The effects of manifest anxiety and IQ on discrimination.

Abstract

E XPERIMENTAL evidence indicates that both intelligence and manifest anxiety are significantly related to precision of judgment or discrimination. However, seemingly conflicting evidence has been reported concerning the nature of the relationship of manifest anxiety to conditioned discrimination.Two experiments, both differentiating subjects (5s) on the Taylor Scale of Manifest Anxiety (7), have been concerned with simple and then with discriminatory conditioning. Hilgard, Jones, and Kaplan (2), report correlations approaching significance between anxiety scores and lack of discrimination (the ratio of negative to positive CR's and the frequency of negative R's). On the other hand, Spence and Beecroft (6), considering reaction time, found excitatory strength of the positive CS was significantly greater for highly anxious 5s. The experiments both used college students as 5s.Hilgard, Jones, and Kaplan suggest that highly anxious 5s show a lack of discrimination. We would expect, then, that from a graduated series of responses, they would be more likely to utilize the extreme positions rather than to make finer distinctions among stimuli.Osgood (4) has established that, in discrimination along a series, a shorter reaction time is associated with extreme judgments. Precision of judgment, rather than an "all-or-none" response, should therefore be associated with longer reaction-time.Spence and Beecroft, measuring reaction time, indicate that highly anxious 5s are more discriminative. The shorter latency period indicates that anxious 5s are more readily able to make "either-or" distinctions. This, according to Osgood's data, would suggest that they would make less fine distinctions when presented with a gradient. The conflict between the two sets of data, then, may be explained by the differences in the measure of discrimination and by Osgood's

Development of Mental Abilities

“…A number of studies were concerned with the relationship between intelligence and anxiety as measured by Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale (36,44,59,62,66). In contrast to earlier reports, Mayzner, Sersen, and Tresselt (44) found positive but insignificant relationships between scores on the two variables for a college sample.…”

A theory of the creativity-intelligence interaction: an environmental suppressor variable

“…Highly intelligent subjects may be able to "discr:itminate" a figure from its field" And Kerrick (1956) found that high-IQ subjects used the 'Osgood Semantic Differential Scale more fully than did low-IQ subjects, relying less on extreme positions and more evenly on all positions (level of significance for the differ ence was better than ~ = .01). Thus, high-IQ subjects show a tendency to use finer discriminations in evaluation, as in many other kinds of.…”

“…First, there are all of the discrim ination and categorization studies reviewed earlier (Tempons, 1965;spotts and Mackler, 1967;Kerrick, 1956;Desai, 1960, for example).…”

Hung‐up Students and Their Teachers

“…Chronic fatigue and poor efficiency are some typical symptoms of situational maladjustment. Students may be less discriminatory in their behavior patterns due to anxiety (Kerrick, 1956). Coleman (1964) cites the symptoms of acute situational maladjustment under more serious conditions such as are illustrated by prisoner-of-war and concentration camp experience.…”