If you had to take an exam or a job interview, how would you react? Would you take the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge? Or would you be worried about being short of expectations and shame?
There are people who see the evidence as a challenge they can face. Others see them as a threat that will not be able to face.
But a new study, the largest of its kind, in July in the Journal of Educational Psychologyrevealed that there may be more types of people.
By capturing various psychological data, such as brain waves and stress responses, it has been found that there are Four types of people when they are put to the test.
As investigators of the study in an article in the investigation focused on 244 male and female students from three Australian secondary schools during a science exam.
“It is the largest study of the genre to compile diverse information about brain activity, physiological responses and self-relate attitudes Students while taking a test, ”wrote the researchers.
This is significant because this type of research is usually done in laboratories with large functional magnetic resonance imaging machines (FMRI), a quite different environment from a real classroom.
Students wore an electroencephalogram helmet (EEG) during the test to capture their brain activity through alpha and utterance waves.
Alfa waves measured how much students were focused on the test and the tissue waves analyzed tension in their working memory (which students need to use to solve problems in a test). Both capabilities can be disturbed if a person feels threatened or stressed.
Students also used a biometric bracelet that measured their sweat glands.
Lower scores of “homework activity” indicated a calmer and more positive state, and higher scores indicated stress.
In the middle of the exam, students reported how confident they were in meeting the test requirements and how much they were eager for not meeting the requirements.
4 types of people
The study allowed to identify four types of people, who had different patterns in these different measures.
1. Confident: These students took the “naturally” test. They reported high confidence and low anxiety, and recorded an ideal balance between attention and work memory. The readings of their bracelets indicated that they were calm. Represented 27% of the sample.
2. ambitious: They also reported that they were confident and with a low level of anxiety, but other data suggested that they were “fighting” behind the scenes. The readings of their bracelets suggested that their “struggle or escape” system was activated. His brain waves also showed that his working memory was not as much as possible to solve problems as that of confident walkers, which also indicates a stress level. Represented 8% of the sample.
3. Ambivalent: These students presented average values in all indicators, reflecting that they did not see the test as a challenge or a threat. Represented 38% of the group.
4. Fearful: reported low confidence and high anxiety. The readings of their bracelets indicated that they were stressed, and the readings of their brain waves showed that they were not very aware of the test itself. Represented 27% of the group.
How was the performance of the groups?
Participants Confident obtained the best Results.
Participants ambitious also performed well In the test, but not as good as confident participants.
Participants ambivalents obtained lower scores in the testbut not as low as the afraid participants.
The investigators’ conclusions suggest that “believe in usFace any thoughts of fear and have a clear mind to focus on the task put us in a better position to perform well. ”
