Effect of fear arousal upon task performance and verbal behavior.

Abstract

Eighty undergraduate females were classified as being either high or low in fear of speaking in front of a group. Half were told that they were to speak following a task; the remaining Ss did the task without expecting to speak. All Ss spoke about the task for 1 min. immediately following the task. Experimental Ss took significantly longer to perform the task, and naive judges were able to detect differences in the verbal productions of the groups. Formal aspects of S''s verbal productions also discriminated among high- and low-fear Ss. Implications for theory and importance of assessing different types of behavior are briefly discussed.