Test Anxiety

Moshe Zeidner is Professor of Educational Psychology and Human Development at the University of Haifa. Gerald Matthews is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. Richard D. Roberts is Principal Research Scientist at the Center for New Constructs, Educational Testing Service.

Examination stress and test anxiety are pervasive problems in modern society. As the information age continues to evolve, test scores will become even more important than they are today in evaluating applicants for demanding jobs and candidates for admission into highly competitive educational programs. Because test anxiety gen- ally causes decrements in performance and undermines academic achievement, the development of effective therapeutic interventions for reducing its adverse effects will continue to be an important priority for counselors, psychologists, and educators. Alleviating test anxiety will also serve to counteract the diminished access to edu- tional and occupational opportunities that is frequently experienced by test-anxious individuals. As its title promises, this volume provides a state-of-the-art evaluation of the nature, antecedents, correlates, and consequences of examination stress and test anxiety. Professor Zeidner's cogent and comprehensive analysis of the affective, cognitive, somatic, and behavioral manifestations of test anxiety are grounded in the extensive knowledge he has gained from his own research on the assessment and treatment of test anxiety. This work has also benefitted from the author's lo- standing and productive collaboration with leading contributors to test anxiety theory and research, and his active participation in national and international conferences devoted to understanding test anxiety, including those convened by the Society for Test Anxiety Research (STAR).

Basic and Conceptual Issues.- An Introduction to the Domain of Test Anxiety.- The Nature and Phenomenology of Test Anxiety.- Models and Theoretical Perspectives.- Methodology: Research and Assessment Methods.- Current and Recurrent Issues in Conducting Experimental Test Anxiety Research.- Developing Self-Report Test Anxiety Instruments.- Origins, Sources, and Determinants of Test Anxiety.- The Origins and Development of Test Anxiety.- Situational Determinants of Anxiety in Evaluative Situations.- Subjective Determinants of Test Anxiety.- Consequences of Test Anxiety for Cognitive Performance.- Test Anxiety and Cognitive Performance.- Text Anxiety and Information Processing.- Individual Differences.- Individual and Group Differences in Test Anxiety.- Personal Correlates of Test Anxiety.- Coping, Interventions, and Clinical Parameters.- Coping with Test Situations.- Optimizing Procedures.- Emotion-Focused Behavioral Intervention Techniques.- Cognitive-Focused, Cognitive-Behavioral, and Cognitive-Skills Training Intervention Techniques.