ANXIETY STRESS AND PERFORMANCE OF COMPLEX INTELLECTUAL TASKS - A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD QUESTION

Suggested that many of the discrepancies between various studies of the effects of anxiety and stress on complex intellectual performance may be due to: (1) lack of precision in the theoretical concept of task complexity, and (2) low interrelevancy among the several operational definitions used within a given study. A distinction was made between task complexity, difficulty, and passability. It was hypothesized that (1) anxiety would be more disruptive of operationally simple but difficult tasks than for structurally complex but easy tasks; and (2) the converse would be true regarding the effects of situational stress. Ss were 176 undergraduates. As predicted, WAIS Information performance was significantly affected by test anxiety but not by situational stress; digit span was significantly affected by stress but not anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.