Publication Date

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Committee Members

Nathan A. Bowling (Committee Member), Corey E. Miller (Committee Member), Debra Steele-Johnson (Committee Chair)

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

The purpose of my study was to investigate the possible utility of visualization, an intervention that has proven useful in both sports and clinical psychology, in an academic setting. However, knowing that there are other powerful performance oriented interventions, such as goal setting and planning, visualization would have to account for unique variance above these to be of value. Specifically, visualization was proposed to help college level students improve exam scores and account for unique variance above that accounted for by goal setting and planning in an intro level psychology course. It was concurrently hypothesized that this relationship would be mediated by the student's school specific self-efficacy and test anxiety. Participants (N = 204) from a Midwestern university were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions in which they were induced to do nothing (control group), utilize goal setting alone, utilize goal setting and planning, or utilize goal setting, planning, and visualization. I conducted a series of ANOVAs which revealed there was no significant effect on exam scores for any experimental group above that of the control. As such, a test of mediation was not possible. Alternative exploratory analyses were also conducted. Conclusions about the effectiveness of the methods implemented in this study, the effectiveness of visualization in the academic domain, and other implications for non-significant findings are discussed.

Page Count

89

Department or Program

Department of Psychology

Year Degree Awarded

2012

Download


Share

COinS