Size factors on the Bender-Gestalt test and their relation to trait anxiety and situationally induced anxiety

Hutt's hypothesis that anxiety is reflected by absolute size deviations on reproduced Bender-Gestalt figures was investigated by administering the test to 40 subjects (half under anxiety-arousing and half under non-anxiety-arousing conditions). Measures of trait anxiety and defensive style were found to be intercorrelated significantly and to interact significantly with anxiety condition. Under the non-anxiety-arousing condition repressers (low trait anxious subjects) had fewer size distortions than sensitizers (high trait anxious subjects). However, situationally induced anxiety reversed this effect, whereby sensitizers had greater size distortions than repressers. Situationally induced anxiety heightened the performance of sensitizers, while it interfered with the test protocols of repressers by producing greater size deviations on the Bender-Gestalt.