addition, it was hypothesized that implicit anxiety's impact on self‐examinations would not be influenced by deliberative cognition about efficacy. To test these hypotheses, 128 participants completed measures of explicit anxiety, self and task efficacy, and an implicit associations test designed to measure implicit anxiety. As expected, self‐examination behavior was better predicted when implicit anxiety was added to models containing explicit anxiety and efficacy. Furthermore, thoughts about efficacy did not moderate the effects of implicit anxiety on self‐examination behavior.     

Test anxiety,evaluative stress,and susceptibility to distraction from threat

Examinations are perhaps one of the main methods of assessment in education. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who are so fearful of such events that performance is impaired. Test anxiety is believed to be the trait that predisposes individuals to react negatively to examinations and tests. One way in which it is believed that test anxiety affects performance is by increasing susceptibility to distraction from task‐irrelevant material. However, few studies have directly investigated this impairment. An experiment was therefore conducted to investigate susceptibility to distraction in high and low test‐anxious students. The task used was based on one developed by Mathews, May, Mogg and Eysenck (1990), which distinguishes between focused attention and selective search. In order to determine whether a specific susceptibility to distraction exists, the distractors were varied in terms of valence and relevance to examinations. Since test anxiety is a situation‐specific trait, an evaluation‐related stressor was used to trigger test‐anxious reactions. A specific susceptibility to distraction from threat was found amongst high test‐anxious participants who received the evaluation‐related stressor. However, this effect was only found when participants were using focused attention. This suggests that the disturbed performance often found to be associated with test anxiety might be due to an inability to ignore threatening material when attempting to focus attentional resources. These results are discussed in light of current theories of test anxiety and implications for educational practice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of decisional control on state anxiety and achievement

This study examines the effects of decisional control on state anxiety and cognitive performance in a true-to-life evaluative situation. The analyses were based on the mathematics achievement and state anxiety scores of a sample of 74 eighth grade students randomly assigned to either a Decisional Choice or No Choice experimental condition. Students in the Decisional Choice Condition were given a short mathematics quiz consisting of 5 items of homogeneous difficulty level and instructed to respond to any 3 out of the 5 items. The No Choice condition was essentially the same, except that the students were given only the first three problems and instructed to answer all three. Upon completion of the quiz, students were asked to respond to the Hebrew version of Spielberger's State Anxiety Scale. The findings show that both male and female students tested under Decisional Choice conditions are less anxious and attain higher mathematics scores, on average, than those tested under No Choice conditions. The data support the notion that the provision of decisional choice in an evaluative situation enhances the examinee's perceived feeling of control over the source of the threat (i.e. the mathematics examination). This, in turn, allows more favorable psychological adjustments of one's ‘interior mileau’ to outside stimuli, thereby lowering state anxiety and concomitantly raising levels of test attainment.     

The Effects of Gender Stereotypic and Counter-Stereotypic Textbook Images on Science Performance

ABSTRACT

We investigated the effect of gender stereotypic and counter-stereotypic images on male and female high school students' science comprehension and anxiety. We predicted stereotypic images to induce stereotype threat in females and impair science performance. Counter-stereotypic images were predicted to alleviate threat and enhance female performance. Students read one of three chemistry lessons, each containing the same text, with photograph content varied according to stereotype condition. Participants then completed a comprehension test and anxiety measure. Results indicate that female students had higher comprehension after viewing counter-stereotypic images (female scientists) than after viewing stereotypic images (male scientists). Male students had higher comprehension after viewing stereotypic images than after viewing counter-stereotypic images. Implications for alleviating the gender gap in science achievement are discussed.     

Influence of test anxiety on measurement of intelligence

In this study a measurement model for a test anxiety questionnaire was investigated in a sample of 207 Dutch students in the first grade of junior secondary vocational education. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis showed that a model for test anxiety with three factors for worry, emotionality, and lack of self-confidence is associated with a significantly better fit than a model comprised of only the first two factors. The relations of the three test anxiety factors to scores on intelligence tests for measuring verbal ability, reasoning, and spatial ability were examined. The results indicated that test anxiety appears to be transitory: the negative relation between test anxiety and test performance promptly fades away. Finally, we examined whether a distinction can be made between highly test anxious students with low performance due to worrisome thoughts (interference hypothesis) or low ability (deficit hypothesis). Results do not support the deficit hypothesis because the scores of all highly test anxious students increased in a less stressful situation.     

A consciousness-sampling analysis of test anxiety and performance

In order to evaluate cognitive-interference, reassertion, and reaction-to-performance models of test anxiety, 82 students completed the Test Anxiety Scale, provided state measures of anxiety just before and after a course examination, described their preparation for the test, and reported thought content and state anxiety up to six times during the test. Test Anxiety Scale scores were predictive of pre- and posttest state anxiety but not performance or problem-solving thought frequency during the test. Thought content was significantly but weakly correlated with performance, which was well correlated with posttest state anxiety but not with pretest anxiety. Pretest state anxiety was virtually uncorrelated with posttest state anxiety, with the correlations gradually declining during the test. Question-answering thought content correlated inversely with anxiety during the test. There was no group for whom anxiety appeared to facilitate performance. Preparation correlated only with performance. The pattern of results appears inconsistent with a cognitive-interference interpretation of test anxiety and suggests that in the naturalistic setting used, anxiety is more clearly an effect than a cause of poor performance.     

Viewing oneself during synchronous online learning increases appearance anxiety and decreases memory for lecture content

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors began using online learning platforms to offer live remote instruction (e.g., Zoom), which allow students to view themselves in real-time (i.e., self-view). The present research examined whether having students keep their cameras on, relative to cameras off, during a live online lecture would increase anxiety and reduce learning. In both Experiment 1a (small group setting) and Experiment 1b (large group setting), students in the camera-on condition did not report greater state anxiety, nor was anxiety associated with lower performance on an immediate multiple-choice exam. Experiment 2 specifically examined the effect of self-view and if appearance anxiety (rather than state anxiety) might mediate the relationship between camera use and test performance. Results indicate that participants viewing themselves reported significantly higher appearance anxiety, and that higher appearance anxiety was related to decreased learning. These findings suggest that viewing oneself may uniquely contribute to heightened appearance anxiety and may reduce memory for content when learning synchronously online.     

Test Anxiety: A Multifaceted Study on the Perceptions of Teachers,Principals, Counselors,Students, and Parents

The passage of "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) legislation has led to an increased awareness of testing and assessment in public school systems and its impact. A cursory review of the academic literature and national news sources on the impact of standardized testing revealed a plethora of anecdotal cases of students experiencing illness, anxiety, and heightened levels of stress all attributed to the administration of these examinations. Furthermore, numerous studies have surveyed teachers regarding the impact of standardized tests, producing similar overviews that low performance on these examinations is correlated with increased levels of anxiety and stress. An element glaring by its omission is a formal study that surveys all stakeholders surrounding public school systems, including students, parents, teachers, principals, and counselors to gain a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions of standardized testing. Furthermore, a unique aspect of this study is the linking of student, parent, and teacher responses directly to student performance on a criterion-referenced state examination and a national norm-referenced examination. The results from these studies suggest that most of the "dangers" of standardized testing are overstated and misrepresented and that most students, parents, principals, and counselors value these tests and do not report increased levels of stress or anxiety. However, teachers as a group do present strong misgivings about standardized testing.     

Teachers’ use of fear appeals in the Mathematics classroom: Worrying or motivating students?

Aim. This study examined whether teachers’ use of fear appeals in the classroom, attempts to motivate students to perform well in high‐stakes examinations by highlighting the educational, and/or occupational consequences of failure did indeed motivate students or whether it contributed to an increase in worry, anxiety, and fear of failure. Sample. A total of 132 secondary school students. Method. Self‐report data were collected for teachers’ use of fear appeals, test anxiety, and achievement goals in the context of Mathematics at the end of Years 10 and 11, the final 2 years of compulsory schooling. Results. The frequency with which teachers were reported to make fear appeals was unrelated to future test anxiety and achievement goals. When fear appeals were perceived to be threatening, however, they were related to an increase in the worry and tension components of test anxiety and increases in performance‐avoidance and mastery‐approach goals. Conclusion. Fear appeals appear to have competing positive and negative outcomes, resulting in both anxiety and a fear of failure, and a mastery‐approach goal.     

Tracking stress,depression, and anxiety across the final year of secondary school: A longitudinal study

Levels of distress, which include stress, depression, and anxiety, are often heightened during the final year of secondary school and have been linked to major examinations that occur during this time period. However, relatively little is known about how these symptoms change over the course of the year or what moderates symptom severity. Using a longitudinal survey design, we tracked student outcomes and potential moderators (i.e., gender, test anxiety, self-efficacy, connectedness with peers, school and family, perceived use of fear appeals by teachers) associated with stress, depression, and anxiety once per term (i.e., 4 times total) over the final year of high school in seven Australian high schools. We hypothesised that student symptoms would increase over time and that symptom severity would be moderated by individual and environmental factors. Six hundred and thirty-eight unique students (M age = 16.95 years, SD = 0.56, range = 15–18 years, female = 474 [74.29%]) participated in at least one of the four surveys administered during each term of the final year of high school. Linear mixed models indicated that stress (d = 0.2) and anxiety (d = 1.7) increased over time. When all potential moderators of distress were entered into the full model, gender, test anxiety, emotional self-efficacy, and peer connectedness were all significant unique predictors of stress. Similar patterns were found for symptoms of depression and anxiety. Time 3 stress was predicted by unique variance in baseline stress, higher test anxiety, and academic self-efficacy. Overall distress increased over time and was moderated by gender, as well as by test anxiety, self-efficacy, and peer connectedness, which are areas that can then be targeted by interventions designed to maintain distress at optimum levels for wellbeing and academic performance.     

Effects of familiar proctor on fifth and sixth grade students' test anxiety

The effect of the proctor's familiarity on four groups of students in Grades 5 and 6 was investigated. The 137 children took a reading examination, half of which was administered by a familiar proctor, the other half by an unfamiliar one. Order of conditions was controlled. Analysis showed that students had significantly lower reading scores with the unfamiliar proctor. Students with midrange IQs had significantly lower reading scores than those in the low or high ranges. A significant relationship between test anxiety and effects of the unfamiliar proctor on test performance was shown. Test anxiety contributed significantly to the relationship between self-esteem and performance.     

Oxidative stress in university students during examinations

Mental stress in psychiatric disease and in daily life contributes to oxidative stress in the body. In this study we investigated a connection between possible psychological stress caused by university undergraduate examinations and oxidative stress experienced by our test subjects. Some parameters of oxidative stress (single strand breaks of DNA in lymphocytes, sensitivity to lipid oxidation and antioxidant status) were studied in medical students on the day of the examination (stress condition) and compared with the same parameters obtained from the same students during the term between two examination periods (non-stress condition). The results show that in the stress condition oxidative damage to DNA and sensitivity to lipid oxidation were significantly increased (p<0.05) when compared with the same parameters in "non-stress" conditions. A significant decrease in plasma antioxidant activity (p<0.05) in students that were under stress was observed. These results suggest that during university examinations students are under increased oxidative stress.     

Academic Performance as a Function of Approaches to Studying and Affect in Studying

Based on the model of approaches to studying and the control-process model of self-regulation of behavior, it was hypothesized that students’ strategic approaches to studying and positive affect in studying would be positively associated with academic performance, whereas students’ surface approach to studying and negative affect in studying would be negatively associated with academic performance. A sample of 406 undergraduate students completed the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Evaluation Anxiety Scale, and their end-of-semester and past semester academic performance were recorded. Regression analyses controlling for past semester performance and evaluation anxiety showed that positive affect predicted better examination grades, coursework grades and Grade Point Average, negative affect measured in the second half of a semester predicted worse examination grades and Grade Point Average, whereas approaches to studying did not predict performance. The implications of the findings are outlined.     

The effects of anxiety on intellectual performance: When and why are they found?

An experiment tested the effects on intelligence and creativity test performance of two 16PF primary anxiety traits, and general mood and activation components of state anxiety. Two attentional theories of the deleterious effects of anxiety on performance were also tested. Subjects were 80 male students. Trait and state components of anxiety appeared to affect creativity test performance independently. Intelligence test performance was insensitive to anxiety variables. The O anxiety primary factor was significantly negatively correlated with creativity test performance, but the unique variance of the other anxiety primary (Q4) was associated with higher levels of performance. Neither specific attentional theory was supported, but data were generally compatible with “dual-mechanism” theories of anxiety, which posit separate detrimental and sometimes facilitative effects of anxiety on performance.     

Academic self-confidence effects on test anxiety among Nigerian university students

The study investigated academic self-confidence effects on test anxiety indicators of performance impairment and intrusive worry. Respondents were 206 Nigerian undergraduate students (mean age = 20.29, SD = 2. 22; female = 43.2%). The students took the Westside Test Anxiety Scale (Driscoll, 2004) and the Academic Self-confidence Scale (Jones, 2001). Data were analysed to predict performance impairment and intrusive worry from academic self-confidence, taking into account students’ year of study and gender. Results suggest that academic self-confidence influenced both performance impairment and intrusive worry dimensions of test anxiety. Students who were high in academic self-confidence reported lower performance impairment or intrusive worry. Also, first year students reported higher intrusive worry than those in second, third, or fourth year of study. High manifestation of academic self-confidence is an asset for coping with test anxiety.     

Activity Group Therapy of a Dull Boy with Severe Body EGO Problems

The presence of a time limit shapes the entire therapeutic process and culminates in the management of termination. This paper outlines a protocol for dealing with termination in time-limited psychotherapy groups: (1) Select suitable members with similar capacity to use a time-limited format; (2) use a closed group format; (3) clarify the time boundaries at the beginning; (4) reinforce the time frame during the last half of the group; (5) provide focused interventions; (6) forestall premature termination; (7) reinforce termination themes of deprivation, resentment and anger, rejection, grief and loss, responsibility for self; (8) structure the final session; and (9) plan a 4-month follow-up visit to encourage ongoing application. These guidelines provide the therapist with a general structure to ensure that major termination themes are systematically addressed. They deal with powerful concepts of maturation and self-responsibility and incorporate the principal strategies that distinguish time-limited from time-unlimited group psychotherapy.     

Test anxiety in UK schoolchildren: Prevalence and demographic patterns

Background. Despite a large body of international literature concerning the antecedents, correlates of and treatments for test anxiety, there has been little research until recently using samples of students drawn from the UK. There is a need to establish some basic normative data for test anxiety scores in this population of students, in order to establish whether international research findings may generalize to UK schoolchildren. Aim. To collect some exploratory data regarding test anxiety scores in a sample of UK schoolchildren, along with socio‐demographic variables identified in the existing literature as theoretically significant sources of individual and group differences in test anxiety scores. Sample. Key Stage 4 students (1348): 690 students in the Year 10 cohort and 658 students in the Year 11 cohort, drawn from seven secondary schools in the North of the UK. Method. Data on test anxiety were collected using a self‐report questionnaire, the Test Anxiety Inventory ( Spielberger, 1980 ) and additional demographic variables through the Student Profile Questionnaire. The factor structure of the Test Anxiety Inventory was explored using principal components analysis and multiple regression analysis used to predict variance in self‐reported test anxiety scores from individual and group variables. Results. The principal components analysis extracted two factors, worry and emotionality, in line with theoretical predictions. Gender, ethnic and socio‐economic background were identified as significant predictors of variance in test anxiety scores in this dataset. Whether English was an additional, or native, language of students did not predict variance in test anxiety scores and year group was identified as a predictor of emotionality scores only. Conclusion. Variance in the test anxiety scores of Key Stage 4 students can be predicted from a number of socio‐demographic variables. Further research is now required to assess the implications for assessment performance, examination arrangements and appropriateness of using a North American measure of test anxiety in a UK context.