Multiple Measurement of Anxiety and its Effects on Complex Verbal Learning

Abstract

Some studies have found positive correlations between self-report anxiety and physiological anxiety during learning while others have not. This study used four measures: trait anxiety (IPAT Self-analysis Form), state anxiety (self-evaluation), physiological assessment (respiration rate), and unobtrusive observation by a confederate. 50 undergraduate psychology students (20 males and 30 females) worked on a German-English translation after which they were tested for memory of the German words exposed exactly five times each. The two self-report measures correlated with each other .313, and the two physical measures were correlated .683. But the self-report measures were negatively and nonsignificantly correlated with the physical ones, of which only respiration rate correlated with learning (–.308). Apparently social desirability needs can interfere with anxiety measurement in learning experiments and this may help explain the different findings about learning among studies which used different types of measures. These physiological ones seemed more accurate, perhaps because they are less easily controlled by the subjects themselves.