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Practical Aspects of the Use of Some Psychological Tests of Anxiety in a Situation of Stress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

P. K. Bridges*
Affiliation:
Regional Neurosurgical Centre, Brook, General Hospital, Shooters Hill Road, London, SE18 4LW

Extract

There is an increasing use of psychological tests designed to measure anxiety in both psychological and psychiatric research. Yet the theoretical bases upon which the various questionnaires have been constructed in relation to their practical application remain less than clear. For example, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS) (Taylor, 1955), was developed from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory as a more specific measure of manifest anxiety. The TMAS has repeatedly been shown to correlate highly significantly with the neuroticism score of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1964). The EPI is purported to measure personality in a general way in two dimensions, one of neuroticism and the other of extraversion-introversion. The association between these two tests, therefore, suggests that either both relate to a general personality variable of emotional instability, or they both more specifically measure a tendency to experience anxiety. It could also mean that these two aspects, one measured by each test, involve a personality characteristic in common.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

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