35th Annual Student Research Conference
Overthinking: A Student Perspective
Jordan M. Clement*, Connor J. Firth, Katherine Speak, Emilia K. Durham, Norah Kovac, and Gemma Brom
Dr. Karen Vittengl, Faculty Mentor
Students often claim that overthinking on specific questions on exams can lead them to make academic errors. We investigated if certain questions can lead to this phenomena. Participants were given a short, mock test intended to elicit overthinking. They then completed questionnaires about demographics, general anxiety, test anxiety, and their own personal definition of overthinking. Performance was lower on questions that involved overthinking. Higher test anxiety and general anxiety both correlated with lower scores. Age and ACT score weakly correlated with lower scores. Students’ definitions of overthinking were coded and fell into multiple groups.
Keywords: Overthinking, Test-taking, Anxiety, Performance
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
Session: 3-2
Location: SUB Activities Room
Time: 3:00