Academic examinations and anxiety: The interaction model empirically tested

The person-by-situation interaction model of anxiety was tested in the reallife setting of an academic examination. Twenty-eight male and 79 female university students served as subjects. State anxiety (A-State) was assessed just prior to the examination (Trial 2) and approximately 1 week before (Trial 1) and after (Trial 3) the examination. Five facets of trait anxiety (A-Trait) were measured in a nonstressful situation 1 week prior to the examination. The subject's cognitive appraisal of the various situations was assessed by a self-report index of the type and degree of threat involved in the situation just experienced. As predicted, a significant A-Trait-by-situation interaction in eliciting A-State was observed for social evaluation A-Trait. There were no interactions for the other, noncongruent facets of trait anxiety. The results also indicated that individuals' perception of situations may be the most important factor affecting reactions to stressful situations. In general, the results were interpreted as providing support for the multidimensionality of A-Trait and further validation of the interaction model of anxiety.     

Test anxiety and evaluation threat: Children's behavior in the classroom

Children differing in test anxiety level were observed in two art classes, one immediately preceding a classroom examination, the other when no examination was expected. The observational analyses indicated the following: (a) When an examination was expected there were general increases both in children's task orientation and in their concern with other's evaluations, and a decrease in general activity level. It was suggested that future research examine the effects of additional situational variables on children's classroom behaviors, (b) Highly test-anxious children were generally hardworking and inactive. They reacted to examination expectancy with a decrease in task orientation, reduction in communications, and attentional constriction. Less anxious children reacted to examination expectancy by working harder, eliminating task-irrelevant behaviors, and seeking feedback. These results were interpreted as supporting a cognitive theory of test anxiety.This research was supported by Canada Council Grant No. S71-0272.     

Mindfulness,anxiety, and high-stakes mathematics performance in the laboratory and classroom

Mindfulness enhances emotion regulation and cognitive performance. A mindful approach may be especially beneficial in high-stakes academic testing environments, in which anxious thoughts disrupt cognitive control. The current studies examined whether mindfulness improves the emotional response to anxiety-producing testing situations, freeing working memory resources, and improving performance. In Study 1, we examined performance in a high-pressure laboratory setting. Mindfulness indirectly benefited math performance by reducing the experience of state anxiety. This benefit occurred selectively for problems that required greater working memory resources. Study 2 extended these findings to a calculus course taken by undergraduate engineering majors. Mindfulness indirectly benefited students’ performance on high-stakes quizzes and exams by reducing their cognitive test anxiety. Mindfulness did not impact performance on lower-stakes homework assignments. These findings reveal an important mechanism by which mindfulness benefits academic performance, and suggest that mindfulness may help attenuate the negative effects of test anxiety.     

Reflective practice and foreign language classroom anxiety: video-stimulated recall at work

Reflective practices have been shown to improve the effectiveness of learning and teaching processes. In this study, video-stimulated recall technique was employed as a method of motivating language learners to reflect on their oral production tasks. In this experimental study, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was administered to control and treatment groups before and after an eight-week module during which video-stimulated recall interviews were conducted with students in the treatment group. Statistical analyses revealed that pre- and post-test FLCAS scores differed within the treatment group but not within the control group. The results also suggested that stimulated recall is an effective reflective tool which assists students in noticing and reflecting upon the symptoms and causes of anxiety in the classroom.     

Personality, social support, and anxiety among adolescents preparing for university entrance examinations in turkey

This study aimed to investigate the importance of different sources of perceived social support, sociotropic and autonomic personality dispositions, achievement expectation, and importance of academic achievement in predicting anxiety symptoms of male and female students who were preparing for the university entrance exam. Three hundred and forty students with ages varying from 16 to 21 participated in the study. Separate multiple regression analyses were run for males and females in predicting anxiety symptoms. The total Sociotropy score and the total Social Support score predicted anxiety for females, whereas for males, anxiety was predicted by four variables, namely, Achievement Expectancy, Concern over Approval, Social Support from Family, and Social Support from Friends. Implications of these results were discussed. This study was supported by the Turkish Academy of Sciences under the Young Scientist Award Program. (TG-TUBA-GEB>P/2002-l-ll).     

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.     

Personality,social support,and anxiety among adolescents preparing for university entrance examinations in turkey

This study aimed to investigate the importance of different sources of perceived social support, sociotropic and autonomic personality dispositions, achievement expectation, and importance of academic achievement in predicting anxiety symptoms of male and female students who were preparing for the university entrance exam. Three hundred and forty students with ages varying from 16 to 21 participated in the study. Separate multiple regression analyses were run for males and females in predicting anxiety symptoms. The total Sociotropy score and the total Social Support score predicted anxiety for females, whereas for males, anxiety was predicted by four variables, namely, Achievement Expectancy, Concern over Approval, Social Support from Family, and Social Support from Friends. Implications of these results were discussed. This study was supported by the Turkish Academy of Sciences under the Young Scientist Award Program. (TG-TUBA-GEB>P/2002-l-ll).     

Ethics in the classroom

In this paper, we describe our recent approaches to introducing students in a beginning computer science class to the study of ethical issues related to computer science and technology. This consists of three components: lectures on ethics and technology, in-class discussion of ethical scenarios, and a reflective paper on a topic related to ethics or the impact of technology on society. We give both student reactions to these aspects, and instructor perspective on the difficulties and benefits in exposing students to these ideas.     

Multimedia in the classroom

This paper focuses on setting up a system for developing and displaying multimedia classroom presentations that is both economical and easy to learn. Four separate aspects of the process are considered: (1) a hardware configuration to serve both the development and display processes, (2) selecting authoring software and learning to use it, (3) presentation development including locating and acquiring multimedia resources appropriate to psychology, and (4) some of the problems that can be expected to arise in both development and use of multimedia presentations. Some discussion of interactive courseware is included.     

Changing lives in the classroom

This paper sets out to describe the search for solutions as the complexity of the teacher’s role with vulnerable pupils gradually became apparent. The aim is to demonstrate how the application of psychoanalytic theories examining the unconscious processes in individuals and their influence on classroom behaviour enhanced the capabilities of the teacher and helped her to look beyond mere management of behaviour in the classroom. The use of these theories provided a ‘thinking’ space for the teacher whereby teacher–pupil relationships and behaviours could be thought about and ‘contained’ thereby facilitating the teaching process for both teachers and pupils. Examples of classroom practice are provided whereby an applied psychoanalytic framework proved to be a potent source of renewal and increased capacity in the teacher. The active participation of the teacher in her own learning process of applying psychoanalytic concepts contributes to an ongoing, developing project with her pupils.     

Pseudocontingencies in a simulated classroom

The pseudocontingency (PC) illusion is investigated in a simulated classroom setting. Related to the notion of ecological correlations, PCs arise when the assessment of contingencies at the individual level is affected by the base-rate relations at the group level. Positive PCs arise when base rates of 2 variables are skewed in the same direction (e.g., high ability and high motivation), whereas negative PCs arise when base rates are skewed in opposite directions. Experiment 1 demonstrates that PCs between student ability and motivation are contingent on effective base-rate assessment at the group level, with a bias toward positive PCs reflecting prior expectancies. Ruling out prior expectancies, Experiment 2 yields symmetric positive and negative PCs. Experiment 3 provides evidence for PC effects on gender stereotypes. Finally, Experiment 4 extends PCs from group base rates to individual student base rates, ruling out an explanation in terms of capacity deficits or inability to assess individuating information.