Abstract
10 test anxious college students participated in an experiment that assessed the effectiveness of Test Anxiety Reduction Training. Five subjects were randomly selected to receive treatment; the other five received no treatment and served as a control group. The procedure involved two types of Pavlovian pairings, (1) a conditioned stimulus (small glass marble) with an unconditioned stimulus (relaxing music) and (2) the image of the test-taking situation with the unconditioned stimulus. When treated subjects brought the conditioned stimulus into their tests, their test scores improved significantly compared to those of control subjects. Advantages of this treatment over other treatments were discussed along with possible uses in other anxiety-producing situations.
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