Negative Practice and Desensitization of Anxiety about Examinations

Abstract

30 test-anxious subjects were assigned to two treatment groups for 6 weekly sessions. One group experienced standard group-desensitization of test anxiety while the other group was instructed in negative practice of anxiety responses and satiation of anxiety-producing stimuli. There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups and a control group (N = 15) in grades for the semester preceding treatment. Both treatment groups had significantly higher grades than the control group following treatment. Given negative practice, one group obtained significantly higher grades than the desensitized group. Both treatment groups reported a significant decrease in test anxiety but no such difference was reported by a second control group. It is suggested that both negative practice and desensitization might be effective intervention strategies for test anxiety.