Effects of an anxiety stimulus on confidence ratings among nonclinical checkers.

Abstract

This study, by use of a 2 x 2 mixed factor design, analyzed confidence in recall about an object's position (whether a door was locked) among college students. The Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), particularly the Checking Subscale, was used to assign participants to either a group who self-reported more checking symptoms similar to those seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder or a group of those who reported less checking symptoms. The criteria yielded a group of 20 checkers and a group of20 noncheckers, matched for age and gender. Each participant, regardless of group assignment, went through the same procedure. The procedure consisted of taking a confidence pretest, facing an anxiety stimulus, and taking a confidence post-test. It was predicted that given a relevant anxiety stimulus (a crime article and crime ad), those more preoccupied with checking (checkers) would have a change in their confidence level towards memory about a particular action intended to deter crime (i.e., locking one's door). However, there were no significant differences between checkers and those who reported less checking symptoms. Follow-up independent samples! tests helped confirm this result. An additional analysis of the confidence scores of women and men before and after exposure to the anxiety stimulus detected no significant gender differences and independent samples! tests detected likewise. Despite an inability to produce significant differences, this study offers a research paradigm for revision, for replication with a larger sample of participants, and/or for a clinical sample.