| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences
in how people respond in a stressful situation might be related to
underlying differences in personality and cognitive functioning.
The four individual differences selected for study were conceptual
complexity, type A behaviour pattern, locus of control, and trdit
anxiety. The study consisted of two sessions^ one in which the
Subject completed the four questionnaires^ and the second in which he
participated in a stress experiment. During the second session the
subject was allowed to practise a difficult visual-motor task for
seven trials, and then on the eighth trial was required to compete
against another student who was actually a confederate of the experimenter and performed the task exceptionally fast. Heartrate was
recorded throughout the experlmeht as a physiological measure of stress,
pleasantness ratings were obtained as a more cognitive, evaluative
measure, and performance on the task was recorded as a behavioural
measure of stress. | |
