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Abstract

Four paired-associate lists of English words were constructed: non-difficult, non-competitive; non-difficult, competitive; difficult, non-competitive; and difficult, competitive. In Exp. I 90 Ss formed a 2 by 2 design. The results indicated that the main effects of competition and difficulty were significant. Exp. II tested hypotheses relating (1) scores on the Manifest Anxiety Scale to response competition, and (2) scores on the Test Anxiety Questionnaire to task difficulty. A 3 (MAS) by 3 (TAQ) design with 90 Ss and a covariate of denotative meaning showed no significant differences on any of the four lists. These results raise questions about anxiety drive and denotative meaning in verbal learning.

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Verbal Learning and Anxiety Drive

Abstract

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