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Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat
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Calculated avoidance: Math anxiety predicts math avoidance in effort-based decision-making.

Kyoung Whan Choe1,2, Jalisha B Jenifer1, Christopher S Rozek3

  • 1Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

Science Advances
|December 5, 2019
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Math anxiety, or negative feelings toward math, leads individuals to avoid math tasks. This study experimentally shows that higher math anxiety correlates with choosing easier, low-reward math problems over challenging ones.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Math anxiety is linked to avoiding math-related activities, but experimental evidence is scarce.
  • Understanding this link is crucial for interventions to improve STEM engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally investigate the relationship between math anxiety and avoidance of effortful math engagement.
  • To test the hypothesis that perceived costs of math effort outweighing benefits drives avoidance, influenced by math anxiety.

Main Methods:

  • Developed an effort-based decision-making task comparing easy/low-reward vs. hard/high-reward problems.
  • Included both math and non-math problem contexts.
  • Measured participants' math anxiety levels.

Main Results:

  • Higher math anxiety was significantly associated with a preference for easier, low-reward math problems.
  • This avoidance tendency was specific to math problems, not non-math (word) problems.
  • Individual differences in math anxiety influenced effort-based choices in math.

Conclusions:

  • Experimental evidence supports a robust link between math anxiety and avoidance of challenging math tasks.
  • Addressing math anxiety is vital for fostering interest and success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.