Closure as Related to Manifest Anxiety and Rigidity

Manifest Anxiety and Visual Acuity

21 high-anxiety and 21 low-anxiety Ss, as designated by the MAS, were tested on a visual acuity task. The stimuli were 33 circles. In some there was a small gap in the perimeter; others were closed. Ss task was to locate the position of the gap. The high-anxiety Ss had a mean error of 11.90 while the low-anxiety Ss had a mean error of 6.43 ( p < .01). These results confirm that high-anxiety Ss make more errors than low-anxiety Ss on a visual task.

Relation of Holtzman scores to rigidity

The Sanford-Gough Rigidity Test, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, a group Holtzman Inkblot Test, and an experimenter-designed Perceptual Rigidity test were given to 116 college girls to investigate determinants of responses to projective tests and to clarify the relationship between personality and perception. Significant positive correlations between the rigidity measure, the Sanford-Gough, and the Holtzman Location, Anatomy, and Hostility scales were obtained and a similarity between these results and descriptions of the authoritarian personality was noted. Significant negative correlations between the rigidity measure and the Holtzman Color and Movement scales were found. The lack of significant correlations between the rigidity measure and the Taylor and the Holtzman Anxiety scales was considered in terms of specific needs of further research into the relation of anxiety to perceptual rigidity.