Brief Yoga as an Intervention for Test Anxiety
by Sasha N. Flowers
Faculty Advisor: Jasper Smits, Graduate Student Mentors: Santiago Papini and Ariel Handy
In many universities, the current aid for undergraduate students struggling with test anxiety is limited to psychoeducation, a written explanation of test anxiety and possible ways to cope, which may be insufficient for easing anxiety symptoms in some students. Yoga has been shown to relieve symptoms of anxiety by training the participant to respond calmly to stressful physical and mental stimuli, enforcing the idea that individuals are in control of their bodily responses. This study will use a between subjects design to investigate the effects of yoga versus psychoeducation on test anxiety in a simulated testing environment. I predict that students with test anxiety who perform a brief yoga practice prior to an exam will exhibit lower subjective levels of anxiety and higher levels of objective test performance than those who receive psychoeducation.