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Anxiety and Learning to Formulate Hypotheses NICHD

Author(s):
Klein, Stephen P.; Frederiksen, Norman O.; Evans, Franklin R.
Publication Year:
1968
Report Number:
RB-68-63
Source:
ETS Research Bulletin
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
30
Subject/Key Words:
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Concept Formation, Creativity, Performance Factors, Test Anxiety, Training, Verbal Ability

Abstract

The study investigated some effects of a training procedure on production of original responses and the relationship of such behavior to personality and ability measures. The results indicate that (1) the training procedure increased the quantity but not the quality of the ideas produced; (2) this increase did not transfer to a similar task involving divergent production; (3) test anxiety had consistent curvilinear relationships with performance, poor performance being associated with an intermediate level of test anxiety; and (4) there was a significant interaction of anxiety and verbal ability. Some implications of these results for testing, teaching, and prediction are discussed.

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