Week 7: Reading

Question 1

What may be most counterintuitive about Mathematics anxiety (Cipora et al., 2022)

Answer 1

Maths anxiety is separate to maths poor performance, although it correlates negatively

(Girls typically score higher in MA than boys, although this is not reflected by poorer performance).

It is distinct from other types of anxiety, although correlating positively

it is not clearly understood at what level of anxiety MA becomes detrimental to people’s performance and/or well-being

Question 2

What would be the most urgent to learn about mathematics anxiety? (Cipora et al., 2022)

Answer 2

Maths anxiety is linked to long-term career choices - less likely to pursue maths-heavy careers

it might be easier to target state anxiety than a trait characteristic. Teaching people (e.g., children/students in an educational context, but also adults who are no longer receiving formal education) strategies on how not to allow state anxiety to arise might be a useful way of alleviating the negative effects of MA

Question 3

Ganley et al., 2021, findings

Answer 3

• Overall, math and test anxiety were linked to poorer performance, consistent with prior research, but interventions didn’t moderate this effect.
• Despite previous studies showing benefits of these interventions, this study failed to replicate those findings.
  • The study tested four brief anxiety-reduction interventions before math tests, but none significantly improved math performance.

Surprisingly, one intervention—expressive writing—increased state anxiety, possibly due to making anxiety more salient rather than helping participants off-load it.

However, these results may be due to short duration and single delivery of intervention!!