COGNITIVE-PROCESSES, ANXIETY, AND PERFORMANCE ON DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ORAL EXAMINATIONS

In an effort to explore evaluation anxiety in a naturalistic setting, this study examined the relationships among anxiety, thoughts, self-efficacy, and performance of 37 students defending their doctoral dissertations. After the orals, faculty examiners rated each student's performance and level of anxiety. Analyses showed that the state-of-mind ratio (ratio of positive thoughts to positive-plus-negative thoughts) appeared to be a more important contributor to anxiety than did self-inefficacy to control thoughts. Although faculty ratings of anxiety were significantly related to their ratings of performance, subjects' own reports of anxiety and their thoughts during orals were not predictive of performance. The strongest predictors of orals performance were graduate grade point average and committee ratings of the quality of the dissertation and of the student's work in the doctoral program before the dissertation.