Volker Hodapp

Effects of Choir Singing or Listening on Secretory Immunoglobulin A, Cortisol, and Emotional State

The present study investigates the effects of choir music on secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA), cortisol, and emotional states in members of a mixed amateur choir. Subjects participated in two conditions during two rehearsals 1 week apart, namely singing versus listening to choral music. Saliva samples and subjective measures of affect were taken both before each session and 60 min later. Repeated measure analyses of variance were conducted for positive and negative affect scores, S-IgA, and cortisol. Results indicate several significant effects. In particular, singing leads to increases in positive affect and S-IgA, while negative affect is reduced. Listening to choral music leads to an increase in negative affect, and decreases in levels of cortisol. These results suggest that choir singing positively influences both emotional affect and immune competence. The observation that subjective and physiological responses differed between listening and singing conditions invites further investigation of task factors.

The multidimensionality of test anxiety: A test of different models

Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test the multidimensional structure of test anxiety. Starting with the traditional two-factor model, it was of interest whether additional dimensions could still be represented by a single higher-order factor of test anxiety or whether the additional dimensions represented correlates of test anxiety. The Revised Test Anxiety (RTA) scale and the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-G) were combined collecting data from a binational sample of 218 American and 218 German university students. Considering the statistical and theoretical aspects of model fit, they indicated that a model consisting of three primary factors (worry, emotionality, and lack of confidence) fit the data best. While distraction and self-efficacy may be regarded as correlates of test anxiety, lack of confidence was substantiated as a component of test anxiety. Implications for the conceptualization of the content domain and hence area of test anxiety were discussed.

Personality and Performance Anxiety Among Professional Orchestra Musicians

The objective of the present study was to examine the influence of personality traits and coping strategies on performance anxiety among professional orchestra musicians. The sample consisted of 122 members of six German symphony and opera orchestras. The musicians were asked to complete questionnaires measuring various personality traits. In addition, shortly before a normal rehearsal and a public performance, they also gave details about their state-coping and their present level of performance anxiety. The latter was measured by four aspects: Lack of confidence, worry, emotionality, and physical symptoms. These aspects of performance anxiety have different patterns of predicting personality traits and the patterns also differ between the rehearsal and the performance situation. Musicians suffering from performance anxiety will try all manner of strategies before a rehearsal or performance to cope with the situation, even if not all of these strategies are appropriate for reducing performance anxiety.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal confirmatory factor models for the German Test Anxiety Inventory: A construct validation

Construct validity of the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-G) was tested in two respects. Firstly, the purported four-dimensional structure of the TAI-G (comprising subscales Emotionality, Worry, Interference, and Lack of Confidence) as well as relations of the test anxiety dimensions to self-efficacy were tested. Secondly, the trait conception of the TAI-G was tested within the framework of Latent State-Trait theory. The TAI-G was given to a student sample (N=302) on three occasions with a time interval of 2 weeks along with a study-specific self-efficacy scale on occasion 1. Dimensionality assumptions as well as relations with self-efficacy were tested using cross-sectional second-order confirmatory factor analysis. The trait conception was tested separately for TAI-G subscales by specifying longitudinal confirmatory factor models (Latent State-Trait models) and by calculating variance proportions of manifest variables (Latent State-Trait coefficients) referring to different sources of systematic variance (person, situation, and method) based on parameter estimates of the models. Results were supportive of both the purported four-dimensional structure and hypothesized relationships to self-efficacy (i.e., acceptable model fit) as well as of the trait conception of test anxiety (i.e., acceptable model fit and high proportion of variance due to person component). Implications for further validation studies were discussed.

Decomposing Person and Occasion-Specific Effects: An Extension of Latent State-Trait (LST) Theory to Hierarchical LST Models.

An extension of latent state-trait (LST) theory to hierarchical LST models is presented. In hierarchical LST models, the covariances between 2 or more latent traits are explained by a general 3rd-order factor, and the covariances between latent state residuals pertaining to different traits measured on the same measurement occasion are explained by 2nd-order latent occasion-specific factors. Analogous to recent developments in multitrait-multimethod methodology, all factors are interpreted in relation to factors taken as comparison standards. An empirical example from test anxiety research illustrates how estimates of additive variance components due to general trait, specific trait, occasion, state residual, method, and measurement error can be obtained using confirmatory factor analysis. Advantages and limitations of these models are discussed.

Anxiety, fear of failure, and achievement: Two path-analytical models

Abstract Despite remarkable progress in the elaboration and assessment of test anxiety, the mechanism of the anxiety-performance relationship remains obscure. Most studies conducted in school settings were correlational, thus demonstrating associations rather than true dependencies. By integrating research on test anxiety and achievement motivation, a mutual influence of anxiety and performance is postulated. Written test performance, test anxiety, and fear of failure were assessed amongst a group of 91 (7th grade) grammar school pupils and 134 (equivalent graded) comprehensive school pupils. Fear of failure consisted of self-evaluation, self-concept, level of aspiration, and attributions. The causal models reveal that attributions, self-evalutation, and self-concept exhibit a mediating role between performance and test anxiety, and fear of failure constitutes a feedback loop from academic achievement to anxiety. The results support the conception of the anxiety-achievement relationship as an interdepende...

Emotion regulation, disgust sensitivity, and psychophysiological responses to a disgust-inducing film.

Abstract Using a disgust-inducing film, Gross (1998) showed that the instruction to suppress mimic expression (suppression) triggered physiological arousal, while the instruction to think about the film in order to adopt a detached and unemotional attitude (reappraisal) reduced affective strain compared to a condition instructing subjects simply to watch the film (watch). The present paper investigates, if disgust sensitivity has a moderating role in this context. Physiological, subjective, and behavior responses were recorded in 120 males divided according to high/low disgust sensitivity who were exposed to the disgust-inducing film used by Gross. The instruction effects reported by Gross could not be replicated. However, high disgust-sensitive subjects were more physiologically and emotionally aroused than low disgust-sensitive subjects. Interactions between disgust sensitivity and the three film instructions can possibly be traced back to a repressive coping style of subjects with low disgust sensitivity.

Repression-sensitization, gender, and discrepancies in psychobiological reactions to examination stress

Psychobiological responses to examination stress in repressors and sensitizers have rarely been investigated with respect to intraindividual response discrepancies. Furthermore, possible sex differences have rarely been taken into consideration. Therefore the present study investigated if repressors and sensitizers differ in their psychobiological responses to stress and if gender plays a modulating role. 30 and 29 students of both sexes selected from a total group of 96 students were classified as repressors or sensitizers each according to the repression-sensitization-coping-inventory (RSCI, Huwe et al.). State anxiety, heart rate, and cortisol in saliva served as indicators of stress. Sensitizers reported higher state anxiety and showed higher physiological stress responses than repressors. On the intraindividual level sensitizers reported high anxiety as compared to their low cortisol responses whereas repressors reported low anxiety as compared to their high cortisol increases. Gender had no modulating influence on stress responses in repressors and sensitizers.

Active coping, expression of anger, and cardiovascular reactivity

Abstract This study examined the hypothesis of a covariation of cardiovascular and emotional responses in an aversive active coping situation. A letter detection task was presented to 40 male students. From a stream of letters moving across a screen, subjects were required to eliminate a specific letter. Control was manipulated by instruction. Half the subjects were led to believe that they could avoid an aversive tone, while the other group was led to believe that they could not avoid the tone. Increases in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and pulse transit time were consistent with the prediction of higher sympathetic cardiovascular activation during active coping. Anxiety and anger were aroused under both conditions. Only for anxiety, there was an association between the physiological and affective responses. On the level of traits, subjects tending not to express their anger revealed higher activation. The results are discussed with respect to a possible relationship between the expression of anger and different parameters of cardiovascular reactivity.

Cardiovascular reactivity, anxiety and anger during perceived controllability.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional and cardiovascular responses in an aversive active coping situation. A letter detection task was presented to 64 male students. From a stream of letters scrolling over a screen, subjects were required to eliminate specific letters. Task difficulty was varied by changing the speed with which the stream moved along on the screen. Perceived control over an aversive loud tone was manipulated by instruction. While blood pressure differences in the experimental conditions could not be found, the group with perceived control displayed greater increases in heart rate and greater shortening of pulse transit time. In subjects low in trait anger, belief of control over aversive tones led to heightened cardiovascular reactivity compared with subjects high in trait anger. The results are discussed with respect to suppression of anger and a possibly opposite effect of emotion and mental effort in aversive active coping situations.