The Interaction of Humor and Anxiety in Academic Test Situations.

Autor/inn/en	Brown, Alan S.; Itzig, Jerry M.
Titel	The Interaction of Humor and Anxiety in Academic Test Situations.
Quelle	(1976), (27 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Academic Achievement; Anxiety; Arousal Patterns; Higher Education; Humor; Multiple Choice Tests; Performance Factors; Questionnaires; Research Problems; Response Style (Tests); Self Evaluation; Test Anxiety; Test Construction; Test Items; Testing; Testing Problems; Undergraduate Students; State Trait Anxiety Inventory + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schulleistung; Angst; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Humoristische Darstellung; Multiple choice examinations; Multiple-choice tests, Multiple-choice examinations; Multiple-Choice-Verfahren; Leistungsindikator; Fragebogen; Forschungskritik; Antwortverhalten; Examination phobia; Testangst; Prüfungsangst; Testaufbau; Test content; Testaufgabe; Testdurchführung; Testen
Abstract	The effects of humorous test questions on test performance of high and low-anxious college students was investigated. It was hypothesized that humor should reduce the anxiety level of high-anxious subjects, and thus improve their performance, while having little effect on low-anxious subjects. Students were assigned to a low or high-anxious group depending upon their responses to the Self-Evaluation Questionnaire part of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Humor was introduced to the test by dropping one of the three incorrect alternatives in the multiple choice section and substituting an absurd alternative. Four experimental groups were formed by assigning low and high-anxiety groups to the humorous or nonhumorous version of the second test. High-anxious subjects did relatively better on the nonhumorous test, while low-anxious subjects scored relatively better on the humorous test. This supported the conception of an inverted U-shaped function relating arousal to performance: increased arousal induced the humorous questions facilitated low-anxious while hindering high-anxious subjects. Humorous questions should be avoided because of the risk of differentially biasing the testing situation against students who have a higher anxiety or arousal level. Two methodological problems present in previous research--initial equivalence of high and low anxious subjects on the performance dimension, and reactivity and performance-produced anxiety bias--were eliminated in the present design. (Author/CP)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC