Larry W. Morris

Effects of Stimulative and Sedative Music on Cognitive and Emotional Components of Anxiety

66 college students enrolled in a psychology class took their first examination of the semester, a multiple-choice test, under conditions of stimulative music, sedative music, or no music. One of the five following types of music was played during each section of the test for the two treatment groups: classical, jazz and blues, country-bluegrass, easy listening, and rock/rock and roll. Before and after each of the five sections of the test, subjects responded to a 5-item questionnaire designed to assess (a) worry about the test, (b) emotionality or physiological-affective arousal, (c) ability to concentrate, (d) expectancy of performance, and (e) like or dislike of the music. Stimulative music significantly increased both worry and emotionality while sedative music had no effect on anxiety relative to that of the control group. Test performance was not affected by the music.

Differential effects of stimulative and sedative music on anxiety concentration and performance

30 music majors and 30 psychology majors were tested individually under stimulative, sedative, and no-music conditions. Each subject was exposed to one of five types of music: classical, jazz and blues, country/bluegrass, easy listening, and rock/rock and roll. Under each condition subjects indicated their (a) worry about the test, (b) emotionality or physiological-affective arousal, (c) ability to concentrate, (d) expectancy of performance, and (e) like or dislike of the music. Compared with sedative music stimulative music increased worry scores, interfered with concentration, and resulted in lower expectancies as predicted. Thus the effects of music are to be understood in terms of cognitive processes rather than primarily on the basis of physiological-affective responses to musical stimuli. A complex interactive effect on task performance was reported.

Assessing Various Coping Strategies and Their Effects on Test Performance and Anxiety.

Investigated the use of cognitive coping strategies in meeting the stressfulness of a testing situation and the relation of these strategies to performance and test anxiety. Sixty-seven students completed a measure of cognitive (worry) and physiological-affective (emotionality) components of test anxiety immediately before and after a course examination. A 30-item questionnaire was designed to measure cognitive methods of coping. In addition to the use of correlations, students were grouped according to their predominant coping strategy, and group differences were examined via analyses of variance. Rationalization and isolation were associated with better performance, preoccupation and resignation with higher anxiety and poorer performance, and denial with lower anxiety.

Components of School Anxiety: Developmental Trends and Sex Differences

Dunns School Anxiety Questionnaire was administered to 104 third through eighth graders (Study I) and 122 eighth graders (Study II). Significant decrements in anxiety with increasing age were found for worry (but not emotionality), report card anxiety, and failure anxiety. In Study I girls scored significantly higher than boys on emotionality (but not worry) and test anxiety. Sex differences were greater in Study II, girls scoring consistently higher. In Study II a worry-emotionality questionnaire administered immediately preceding a final examination correlated highly with School Anxiety Questionnaire scores. Results are taken as generally supportive of the multidimensional approach to the study of school anxiety.

Individual differences in skilled performance following imagery of bilateral skill.

The present study examined individual differences related to imagery about bilateral skill. 100 males were pretested on the Betts and Gordon scales for competency of imagery and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (to assess introversion-extraversion), and randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Experimental subjects were given 15 30-sec. sessions performing rotary pursuit, 5 min. rest, and 15 30-sec. trials with the non-dominant hand. Controls received identical treatment but recited the multiplication table instead of generating mental imagery. As expected, skill imagery facilitated bilateral transfer of pursuit tracking. Limited support for competency in generating imagery as a prerequisite for effective imagery of one skill was given only to the extent that subjects who could control imagery, practiced mental imagery, and were given 10 to 15 physical practice trials, performed better than those with less control. Contrary to prediction, there was no evidence of personality effects either in correlations of personality scores with performance or in a post hoc analysis of variance in which subjects were assigned to treatment versus control and extravert versus introvert groups.

Interactive Effects of Generalized and Situational Expectancies on the Arousal of Cognitive and Emotional Components of Social Anxiety.

Abstract This study examined the arousal of social anxiety in an interview setting as a function of anticipated self-disclosure. Of 88 college students who completed the Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD) scale and other measures of social anxiety, self-disclosure, need to affiliate, and interpersonal trust, 24 volunteered for the interview. During the interview, both components of anxiety (worry and emotionality) were affected by expectancy conditions, and emotionality was higher for high- than for low-SAD subjects. The prediction of an interaction between SAD level and expectancy condition on worry was confirmed: only high-SAD subjects exposed to the negative-expectancy condition experienced significant elevations in worry. Though social anxiety and self-disclosure measures correlated negatively, anxiety did not affect self-disclosure during the interview.

Effects of Test-Interruption on Emotional Arousal and Performance

78 volunteer Ss designated high or low test-anxious were administered a standard reading test under non-stressful conditions. Group I (Irrelevant interruption) was interrupted by trivial, irritating occurrences; Group II (Relevant interruption) was interrupted by occurrences which appeared to be part of the planned sequence of the experiment; Group III (control) was uninterrupted. Of the 4 situational measures of affect utilized (hostility, anxiety, worry, emotionality), only hostility was significantly aroused by the experimental manipulations and, as expected, this elevation occurred only for the Irrelevant interruption group. All indices of emotional arousal tended to be higher for high than for low test-anxious Ss, but there were no significant interaction effects between anxiety levels and treatment groups. Performance was negatively related to worry and anxiety but was not affected by experimental treatments. Results are discussed within the framework of Mandlers (1964) interruption theory.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCUS OF CONTROL AND EXTRAVERSION-INTROVERSION IN PREDICTING ACADEMIC BEHAVIOR

To investigate the interactive effects of internal-external locus of control and extraversion-introversion on test-taking behavior 58 college students were assigned to four groups according to Rotters locus of control scale and the Eysenck Personality Inventory extraversion scale. External locus of control was positively related to Neuroticism and unrelated to Extraversion, as predicted. Immediately before a course examination, worry, emotionality, and three expectancy variables were assessed, and the time spent taking the examination (test impulsiveness) was recorded. As hypothesized, internals performed better (though they were no less anxious or impulsive) than externals, and extraverts were more impulsive (though they did not perform less well) than introverts. As predicted, external extraverts tended to perform worse than other students. Neuroticism was the only significant predictor of worry and emotionality (test anxiety).

Treatment of phobias by a self-administered desensitization technique

Abstract Self-administered desensitization was applied to eight patients in their home environment. In 3–10 weeks, all subjects reported successful completion of each hierarchy. The Willoughby Personality Schedule and the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness showed significant reductions in anxiety reactions.

The relationship of emotionality and worry components of anxiety to motor skills performance

Three studies investigating the relationship between components of evaluation anxiety and typing performance are reported. Subjects represented business college students enrolled in typing (N=49) and English (N = 39) classes, applicants for clerical positions (N=50), and college students (N=11). State-trait anxiety inventory A-trait scores (Study I only) and scores on a 10-item questionnaire designed to assess both the cognitive (worry) and emotional components of state anxiety were correlated with performance measures reflecting both typing speed and accuracy. Contrary to expectations, self-reported physiological and affective arousal (emotionality) was consistently shown to have little debilitative effect on performance. This finding was consistent across groups differing in degree of typing skill and across situations differing in amount of anxiety induced. Rather, worry scores were correlated negatively with performance as in studies of other types of academic performance.