A study was conducted to determine the relationship between three different methods of relaxation (listening to music, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), and a combination of music listening and PMR) and state anxiety reduction (as indicated by a feeling of reduced tension for the participant, measured on a self-rating scale). The study also examined the relationship between specific variables (age, sex, music training, music preferences, familiarity with music, degree of liking for music, knowledge of, and experience in, PMR, and learning style) and response to a relaxation method. The study involved forty male and female volunteers, ranging in age from 18 - 60 years. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups or a control group. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the analysis of results. Results indicated that for the participants in this study, all methods were associated with a decrease in state anxiety, the combined methods being no more effective in achieving reduced tension levels than the independent methods. However, a significant difference was achieved between the PMR group and the control group, with the mean decrease in tension level for the PMR group higher on average than that of the control group. There was also no significant difference observed between the relaxation sessions and the controlled opportunity for social interaction, attended by all participants. Further, case studies indicated that response to relaxation methods is a highly individual one.

Fine-motor skills in any domain (e.g., sports, surgery, music) are subject to performance decrements under pressure. A large majority of studies that have examined “choking under pressure” used golf putting as a paradigm to test participants. Golf putting is a fine-motor skill that is highly susceptible to deviations in performance, yet a skill that appears to be deceptively simple without a steep learning curve. The following thesis contained three studies that examined the influence of social evaluative threat on the objective outcome performance (holed or not holed, distance to the hole), as well as the kinematic variables associated with the putting stroke itself. Performance was measured using a high-speed infrared camera called the TOMI® which collected real-time 3D data about a number of different kinematic parameters for each putt that was struck. While it was expected that a learning effect would characterize the longitudinal trajectory of performance, it was also expected that state anxiety would moderate this trajectory. In Study 1, 35 amateur golfers, completed a self-report measure of state anxiety and performed golf putting tasks under a neutral condition followed by a social-evaluative condition. Somatic anxiety was related to differential performance trajectories, while cognitive anxiety was associated with variability in the backstroke. In Study 2, 27 beginner participants participated in an improved design based on Study 1. Somatic anxiety temporarily moderated performance under pressure for the novices. In Study 3, 55 beginner participants were recruited and randomized to either a stress-free learning task (n = 29), or a social-evaluative learning task (n = 26), to address research limitations from the first two studies. Furthermore, methodological concerns present in both Study 1 and 2 were addressed, with the aim of contributing to the debate surrounding theoretical mechanisms of how performance decrements occur, specifically under social-evaluative threat. High levels of somatic anxiety moderated the objective performance trajectory of the experimental group, and surprisingly decreased the amount of time taken to prepare for each putt in the social-evaluative task. In all three studies, somatic anxiety significantly moderated both objective and indirect performance (as indicated by kinematics and routine time). Taken together, these studies suggest that one’s interpretation of physiological symptoms while under social evaluative threat can temporarily impair performance trajectories of a fine-motor skill.

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The effectiveness of a treatment for communication apprehension (CA) was examined in this study. Trait and state anxiety were examined by using community college students enrolled in four sections of a required basic speech communication course. The sample size consisted of 81 students, ranging in ages 17-82. Each student was asked to complete a trait anxiety measure (Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24) during the second class meeting (pre-test) and again on the last day of class (post-test). For the state anxiety measure, students were asked to complete the Speaker Anxiety (SA) Scale immediately after delivering an informative speech at the end of the semester. Two classes served as the treatment group, receiving a 15-minute combination anxiety reduction technique and two classes served as the control group, receiving no treatment. A significant interaction was found in physiological activation, an important direct manifestation of state anxiety commonly experienced as irregular heart beat, dry mouth, sweaty palms, and feelings of exhaustion. The findings showed that the students in the control group who spoke in the second week had higher anxieties than did the other students. A dividend of this investigation was the result that supported frequent anecdotal reports from past speech students; namely, that at the conclusion of the basic speech course, students in this study reported a reduction in trait anxiety. Of the other comparisons made, race and maternal encouragement were shown as major influences for the trait of communication apprehension. Future research should use larger samples of community college students and focus on state anxiety with trait anxiety as a monitor for stability. Treatments might also be expanded to weekly sessions during a major portion of one semester. / Ph. D.

Yes / Purpose There is a high level of over-referral from primary eye care leading to significant numbers of people without ocular pathology (false positives) being referred to secondary eye care. The present study used a psychometric instrument to determine whether there is a psychological burden on patients due to referral to secondary eye care, and used Rasch analysis to convert the data from an ordinal to an interval scale. Design Cross sectional study. Participants and Controls 322 participants and 80 control participants. Methods State (i.e. current) and trait (i.e. propensity to) anxiety were measured in a group of patients referred to a hospital eye department in the UK and in a control group who have had a sight test but were not referred. Response category analysis plus infit and outfit Rasch statistics and person separation indices were used to determine the usefulness of individual items and the response categories. Principal components analysis was used to determine dimensionality. Main Outcome Measure Levels of state and trait anxiety measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results State anxiety scores were significantly higher in the patients referred to secondary eye care than the controls (p<0.04), but similar for trait anxiety (p>0.1). Rasch analysis highlighted that the questionnaire results needed to be split into “anxiety-absent” and “anxiety-present” items for both state and trait anxiety, but both subscales showed the same profile of results between patients and controls. Conclusions State anxiety was shown to be higher in patients referred to secondary eye care than the controls, and at similar levels to people with moderate to high perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. This suggests that referral from primary to secondary eye care can result in a significant psychological burden on some patients. / University of Bradford

Title of diploma paper: Effect of anxiety on the athlete's sports performance in flatwater canoeing. Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the values of competitive state anxiety and evaluate its influence on sports performance in a race. Methods: The questionnaire method CSAI-2 has been used to determine the values of the components of competitive state anxiety. The observed values were statistically compared with the standards of the best athletes and then analyzed with the performances of athletes in individual races. The dependence of the variable values was determined by correlation and regression analysis. Results: Flatwater kayakers and canoeists have higher cognitive and somatic anxiety and lower self- confidence compared to other athletes. In the test group flatwater kayakers, we managed to demonstrate that the higher the values of cognitive and somatic anxiety, the higher the negative effect on the athlete's sports performance. Higher values of self-confidence affect performance positively. The dependence of the variable values has been identified as medium to high at the 5% significance level. In the case of flatwater canoeists, this dependence has not been statistically proven. Self-confidence of the athlete is positively affected by higher age and experience. Keywords:...

The purpose of this study was to examine social comparison orientation on Instagram as it relates to self-esteem and state anxiety. One hundred and ninety-six young adults (ages 18-30) who use Instagram at least once a week completed scales measuring social comparison orientation, self-esteem, and state anxiety before being randomly assigned to one of two Instagram feed conditions—one that displayed non-celebrity photos and the other that displayed celebrity photos. Participants were then post-tested using the same self-esteem and state anxiety scales. Information about Instagram use, information about participants’ feelings toward the feeds, and demographic characteristics were also collected. It was expected that participants with high social comparison orientations (SCOs) would experience greater decreases in self-esteem and greater increases in state anxiety than participants with low SCOs across both conditions. Additionally, it was expected that all participants, regardless of SCO, would experience a greater decrease in self-esteem and a greater increase in state anxiety after looking at photos of non-celebrities in comparison to looking at photos of celebrities. Findings were insignificant, indicating that using Instagram may not be detrimental to mental wellbeing. A second follow-up experiment found a relationship between SCO and state anxiety, with higher SCO being related to a greater decrease in anxiety.

Test anxiety involves a variety of physiological, cognitive, and emotional components. Those suffering from high test anxiety seem to perform poorly on examinations because test anxiety can contribute to information processing challenges both while studying for tests and during evaluative situations. Current research indicates that when a training program is applied that incorporates cognitive behavioral techniques as well as study skills training, highly test anxious individuals can overcome information processing challenges, increase their academic performance, and earn higher scores on tests. In this study, a training program (Counseling Exam Test Anxiety Intervention) combining cognitive behavioral techniques and study skills training was applied to highly test anxious counselors and counselors in training preparing to retake the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE) after failing it at least once. This study makes the first known attempt to examine test anxiety specifically associated with the NCMHCE. The research questions guiding this study related to exploring the nature of test anxiety, any changes that occurred during administration of the Counseling Exam Test Anxiety Intervention (CETAI), and whether or not the CETAI was effective in terms of decreasing test anxiety and increasing academic performance. The findings revealed that when participants in this study applied the skills they learned from the CETAI, they improved their scores on practice tests, experienced an increase in confidence, and the majority of them successfully passed the NCMHCE when they retook it.

The purpose of this research was to determine if personality type and system response time have any effect on state anxiety and user response time. The sample for this study consisted of senior and graduate level college students who possessed basic know 1 edge of a text editor. Each test subject was administered the Jenkins Activity Survey to determine scores for Type A versus Type B, speed and impatience, involvement, and competitiveness. The test subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (good, variable, and poor system response time). They were required to edit a text file which contained multiple errors. The test subjects were provided hard copies of the file with errors (errors highlighted) and the file as should appear without the errors. The test situation for each test subject was identical, except for changes in system response time. The A-state scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was administered to the test subjects immediately prior to the edit task in order to determine pre-task state anxiety levels. The A-state scale of the STAI was again administered immediately after the edit task in order to determine post-task state anxiety levels. Analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, regression, and two sample t-tests were used to analyze the data collected. All hypotheses were tested at the alpha .05 level. The most significant finding of this study was the positive relationship between state anxiety and system response time. It was originally predicted that the Type A personality would experience a greater increase in state anxiety than the Type B personality. However, that was not found to be true. Both Type A and Type B individuals experience an increase in state anxiety during periods of poor or variable system response time. This study also confirms prior research regarding user and system response time. There is a significant positive relationship between user response time and system response time. Personality type, specifically the Type A personality, contributes toward this relationship.

The mere exposure effect, positive affect elicited by exposure to a previously unfamiliar stimulus, is considered one of the most well established findings in the psychological literature. Yet its mechanism remains unknown. In Experiments 1 - 5, memory encoding was examined to determine whether the mere exposure effect was a form of conceptual or perceptual implicit priming, and, if not either, whether cardiovascular psychophysiology could reveal its nature. Experiment 1 examined the effects of study phase level of processing on recognition, the mere exposure effect, and word identification implicit priming. Deep relative to shallow processing improved recognition, but did not influence the mere exposure effect or word identification implicit priming. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the effect of study-test changes in font and orientation, respectively, on the mere exposure effect and word identification implicit priming. Different study-test font and orientation reduced word identification implicit priming, but had no influence on the mere exposure effect. The combined results from Experiments 1-3 suggested that conceptual and perceptual processing do not drive the mere exposure effect. Experiments 4 and 5 developed and used, respectively, an innovative cardiovascular psychophysiological implicit priming paradigm to examine whether stimulus-specific cardiovascular reactivity at study predicted the mere exposure effect at test. At encoding, stimulus-specific peripheral vasodilatation had predictive value for the mere exposure effect, but not for word identification implicit priming. Experiments 6 and 7 examined whether sustained or transitory anxiety (i.e., trait or state, respectively) would influence the mere exposure effect. Greater trait and state anxiety reduced the mere exposure effect. Together, the findings from these experiments (N = 362) identify a novel affective mechanism of implicit priming that is influenced by cardiovascular psychophysiology and variations in trait and state anxiety.