The role of defensiveness in cognitive impulsivity

The role of anxiety in reflection-impulsivity has been a source of controversy, with impulsives portrayed as unanxious by some researchers and as extremely anxious by others. Defensiveness may account for these seemingly contradictory results. Impulsives may present a facade of unconcern to mask underlying anxiety. The impulsive response itself may occur in part because impulsives are defensive about appearing incompetent. Equating rapidity of response with competence, they respond quickly to appear competent. 120 children, with a mean age of 9 years, 7 months, served as subjects. Measurements of defensiveness and impulsivity were examined. Correlations were examined separately by sex since previous research showed that defensiveness correlated negatively with problem-solving success for boys only. Defensiveness and impulsivity were positively correlated for boys only. Unlike previous studies, test anxiety correlated positively with impulsivity for girls.