Term of Award

Spring 1992

Degree Name

Master of Arts and Sciences

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Committee Chair

Richard L. Rogers

Committee Member 1

Janice H. Kennedy

Committee Member 2

Paul R. Kleinginna Jr.

Abstract

This study examined the effects of induced state anxiety on helping behavior in 149 undergraduate students. It was hypothesized that increased anxiety would lead to decreased helping behavior (operationalized as the rate of volunteering to make phone calls for another study). Anxiety was manipulated in two experimental groups by either having subjects fail on an anagrams task or by having a randomly selected subject give a speech. Anxiety was not manipulated in a control group. A manipulation check, utilizing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, revealed that anxiety was not successfully induced in subjects of either experimental condition as compared to the control group. Analysis of the helping behavior data revealed no significant differences among conditions. These results do not support the hypothesis that may be due in part to the failure of the anxiety manipulation.

Copyright

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