Attributions of the Test-Anxious Student

Abstract

In the present study, an attributional analysis of cognitions associated with the test-anxiety response is reported Late in the semester, 433 undergraduates in introductory level courses (who had scored high, moderate, or low on a test-anxiety inventory) completed a questionnaire that required (l) a self-assessment of success or failure in the course, (2) open-ended attributions about the causes of that success or failure, and (3) that subjects then rate their open-ended responses on several relevant dimensions. A content analysis of students' written accounts suggested that unsuccessful, highly test-anxious students blamed their character (as opposed to their behavior or the environment) for their failure. Consistent with earlier work, there also emerged a general tendency for successful students to emphasize internal over external attributions, while failing students showed an opposite pattern.