Increased Diagnostic Value of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale by Use of Response Latency

Abstract

30 undergraduate students were presented both stimulus items from the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and their reversals randomly with a Hunter Cardmaster and Printout counter. High-anxiety and low-anxiety cutoff groups were formed using the 10 highest and 10 lowest MAS scores. Latency-weighted responses ranged from 6 (highest MAS score) to 1 (lowest MAS score). Four anxiety scores on specific dimensions, hysteria, psychasthenia, depression, and social introversion, were selected for study. The latency-weighted scores are felt to be more valid than paper-and-pencil scores because latency-weighting qualifies each verbal response in terms of 1 to 6.