Influence of Test Anxiety on Measurement of Intelligence

2003 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron Oostdam ◽  
Joost Meijer

In this study a measurement model for a test anxiety questionnaire was investigated in a sample of 207 Dutch students in the first grade of junior secondary vocational education. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis showed that a model for test anxiety with three factors for worry, emotionality, and lack of self-confidence is associated with a significantly better fit than a model comprised of only the first two factors. The relations of the three test anxiety factors to scores on intelligence tests for measuring verbal ability, reasoning, and spatial ability were examined. The results indicated that test anxiety appears to be transitory: the negative relation between test anxiety and test performance promptly fades away. Finally, we examined whether a distinction can be made between highly test anxious students with low performance due to worrisome thoughts (interference hypothesis) or low ability (deficit hypothesis). Results do not support the deficit hypothesis because the scores of all highly test anxious students increased in a less stressful situation.

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Ullstadius ◽  
Jan-Eric Gustafsson ◽  
Berit Carlstedt

Summary: Vocabulary tests, part of most test batteries of general intellectual ability, measure both verbal and general ability. Newly developed techniques for confirmatory factor analysis of dichotomous variables make it possible to analyze the influence of different abilities on the performance on each item. In the testing procedure of the Computerized Swedish Enlistment test battery, eight different subtests of a new vocabulary test were given randomly to subsamples of a representative sample of 18-year-old male conscripts (N = 9001). Three central dimensions of a hierarchical model of intellectual abilities, general (G), verbal (Gc'), and spatial ability (Gv') were estimated under different assumptions of the nature of the data. In addition to an ordinary analysis of covariance matrices, assuming linearity of relations, the item variables were treated as categorical variables in the Mplus program. All eight subtests fit the hierarchical model, and the items were found to load about equally on G and Gc'. The results also indicate that if nonlinearity is not taken into account, the G loadings for the easy items are underestimated. These items, moreover, appear to be better measures of G than the difficult ones. The practical utility of the outcome for item selection and the theoretical implications for the question of the origin of verbal ability are discussed.


Author(s):  
Frieder L. Schillinger ◽  
Jochen A. Mosbacher ◽  
Clemens Brunner ◽  
Stephan E. Vogel ◽  
Roland H. Grabner

AbstractThe inverse relationship between test anxiety and test performance is commonly explained by test-anxious students’ tendency to worry about a test and the consequences of failing. However, other cognitive facets of test anxiety have been identified that could account for this link, including interference by test-irrelevant thoughts and lack of confidence. In this study, we compare different facets of test anxiety in predicting test performance. Seven hundred thirty university students filled out the German Test Anxiety Inventory after completing a battery of standardized tests assessing general intelligence and mathematical competencies. Multiple regressions revealed that interference and lack of confidence but not worry or arousal explained unique variance in students’ test performance. No evidence was found for a curvilinear relationship between arousal and performance. The present results call for revisiting the role of worries in explaining the test anxiety-performance link and can help educators to identify students who are especially at risk of underperforming on tests.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.34) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Mohamad Razali Abdullah ◽  
Hafizan Juahir ◽  
N. Mohamad Shukri ◽  
N. A. Fuat ◽  
N. A. Mohd Ros ◽  
...  

This study develops an Athlete Performance Capabilities Index (APCI) model using multivariate analysis for selecting the best player of under twelve (U12).  Measurement of anthropometrics and physical fitness were evaluated among 178 male players aged 12±0.52 years. Factor score derived by Principal Component Analysis were used to obtain a model for APCI and Discriminant Analysis (DA) were conducted to validate the correctness of group classification by APCI. Result was found two factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted which accounted for 62.00% of the variations present in the original variables. The two factors were used to obtain the factor score coefficients explained by 35.72% and 26.67% of the variations in athlete performance respectively. Factor 1 revealed high factor loading on fitness compared to Factor 2 as it was significantly related to anthropometrics. A model was obtained using standardized coefficient of factor 1. Three clusters of performance were shaped in view by categorizing APCI ≥ 75%, 25% ≤ APCI < 75% and APCI < 25% as high, moderate and low performance group respectively. Three discriminated variables out of thirteen variables were obtained using Forward and Backward stepwise mode of DA, which were weight, standing broad jump, and 40 meters’ speed. Such variables were established as essential indicator for selecting the best player among male U12.   


1986 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 691-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Wise Berninger

Visual, linguistic, reading, and spelling tests were administered to the same 45 children at the end of kindergarten and of first grade. Normal variation, i.e., diversity not related to pathology, was found in the visual and linguistic skills and was shown to be related to reading and spelling achievement for a sample of suburban children of similar socioeconomic status. Individual differences in three visual skills—selective attention to letter information (RT), memory for a component letter (accuracy), and memory for a whole word (accuracy)—and two linguistic skills—phonemic analysis and vocabulary understanding—were reliable over the first year of formal reading instruction and had concurrent validity in that they were correlated with achievement in word decoding/encoding at the end of kindergarten and of first grade. Of these five skills, phonemic analysis accounted for more variance in achievement (52% to 64%, depending upon achievement measure) than any other single skill. Significantly mote variance in achievement was accounted for when both a visual skill (memory for a sequence) and a linguistic skill (phonemic analysis) were considered than when either alone was at end of first grade. The predictive validity of quantitatively defined “disabilities” (at or more than a standard deviation below the mean) was investigated; disabilities in both visual and linguistic skills at the end of kindergarten were associated with low achievement in word decoding/encoding at the end of first grade. Two pairs of identical twin girls (each co-twin taught by a different teacher) were not mote congruent on several achievement measures than two pairs of unrelated girls, taught by the same teacher and matched to each other and a twin pair on verbal ability and age. Normal variation in acquisition of word decoding/encoding probably results from an interaction between genetic individual differences in cognitive skills and the processes of assimilation and accommodation during environmental transactions proposed by Piaget.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Koscik ◽  
Erin M. Jonaitis ◽  
Lindsay R. Clark ◽  
Kimberly D. Mueller ◽  
Samantha L. Allison ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectives: A major challenge in cognitive aging is differentiating preclinical disease-related cognitive decline from changes associated with normal aging. Neuropsychological test authors typically publish single time-point norms, referred to here as unconditional reference values. However, detecting significant change requires longitudinal, or conditional reference values, created by modeling cognition as a function of prior performance. Our objectives were to create, depict, and examine preliminary validity of unconditional and conditional reference values for ages 40–75 years on neuropsychological tests. Method: We used quantile regression to create growth-curve–like models of performance on tests of memory and executive function using participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention. Unconditional and conditional models accounted for age, sex, education, and verbal ability/literacy; conditional models also included past performance on and number of prior exposures to the test. Models were then used to estimate individuals’ unconditional and conditional percentile ranks for each test. We examined how low performance on each test (operationalized as <7th percentile) related to consensus-conference–determined cognitive statuses and subjective impairment. Results: Participants with low performance were more likely to receive an abnormal cognitive diagnosis at the current visit (but not later visits). Low performance was also linked to subjective and informant reports of worsening memory function. Conclusions: The percentile-based methods and single-test results described here show potential for detecting troublesome within-person cognitive change. Development of reference values for additional cognitive measures, investigation of alternative thresholds for abnormality (including multi-test criteria), and validation in samples with more clinical endpoints are needed. (JINS, 2019, 25, 1–14)


Assessment ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1198-1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles E. Gignac ◽  
Ka Ki Wong

The purpose of this investigation was to examine a single-anagram, a double-anagram, and multi-anagram versions of the Anagram Persistence Task (APT) for factorial validity, reliability, and convergent validity. Additionally, a battery of intelligence tests was administered to examine convergent validity. Based on an unrestricted factor analysis, two factors were uncovered from the 14 anagram (seven very difficult and seven very easy) response times: test-taking persistence and verbal processing speed. The internal consistency reliabilities for the single-anagram, double-anagram, and multi-anagram (seven difficult anagrams) measures were .42, .85, and .86, respectively. Furthermore, all three versions of the APT correlated positively with intelligence test performance ( r ≈ .22). However, the double-anagram and multi-anagram versions also evidenced negative, nonlinear effects with intelligence test performance ( r ≈ −.15), which suggested the possibility of testee adaptation. Taking psychometrics and administration time into consideration, simultaneously, the double-anagram version of the APT may be regarded as preferred.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Wing Sun Tung ◽  
Brian Edward Melville King ◽  
Serene Tse

This research proposes a measurement model to evaluate tourist stereotypes. Study 1 assesses the positive and negative tourist stereotypes that Hong Kong residents hold toward Chinese outbound tourists by connecting previous research on stereotypes from the Princeton Trilogy and from the stereotype content model. Six positive stereotypes were identified across two dimensions (i.e., Approachable: friendly, sincere, and good; and Competent: intelligent, industrious, and competent) as well as six inappropriate biases across two factors (i.e., Boastful: materialistic and loud; Rude: unreasonable, immoral, rude, and uncivilized). Study 2 provides further support for the measurement model by using an additional sample to investigate tourist self-stereotypes. Collectively, studies 1 and 2 contribute to the tourism literature by highlighting the dynamics involved in (self)-stereotyping that are relevant for destination management organizations (DMOs) and public policymakers involved in managing public perceptions of tourist stereotypes.


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