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“1964

ABSTRACT

MANIFEST ANXIETY) SEVERITY OF GUILT, AND
SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN

by Charlene Adams

The major objective of the research summarized
here was to examine the relationship between manifest
anxiety and level of guilt in seventh and eighth grade
boys. Achievement, confession, and guilt about death
wishes were also investigated as they relate to the basic
anxiety-guilt association.

Statistical analyses of a correlational nature were
primarily performed on data collectedfrom a sample of 68
male, seventh and eighth grade students. A few additional
correlations were conducted on the scores of a group of
13 children who were excluded from the major sample because
they did not meet control conditions (both parents present
at home). The instruments used were: (1) the Children's
Manifest Anxiety Scale, (2) three story completion guilt
items, (3) a personal data questionnaire, (4) California
Total Reading and Arithmetic Fundamentals Tests.

The hypotheses investigated in the study are listed

below:

Charlene Adams

Hypothesis I. There is a significant positive
correlation between degree of manifest anxiety and level
of severity of guilt.

Hypothesis II. There is a higher positive correlation
between manifest anxiety and severity of guilt about death
wishes than between anxiety and guilt about violation of
maternal commands or theft.

Hypothesis III. There is a curvilinear relationship
between achievement and anxiety.

Hypothesis IV. There is a curvilinear relationship
between achievement and guilt.

Hypothesis V. There is a positive correlation
between degree of manifest anxiety and amount of confession.
Correlational tests revealed that there is a
strong relationship between anxiety and guilt but that the
association is in a negative rather than positive direction

as predicted. The hypothesis that there is a higher
positive correlation between manifest anxiety and guilt
about death wishes than between anxiety and guilt in the
other moral areas was found untenable for the large sample
of 68 subjects but confirmed for the small sample of 13
children. Since there is a non-significant, negative
correlation between anxiety and confession, the fifth
hypothesis was rejected. A curvilinear association, as
hypothesized, was found between anxiety and scholastic

achievement. H0wever, a positive linear, rather than

Charlene Adams

curvilinear. relationship was found to exist between guilt
and achievement.

The most salient conclusion to be drawn from the
research is that there is indeed a strong relationship
between the variables of anxiety and guilt in children.
The predicted positive association may not have been
found because the instruments used measure specific guilt
and global anxiety, and because they tap different levels
of awareness. A reasonable explanation for the fact that
a negative association was found appears to be that some
children with highly developed superegos and concomitant
anxiety find it necessary to repress feelings of guilt.
The fact that the second hypothesis was substantiated only
for the group of subjects with a parent absent from the
home can be explained by the possibility that awareness
of guilt about death wishes is more operative in children
who have ”lost” a parent. There was confirmation for the
contention that anxiety and guilt function as motivators

for achievement.

MANIFEST ANXIETY) SEVERITY OF GUILT. AND

SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN

BY
\

”1

NW

Charlene Adams

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Psychology

1964

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to thank Dr. Rabin, chairman of
the thesis committee, for his assistance with the theoreti-
cal framework of the study, his careful survey of the
manuscript, and his suggestions. Dr. Rabin's support and
encouragement were very much appreciated throughout.

The recommendations of Dr. Rau and Dr. Karon,
members of the thesis committee, were helpful especially
in preparing the final copy of the material.

Thanks are extended to the principal and students
of the Bath, Michigan, junior high school for their
cooperation and willingness to devote classroom time to
the project.

To Hal Sommerschield go many thanks for collaboration
on the scoring system, assistance in data collection and
analysis, and accompaniment during the occasional mis-
adventures of the project. My co—worker's loyalty to the
research can only be illustrated by the fact that one
evening in the Olds Hall calculating room he bounced a

baby on one knee and a calculator on the other.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS . . . . . . . 1

Anxiety 1
Guilt 2
Relationship 2
Summary 5
REVIEW OF TIE LITEMTURE O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 6
Anxiety 6
Guilt 9
Clarification of terms 9
Instruments and results 11
Death wishes l4
Confession 15
Evaluation 16

THE PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Statement of Hypotheses l7

WTHOD O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O l 8

Subjects ' 18
Instruments 18
Procedure 21

RESULTS 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 2 3

General Statements 23
Anxiety Versus: Total Guilt, Guilt by

Story, Confession 24
Achievement Versus: Anxiety, Guilt 27
Additional Data 28

DISCUSSION 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O 0 30

General Considerations 30
Results Relative to Predictions 32

Anxiety versus: total guilt, guilt by

story, confession 32
Achievement versus: anxiety, guilt 37

iii

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . .

APPENDICES O O O O O 0

iv

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page
1. Interrater reliability of guilt by story . . . 25
2. Pearson coefficients of correlation: guilt

vs. anxiety, guilt by story vs. anxiety,
confession vs. anxiety . . . . . . . . . . 25

3. Guilt by story vs. anxiety for small sample . 26

4. Correlation ratios (Eta): achievement vs.
anxiety, achievement vs. guilt . . . . . . 27

5. Story intercorrelations . . . . . . . . . . . 29

‘7

Appendix
A.
B.
C.
D.

E.

LIST OF APPENDICES

Children‘s Manifest Anxiety Scale .
Instructions and Guilt Stories . .
Story Completion Scoring . . . . .
Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . .
Means and Standard Deviations . . .

Scattergrams for Hypotheses III and

Vi

IV

Page
49
53
57
61
63

65

INTRODUCTION

In order to clarify the research problem it is
necessary to: (l) establish a basis in theory for the
relationship between anxiety and guilt, and (2) consider
recent relevant research in both areas.

Any discussion of the theoretical relationship
between anxiety and guilt must concern itself first with

the concepts singly.

Anxiety

Psychoanalytic theory denotes the birth trauma,
a flooding of the helpless infant with sensory, physio—
logical, and motor stimuli, as the prototype of all later
anxiety reactions (Sarason et a1., 1960). As the child
develops, anxiety comes to function as a signaling device
that alerts him to potential threat to his security.
Anxiety is perceived subjectively and can be determined,
according to Freud, by the presence of three attributes:
"(1) a specific unpleasurable quality, (2) efferent or
discharge phenomena, and (3) perception of these" (Sarason
et a1., 1960). Anxiety differs from fear to the extent
that it has a subjective rather than basis in fact. Since
each person's history of interaction with the environment
is unique, potential and chronic anxiety levels are peculiar

to the individual.

Guilt

With the passing of the Oedipus Complex, the pro-
cesses of identification, internalization of values, and
superego formation occur. The operation of conscience
involves "both inhibition of impulse, and feelings of guilt
when restraints have temporarily broken down" (Bandura,
1959, p. 251). The child internalizes the values that he
understands his parents to hold and tries to regulate his
behavior in accordance with such standards. “Once the child
has completed the process of patterning himself after
important adults, the external observer is replaced by a
hidden voice. . . . When he resists temptation he exper-
iences a self—approval similar to the approval he once
received from his parents. When he violates his internalized
standards, he condemns himself in the manner once used by
his parents" (Miller and Swanson, 1960, p. 136). Guilt or
superego-ego tension, the appearance of which is related
to a failure and/or threat of failure of the regulatory
process described above, is a form of self-punishment and
turning of aggressive drives inward (Kohlberg, 1963).

It is "concerned with separate, discrete acts . . . involves
transgression of a specific code or violation of a specific

taboo" (Lynd, 1958, p. 208).

Relationship

Anxiety and guilt are associated in a number of

ways. They are involved in the individual's (1) fear of

loss of love, (2) aggression and hostility, (3) feelings
of self-esteem.

Since the child is dependent upon his parents for
gratification of his needs, any sign that he might lose love
causes anxiety. Anxiety, then, leads the child to
demonstrate behaviors with which his parents will be pleased.
The total process, that of internalizing parental values,
results in superego formation. When the child has
successfully internalized parental values, any violation
of the standards will trigger guilt which is superego
anxiety.

The child's expression of aggression is perceived
by him as one of the most basic threats to his security
since it may lose him parental love. When the child shows
aggression as a baby, he immediately senses disapproval
which induces an anxious reaction. It has been shown
that anxiety is negatively related to overt, and positively
related to covert aggression (Ruebush, 1963). Anxiety
arises from a struggle to prevent overt aggressive impulses.
When moral transgressions occur, they can be regarded as
"disguised aggression against family authorities” (Kohlberg,
1963, p. 295). Sarason et a1. (1960) maintain that anxiety
in the child is the primary result of guilt about hostile
feelings toward parents. A number of research studies
have established a strong anxiety-hostility relationship
(Seeman, 1952: Goodstein, 1954; Feldman, 1958; Brenner,

1961).

Anxiety and guilt are both involved in the indivi-
dual's self-esteem. Kohlberg (1963, p. 296) states, "the
neo-Freudians have seen moral emotions of guilt, shame,
and anxiety as types of reactions of the social self
concerned about maintaining self-esteem in the eyes of
significant others. . . ." Lipsitt (1958) found that
children who manifest unfavorable self—concepts also score
high on anxiety. The self-disparagement element of the
self-concept is akin to responses frequently scored as guilt.
It is also found that self-acceptance is negatively related
to anxiety (Bruce, 1958). Finally, a research study
completed in 1955 concluded that highly anxious subjects
are more prone to self-blame than low anxious subjects
(Doris, 1955).

Because of the association between guilt and anxiety,
some researchers tend to confuse the two. Jegard (1960),
in a study of determinants of aggression, equated the
constructs. A more accurate interpretation would be that
guilt and fear of loss of impulse control stimulate an
anxious reaction (Miller and Swanson, 1960). Fenichel
(1945, p. 134) explains: "Guilt feelings represent a
topically defined anxiety, the anxiety of the ego toward
the superego. . . . The feeling of annihilation must be
characterized as a cessation of the narcissistic supplies
which were initially derived from the affection of some
external person and later from the superego." The

experience of guilt produces anxiety and self—blame:

self-criticism and other indications of guilt are anxiety-
reducing (Kohlberg, 1963). Guilt results in a vague
anxiety (Reik, 1957) that occurs because the individual
has violated his own integrity. MCKenzie (1962) points
out that the origin of guilt is in the clash of love and
aggression causing anxiety of a special quality.

It should be quite clear for the purposes of this
study that manifest anxiety includes ego anxiety plus
superego anxiety. Ego anxiety occurs in relation to
reality or factors in the environment, while superego
anxiety refers to the individual's discomfort due to
feelings of guilt. Although superego anxiety (or guilt)
is a component of expressed anxiety, guilt feelings are a
specific type of anxious experience. Anxiety, then, is
a large or global province only a portion of which is the

result of guilt.

Summary

The preceding discussion has traced the develop-
ment of anxiety and guilt in the child. A theoretical
basis for the fundamental relationship between anxiety
and guilt has been established. It is deduced that guilt
and anxiety are intimately associated in childhood fear of
loss of love, aggression and hostility, and self—esteem

because guilt becomes superego anxiety.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Since there are no research studies that directly
deal with an anxiety-guilt association, it will be necessary

to consider relevant research in both areas.

Anxiety

The consequences of anxiety (and guilt) on per—
formance are important to the discussion. It has been
recently shown that the effects of anxiety are not always
detrimenta1—-anxiety may inhibit or facilitate performance.
Ruebush (1960) chose a problem solving task to investigate
the interfering and facilitating effects of anxiety.

Using 280 sixth grade boys he found that, since the highly
anxious subjects were more cautious, their performance was
superior to that of the low-anxious group. Alpert and
Haber (1960) found that they could improve academic per-
formance prediction from an anxiety scale when items
designed to measure facilitating anxiety were included.
Two groups of 20 disturbed children were measured on
anxiety by clinical judgments and skin conductance in
research by Patterson (1960). The results showed that
social reinforcement conditioning in a complex verbal task
was not successful for the children who fell at the extremes

of the anxiety continuum as measured by skin conductance.

Ruebush (1960) and Patterson (1960) both conclude that
there is no simple relationship between anxiety and
performance but that defenses against anxiety, type of
task, as well as anxiety itself should be considered.

It is the Hullian conception that, because of drive
level, high anxious subjects will perform differently than
low anxious subjects in various situations. Studies report
that highly anxious subjects perform well in simple but
poorly in complex situations (Montague, 1953; Castaneda,
Palermo, McCandless, 1956b; Pickerl, 1958). Phillips
et a1. (1959, p. 256) explain the lack of a negative linear
relationship between anxiety and performance as follows:
"One possible explanation is that the relationship between
anxiety and performance is curvilinear. For example, high
anxiety may impede performance on complex tasks because
there is too much drive, while low anxiety may impede
performance because there is too little drive." The level
of task difficulty and number of competing responses appears
to affect performance of anxious subjects. Ramond (1953)
and Palermo (1956) found anxious subjects to be inferior
in performance when there are a number of competing
response tendencies.

Most of the experimental research using anxiety as
an independent variable has been HDllian-type learning
studies equating anxiety with drive. The findings could
be interpreted equally well using anxiety as an index of

motivation. If the concept motivation were to be substituted

for drive, it may be that a moderate amount of motivation
is optimal for superior performance.

The effect of anxiety on scholastic achievement,
as a special case of performance, has been investigated.
It was, at first, assumed that there is a consistent nega-
tive, linear relationship between anxiety and achievement
(Kerrick, 1955; MCCandless, Castaneda, 1956; Broen, 1959;
Reese, 1961). Surprisingly, of late, experimental evidence
indicating relationships between anxiety and achievement
other than simple negative types have been drawn to
attention. Reubush (1963) states that "a few studies
report either no relationship or that anxiety and achieve-
ment are positively related" (p. 498). Keller and Rowley
(1961) administered the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale
and the Metropolitan Achievement Test to fourth, fifth,
and sixth graders. Only "eight of the 28 correlations
between anxiety and achievement were negative and signifi-
cant, those for sixth-grade girls accounting for five of
the eight" (p. 20). Keller and Rowley conclude that
anxiety can be used as a predictor of achievement efficiently
only for highly anxious groups. Morgan, Sutton-Smith, and
Rosenberg (1960) administered the Children's Manifest
Anxiety Scale and two tests of achievement to 366 fifth
and sixth graders. It was found that the negative cor-
relation between anxiety and achievement is not consistent

but varies with grade level.

The confusing array of experimental evidence on
the relationship between anxiety and performance (with
special reference to achievement) does not seem to be
explained adequately by any theoretical position. The
evidence would be consistent, however, with the existence
of a curvilinear relationship between anxiety and per-
formance. It may be that little or no anxiety is detri—
mental to good test performance, a moderate amount is
facilitating, and extreme anxiety depresses scores.

Level of severity of guilt may be related to
achievement in a similar curvilinear manner for two reasons.
First, if guilt contributes to anxiety, then level of
guilt will follow the anxiety—achievement relationship.
Secondly, when there is little or no guilt, motivation and
achievement may be low. A moderate amount of guilt, may
increase motivation to achieve and result in higher scores,
while high guilt level may cripple performance and lower
achievement. In cases of extreme anxiety and guilt, the
psychoanalytic conception of drainage of energy (Kerrick,

1955) may be applicable.

Guilt

Clarification of terms. A number of recent investi—

 

gations of guilt in children analyze responses in terms
of temptation and transgression situations. Before pro-
ceeding with a discussion of research findings, it would

be well to establish a firm distinction between temptation

10

and transgression through a clarification of the two defin-
itions. According to Grinder (1961, p. 680) "temptation is
a predecision-type conflict situation where an individual,
free from coercion or danger of detection, must choose
between a positive incentive and conformity to learned

role behavior." Transgression is yielding to temptation

and subsequent violation of the moral standard in question.
In general, temptation is concerned with level of conscience
development (indexed by yielding or resisting under specific
circumstances) and transgression deals with guilt after the
violation.

Research on guilt is somewhat confusing since
studies deal with conscience development, resistance to
temptation and transgression with little regard for dis-
tinctions between the concepts. Grinder (1961, p. 804)
states, ”. . . conscience has been inferred from indices
of: (1) internal responses of guilt, e.g., painful feelings
of self—blame, self—criticism, or remorse; (2) behavior
interpreted as efforts to relieve guilt, e.g., confession,
reparation, efforts to incur punishment; (3) defenses
against guilt, e.g., projection, reaction formation, etc.,
and (4) resistance to temptation."

The following discussion of research findings on
guilt pertinent to this study is organized according to
methods of inquiry. Guilt has been indexed by objective
measures, incomplete sentences, interviews, behavioral tests

of temptation, and various types of story completions.

11

Instruments and results. Lowe (1961) devised
objective measures of three kinds of guilt. Using a series
of items chosen from the MMPI with psychotics and non-
psychotics, he reported finding a close relationship between
anxiety, guilt, and depression. It should be noted that
the relationship between anxiety and guilt obtained is
of questionable validity because the guilt scales contained
anxiety items, confounding the data.

A sentence completion measure of guilt was used
by Rabin (1959). The Rabin study was concerned with
possible attitudinal differences between 52 American and
45 Israeli fourth and fifth graders. It was found that,
whereas the Israeli children were concerned about guilt
feelings resulting from moral transgressions, American
children were more concerned with objective anxiety.

Burton, Maccoby, and Allinsmith (1961) attempted
to discover antecedents of resistance to temptation in
77 four—year—old children. The independent variable was
an interview with mothers and the dependent variable,
behavior of the child in a temptation situation. Resistance
to temptation was found to be related to such child rearing
practices as toilet training, severity of weaning, love-
oriented techniques as opposed to physical punishments.
Guilt was negatively related to the interview measure of
conscience.

Unger (1963) measured two types of guilt potentials:

(1) transgression—contingent guilt potentials using a

12

projective test, and (2) guilty apprehensiveness through

a questionnaire adaptation of the Children's Manifest
Anxiety Scale. It was found that the children's guilt
reactions were associated with the mother's nurturant
significance, the use of psychological not physical punish-
ment, and the frequency of unclear and enduring negative
responses from the mother.

Miller and Swanson (1960) carried out a comprehen—
sive program to explore expressive styles, moral standards
and defense mechanisms. The three stories devised by
Allinsmith (each dealing with a separate theme of death
wishes, theft, or disobedience) with both temptation and
transgression endings were employed. The Allinsmith stories
were modified, however, to eliminate fear of detection and
to give the stories a similar meaning for each subject.
Projective pictures were not included with the stories.
Ratings of guilt "encompassed any kind of pain, anxiety,
disadvantage, punishment or threat of punishment experienced
by the hero in the subject's story" (p. 148). Severity,
or amount of guilt aroused, was assessed according to
three criteria for interpretation:

"1. direct acknowledgement of self—blame or guilt
feelings (such as confession),

2. indirect manifestations of guilt, such as attempts
at reparation,

3. defensive distortions" (p. 147).

13

The particular study with which we are here con-
cerned utilized 112 urban, seventh and eighth grade boys
in the completion of stories dealing with temptation and
transgression. Miller and Swanson concluded: (l) severity
of guilt is related to timing of weaning and toilet
training, (2) the intensity of moral response is associated
with early experience, (3) discipline procedures affect
guilt about anger in middle class children, and (4) obedience
requests and social class are not antecedents of level of
guilt.

Rabin and Goldman (1963) used a mOdified Allinsmith
story technique to test the hypothesis that Kibbutz children
would show less severity of guilt about transgression than
non—Kibbutz children. It was predicted that Kibbutz
children would show a low level of transgression guilt
because of less focused and more diffuse parental identifi—
cation. The subjects for the study were 110 Kibbutz
children (54 males, 56 females) and 100 non-Kibbutz children
(52 males and 48 females) with median age of 13 for all
groups. The results confirmed the hypothesis. The fact
that the results were congruent with previous findings to
the effect that Kibbutz children have little neuroticism
supports the conjecture that the level of severity of guilt
is low in Kibbutz children in reality as well as in pro-

jective testing.

14

Death wishes. It will be remembered that a death
wish story is included in those that Miller and Swanson
used in the 1960 study. There is virtually no other
empirical data on death wishes although theoretical formu-
lations can be found in the literature. Wahl (1958)
postulates that the fear of death and the formation of
guilt feelings develop at approximately the same time.

The child, in his magical thinking treats wishes as though
they were actually transgressions. Feifel states, ". . . the
characteristic feature of the thought of the child, viz., that
his wishes have magical power to influence events, is a
double—edged sword. It lends . . . a comforting illusion

of credence to our wishes for invincibility for his hating,
annihilating, and destructive thoughts, which he also re—
gards as magically fulfillable wishes" (1959, p. 23).

By the same reasoning that the child employs in believing

he can cause deaths, the Law of Talion ("to do a thing is

to ensure an equal and similar punishment to the self"-—
Feifel, 1959, p. 24) reasoning leads him to fear his own
death. Although the child may harbor death wishes toward

his parents, death of a parent is interpreted as rejection
and abandonment as well as retribution.

The death wish story both elicits a more basic
conflict—-that of ambivalence toward the parents--and is
more counter to societal taboos than the other two stories.
In addition, while the hero in the theft and disobedience

stories can take positive steps to lessen his discomfort,

15

in the death wish story the situation is largely outside
the hero's control. It will be remembered that the proto—
type of anxiety is the helpless sensation of the infant at
birth. The fact that the death wish story is particularly
disturbing to the child is illustrated by Allinsmith's
report (Miller and Swanson, 1960) that extreme guilt
responses are found in story endings, such as: long prison
terms, suicidal tendencies, and injury to the hero. It
follows, then, that death wishes may be accompanied by
considerable anxiety. Since the conflict incited by death
wishes is probably more basic to the personality than those
concerning theft and disobedience, it may be that the death
wish story is more directly related to level of the child's

anxiety than are the other two stories.

Confession. Recently researchers have become

 

interested in confession as an indication of guilt and
index of conscience development. Horowitz (1956) maintains
that feelings of guilt are a prerequisite for confession.
The motivation for confession is not entirely clear.
Horowitz asserts that self-hostility leads to confession,
while Kohlberg (1963) states that the apology-confession—
restitution complex of responses are not internally initiated
but aid in gaining parental approval.

Ten projective story completions and a behavioral
test of temptation were used by Rebelsky, Allinsmith, and

Grinder (1961) to study confessional behavior in 138 sixth

16

graders. Confession "was defined as the revelation in words
by the hero that he had committed the transgression. The
operational definition thus excludes situations in which
the hero never confessed but behaved so oddly that others
were able to infer that he had transgressed. It included
what others have termed 'admission,' i.e., acknowledgement
after being suspected, interrogated, or accused" (p. 4). It
was found that: (l) confession is used often by the age
group studied, (2) girls confess more often than boys,

(3) noncheaters in the test of temptation use confession
more than cheaters. Inasmuch as confession is positively
related to resistance to temptation, it may be considered
an index of conscience development.

It has been hypothesized that confession occurs in
an attempt to reduce tension and fear of punishment (Hulicka
and Hulicka, 1960; Rebelsky, in press). Perhaps high
tension or anxiety is necessary for confessional behavior.
Logic would dictate that if anxiety and guilt are highly
associated and if confessional behavior indicates advanced
conscience development, then high anxiety level will be

present in "frequent confessors."

Evaluation

The most startling fact that emerges from a review
of literature concerning anxiety and guilt is that there is
no empirical evidence for an association between them. It
is mandatory that the relationship be explored empirically
so that inferences about guilt and anxiety are not built upon

unstable foundations of assumed associations.

THE PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESES

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate
the relationship between anxiety and guilt in children.
Special attention is given to clarifying guilt and anxiety
with respect to: (1) death wishes, (2) achievement,

(3) confession.

Statement of Hypotheses

Hypothesis I. There is a significant positive
correlation between degree of manifest anxiety and severity

of guilt.

Hypothesis II. There is a higher positive cor-
relation between manifest anxiety and severity of guilt about
death wishes than between anxiety and guilt about violation

of maternal commands or theft.

Hypothesis III. There is a curvilinear relation-

ship between achievement and anxiety.

Hypothesis IV. There is a curvilinear relationship

 

between achievement and guilt.

Hypothesis V. There is a positive correlation

between degree of manifest anxiety and amount of confession.

17

METHOD

Subjects

Subjects were 81 seventh and eighth grade boys
from the Bath, Michigan, school system. The only require-
ment for inclusion in the main group of subjects for the
study was that neither parent (through death, separation,
or divorce) is missing from the home. It was planned to
eliminate a subject if his age varied more than one year
from the median and if his lie score on the Children's
Manifest Anxiety Scale was nine or higher. The original
rationale for exclusion on the basis of age was the
assumption that quality of verbal expression would vary
with age regardless of grade. When it was found that the
guilt stories of the subjects not meeting the age restrictions
were scorable, the age requirement was omitted. Since
none of the subjects received a lie score as high as nine,
none had to be excluded on the basis of the original lie

criterion.

Instruments

1. The Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS), a
1956 adaptation of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, was
used to measure anxiety. The scale, consisting of 42

anxiety items plus an 11 item lie scale (included in

18

19

Appendix A), was developed by Castraneda, MCCandless, and
Palermo (1956). The "CMAS is a measure of the child's
tendency to experience a general and chronic state of
anxiety, rather than of a tendency to experience anxiety
only in specific situations or as a process of transitory
phenomenon" (Ruebush, 1963, p. 475).

The original 1956 normative study dealing with
fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children places the mean
score for boys at 15.87.* Test-retest reliability
after one week for a combined sample of boys and girls was
.90 on the total scale and .70 on thelie scale. Palermo
(1959) reports one month reliability on a sample of Negro
and white children to be slightly lower than that obtained
in the original study. In an attempt to establish area
norms for the CMAS, Levitt (1957) found reliability to be
from .85 to .95 for the A scale and from .60 to .70 for the
L scale. Pryor and Cassel (1962) find test-retest
reliabilities adequate for the use of the scale with retarded
children. Ruebush (1963, p. 475) states, "The CMAS has
been found to be internally consistent and reliable."

The fact that a series of workers have used the CMAS

in research with junior high pupils is mentioned by Keller

 

v~

*The fact that the mean attained in the present
study is slightly lower than those previously reported may
be explained by the fact that a typographical omission on
the administration of the scale to seventh grade subjects
made it necessary to omit scoring one anxiety item for
both grades.

20

(1962). He conducted a normative study employing the CMAS
with junior high school students and found: (a) junior
high means do not differ from those of elementary school
children, (b) junior high school subjects score lower on
the L scale than elementary children.

2. The Story Completion items used to measure severity
of guilt were those employed by Miller and Swanson which
were, in turn, fashioned after the stories of Allinsmith.

The original Allinsmith pictures were omitted and only
transgression endings included. The three stories administered
plus the system developed to score them are listed in
Appendix B and C, respectively.

3. A brief questionnaire (Appendix D) was administered
after the anxiety and guilt measures. Since it might have
been necessary to consider the influence of certain
variables in the data analysis, the questionnaire included
such items as: age, race, religion, father's occupation (w
and education, marital status of parents, and parents-—
living or deceased. Representative investigators who have
been concerned with such additional variables were:
race--Hafner (1959), and Palermo (1959); religion-~Boehm
(1962c); social class--Aronfreed (1961), Boehm (1962
articles a and b), and Miller and Swanson (1960). Analysis
of data was not carried out upon the information concerning
additional variables included in the questionnaire.
Questionnaire responses were inadequate for statistical
comparisons because of the variety of interpretations made

and incomplete answers received.

21

Procedure

The group administration of the tests to the sub-
jects required approximately one hour. Seventh and eighth
graders were examined on different days. Each subject
was given a booklet containing the guilt stories
arranged in random order, anxiety scale, and questionnaire.
The anxiety scale was placed alternately with the guilt
stories treated as a block to eliminate the possibility
that the first might influence scores on the second. The
testing procedure appeared to be anonymous since the
subjects were told not to proceed to a later section until
the preliminary material was completed and they were not
required to give their names until the final questionnaire
page. The illusion of anonymity was not preserved for all
subjects, however, since many of the pupils failed to
complete the booklets in the proper order. Scores from
a recently administered achievement test were impossible
to obtain and it was, therefore, necessary to administer
(at a later date) the California Achievement Tests Arithmetic
Fundamentals and Total Reading batteries to all subjects
(Tiegs and Clark, 1957).

Each subject received: (a) CMAS anxiety and lie
scores, (b) guilt scores for each of the stories plus a
total guilt score composed of the sum of scores on
individual stories, (c) confession total for all stories,

and (d) an achievement score. The Story Completion items

22

were scored on a three point scale of severity of guilt
(high, medium, and low), using the scoring system outlined
in Appendix C which is based upon the Miller and Swanson
criteria for recognizing guilt. Interrater reliability
(Pearson r) was established on a representative sampling
of the stories and is reported in "Results"-—Table l.*
Confession was scored for each story on a three point
scale according to the operational definition of confessive
behavior proposed by Rebelsky, Allinsmith, and Grinder (1961)
and quoted in the introductory section. Each subject's
achievement score was derived by averaging his percentile
rank levels on the Arithmetic FUndamentals and Total
Reading batteries.

The first, second, and fifth hypotheses were tested
by means of correlation coefficients (Walker and Lev, 1953).
The third and fourth hypotheses were evaluated through the
use of correlation ratios (Guilford, 1956). To facilitate
statistical manipulations, a linear transformation was

performed on raw lie and confession scores (Guilford, 1956).

 

*Reliability was tested on a random sampling of
story completions from male and female subjects, evenly
divided in number. Judgments of level of severity of guilt
were made by Mr. Harold Sommerschield and the writer.

RESULTS

Preliminary to a presentation of the results,
general statements regarding scores, groups of subjects
upon which analyses were conducted, and the reliability of

guilt judgments, are necessary.

General Statements

The statistical analyses were performed on the
basis of a series of scores achieved by each of the
subjects. There were four major types of measures--guilt,
anxiety, lie, and achievement. As previously mentioned,
each subject received a guilt score for separate stories,
the sum of which was labeled Total Guilt. Confession was
given one of three scores: 0 = none, 1 = forced, and
2 a voluntary. Confession points were accrued for each
guilt story and totaled to yield one confession score per
subject. Anxiety andlie scores were the total points
accumulated on the two scales of the CMAS. To arrive at
an achievement percentile for each subject, the percentile
ranks assigned for Arithmetic Fundamentals and Total
Reading were averaged. It was reasonable to average the
percentile ranks for subjects on the two achievement
batteries since a Pearson correlation of .684 (significant

well beyond the .01 level) was obtained by the present

23

24

investigator between scores on the Arithmetic Fundamentals
and Total Reading subtests.

It will be remembered that the subjects were
seventh and eighth grade students. In Appendix E are
listed the means and standard deviations by grade for
anxiety, guilt level, achievement, and confession. When
the means of the variables by grades are compared, there
are no significant differences between them.

While the major group of subjects included in the
study consisted of 68 pupils who meet the control condition
of both parents in the home, a few analyses were conducted
on an additional group of 13 subjects with at least one
parent no longer in the home. In the following material,
statistical comparisons are based on the findings from the
large sample of 68 subjects unless supplementary findings
from the smaller sample are specifically mentioned.

On the basis of an original rating scale which
includes guilt judgments on stories designed for males
and females, interrater reliabilities were established;
these are listed in Table 1. Reliabilities ranged from
.74 on disobedience to .93 for death wishes.

Anxiety versus: Total Guilt,
Guilt by Story, Confession

Reference to Table 2 will indicate that significant
results utilizing Pearson coefficients of correlation,
opposite to the predicted direction, were obtained con-

cerning Hypothesis I, but not for Hypotheses II and V.

25

Table l. Interrater reliability of guilt by story.

 

 

Story r n (male and female)
Disobedience .74 32
Theft .84 31
Death Wishes .93 30

 

Table 2. Pearson coefficients of correlation, guilt vs.
anxiety, guilt by story vs. anxiety, confession
vs. anxiety.

 

 

 

Hypothesis x y r n p
I. Guilt vs. Anxiety -.421 68 p (.0005
II.
Disobedience vs. Anxiety —.242 68 p .025 ;.01
Theft vs. Anxiety -.299 68 p .01 .005
Death Wishes vs. Anxiety -.302 68 p .005
V. Confession vs. Anxiety —.l69 68 ns

 

It was predicted that there would be a positive
correlation between anxiety and total guilt. A negative
correlation of .421 was found, however, for the two
variables and was significant beyond the .0005 level.
There was a correlation of —.255 (not significant) between
anxiety and total guilt for the small subject sample.
Since results were in a negative, rather than positive

direction, Hypothesis I is untenable.

26

Hypothesis II deals with the prediction that there
is a higher positive correlation between anxiety and guilt
about death wishes then between anxiety and guilt level
about disobedience or theft. Correlations between
anxiety and guilt level per story were all negative and
significant at the .025 level or beyond. The relationship
between anxiety and guilt about death wishes was the
largest of the three anxiety-guilt correlations. There
are no significant differences between the anxiety—guilt
correlations by stories for the large sample of subjects.
Hypothesis II is not confirmed.

The reader is referred to Table 3 which deals with
an analysis of the association between guilt levels and
anxiety by story for the 13 subjects lacking at least one

parent from the home.

Table 3. Guilt by story vs. anxiety for small sample.

 

 

 

x y r n P
Disobedience vs. Anxiety -.332 13 ns
Theft vs. Anxiety .238 13 ns
Death Wishes vs. Anxiety .460 13 p (.05 >.025

(Hypothesis II)

 

Support for the original hypothesis is furnished
by the fact that the only significant correlation was that
between anxiety and guilt about death wishes. The

significant anxiety—death wishes correlation for the small

27

sample differs in direction from that of the large sample
and is congruent with the original hypothesis since it is
positive.

The fifth hypothesis predictinga positive correlation
between anxiety and confession was not confirmed for either

group of subjects.

Achievement Versus: Anxiety, Guilt

Table 4 presents the statistical data when cor-
relation ratios were performed in accordance with the
curvilinear predictions of the third and fourth hypotheses.
Scattergrams for the two hypotheses are found in Appendix
F.

Table 4. Correlation rations (Eta): achievement vs.
anxiety, achievement vs. guilt.

 

 

Hypothe51s x y f1 f2 ofl 0f2 pl p2

 

III. Achievement vs. Anxiety .437 .548 .099 .072 both p (.01

IV. Achievement vs. Guilt .110 .320 .121 .120 ns p (.01

 

The third hypothesis concerning a curvilinear
relationship between achievement and anxiety was confirmed.
Decellerating curves were found for regression of achieve-
ment on anxiety and for regression of anxiety on achievement.
The correlations were both significant beyond the .01

level.

28

Confirmation of the fourth hypothesis was, at
first, thought to have been obtained for regression of
achievement on guilt. Since the predicted curvilinear
regression of guilt on achievement was not present, and the
scattergram indicated that a linear relationship might fit
the data,,a Pearson coefficient of correlation was computed
for the guilt and achievement variables. For both the
large (r = .310, p (.005 >.0005) and small sample (r = .644,
p (.005 >.0005) of subjects, a positive linear relationship
was obtained. The hypothesized function was, then, not
confirmed and the achievement-guilt association is

linear rather than curvilinear.

Additional Data ,

Although no theoretical hypothesis was made regarding
correlations between guilt levels obtained on the Story
Completion items by subjects, an analysis of intercorrela-
tions was conducted to facilitate comparisons of such
correlations with those obtained by previous workers.

Table 5 presents story intercorrelations and indicates that
all correlations are in a positive direction. The only
significant relationship is between guilt about theft and
guilt about death wishes.

A series of statistical tests were carried out
to determine whether scores on the lie dimension were
related to other variables. The Pearson r indicates
that there is no association between lie and anxiety

scores (r = -.l66). There was found, in addition, to be

29

no significant correlational relationship between lie

and guilt (r = -.043) or lie and confession (r = .034)
scores. A correlation ratio for the regression of lie on
anxiety was significant at less than the .01 level and
appears to indicate merely that the two characteristics are
distributed normally in the sample tested. Finally,

data show that there are as many high scoring lie subjects
above as below the median on anxiety and that, conversely,
there are as many low scoring subjects below as above the

median on anxiety.

Table 5. Story intercorrelations.

 

 

 

x y r n p
Disobedience vs. Death Wishes .187 68 ns
Theft vs. Death Wishes .276 68 p (.01 >.005

Disobedience vs. Theft .183 68 ns

 

DISCUSSION

Preceding a discussion of results relative to the
predictions and before interpretations of the findings are
offered, it would be well to compare the variables as
measured here with the conclusions of previous researchers.
The section on general considerations to follow draws
a series of comparisons between guilt, anxiety, and lie
variables, as they emerged in the present study, with

earlier findings.

General Considerations

The validity of the study is reflected by the
degree with which results attained here parallel those
reported for previous investigations dealing with comparable

variables.

.EEALE- Support for the validity of the original
scoring system utilized is derived from the fact that the
stories could be scored with highly reliable judgments.

As mentioned previously the interrater reliabilities on
a random sample of the stories, for males and females,
ranged from .74 to .93.

In general, low correlations were found between

guilt in different moral areas. Of the three correlations

between stories, the only significant relationship was

30

31

that between theft and death wishes. Miller and Swanson
(1960) speak of a series of guilts rather than "one guilt"
and reported low correlations between scores in one moral

area and another.

Anxiety. The mean of anxiety scores for the seventh
and eighth grade boys combined was 15.15. Castaneda,
McCandless, and Palermo (1956) found that the CMAS mean
for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade boys to be 15.87. The
mean of seventh, eighth, and ninth grade boys on the CMAS

was 15.5 in the 1962 investigation conducted by Keller.

Egg, The finding of no significant correlation
between the CMAS lie and anxiety scales is in accordance
with the report of Castaneda, MCCandless, and Palermo
(1956), and Keller and Rowley (1961).

It was originally thought that it might be necessary
to establish a cut-off point and eliminate subjects on the
basis of extremely high lie scores. The basic assumption
made is that individuals who "lie" often will receive
invalid anxiety scores. Sarason's General Anxiety Scale
for Children contains 11 lie items as does the CMAS.

Children answering no to nine or more lie items are
considered by Sarason (1960) to be unusually defensive.
Interestingly, in the use of the CMAS lie scale here, the
highest absolute lie score of the 68 subjects was gig.
Since the statistical tests are described in the "Results"
section indicated no systematic influence of lie on anxiety

scores, none of the subjects was eliminated on the basis of

his lie points.

32
Results Relative to Predictions

Anxiety versus: total guilt, guilt by story,
confession. Three hypotheses dealt with the postulated
positive correlation between anxiety and guilt, or in the
case of the fifth hypothesis, anxiety and confession. The
results, in general, point to strong anxiety-guilt relation-
ships in a negative, rather than positive direction.
Interpretation of the negative results will be undertaken
first, whereupon specific references to findings regarding
anxiety and guilt in particular stories and anxiety and
confession can be made in perspective. TWo related but
distinct questions arise: (1) Why are the anxiety—guilt
correlations not positive, and (2) why are the relationships
negative?

It should, first of all, be noted that a 1:1
positive correlation between guilt and anxiety could not
be expected. The CMAS, as a measure of expressed anxiety,
taps superego gag ego anxiety. Further, the three story
completion items used do not represent all the subject's
feelings of guilt but rather guilt in only three of many
moral areas. The only positive correlation to be antici-
pated, then, would be that between guilt about three specific
moral areas, which contributes to superego anxiety,
and total anxiety score. It should also be remembered
that there is no expected correspondence between ego anxiety,

also a component of the total anxiety score, and feelings

33

of guilt in the three areas.

Possibly, a positive association was not found
because the manifest anxiety scale and the story completion
measures reach different levels of awareness. The story
completion items are projective and are designed to elicit
unconscious content, while the anxiety scale taps conscious
symptoms. There may be a positive correlation between
manifest anxiety and manifest guilt (where the anxiety and
guilt feelings are relatively conscious and admitted) but
evidence is for the conclusion that this study did actually
measure overt anxiety and covert guilt. According to
L'Abate (1960), the CMAS measures such qualities as
rebelliousness and "nuisance value" in boys as opposed to
the more introspective characteristics and daydreaming and
feelings of inferiority in girls. Piers and Singer (1953)
maintain that anxiety is largely conscious while guilt is
unconscious: ". . . the dynamically important sense of
guilt remains as such unconscious, although the concomitant
anxiety becomes conscious" (p. 5).. If projective or
manifest measures of both variables were administered, a
strong positive correlation might be found. The results
of the study clearly illustrate the caution that needs to
be exercised in tapping different levels of awareness.

The second major question to be answered is why
there was found to be a negative relationship between

anxiety and guilt. The writer would contend that the

most reasonable explanation is that some of the subjects

34

repress feelings of guilt and express such discomfort in
the form of anxiety symptoms.

In order to explore an explanation for the findings
on the basis of repression, the major assumption that guilt
always parallels level of conscience development must be
questioned. In the "Introduction" the Burton, Maccoby,
Allinsmith (1961) conclusion of a negative relationship
between the measure of conscience development and guilt
was mentioned. There is, further, an additional case in
the literature which points to the fact that where there
should be a highly developed conscience, high guilt is not
present. Miller and Swanson (1960) found that, on the
death wish story, boys with childrearing antecedents that
would foster highly developed consciences do not show
commensurately high levels of guilt. They state,

". . . among boys who have experienced the greatest number
of conditions likely to lead to high guilt, fewer subjects
express high guilt than among subjects who have been sub-
jected to an intermediate amount of pressure. This
finding seems consistent with the formulation that the
most guilt-ridden boys were more inclined to inhibit their
feelings than were boys with an intermediate amount of
guilt'(pp. 156-157).

The phenomenon of repression may relate to guilt
as follows: if an individual has a highly developed
conscience, guilt feelings are so threatening that he

avoids situations which are likely to make him feel guilty

35

and represses such feelings when they occur. Sarason
(1960) advances the formulation that anxiety functions to
keep "the unconscious unconscious" (p. 13). The anxiety
level, then, may rise as the individual struggles to re-
press awareness of guilt. Mowrer (1950) maintains that
anxiety is present only when there has been prior repres-
sion. It is "conscience, which, when forced by a hostile,
immature, impulse-dominated ego, proves unequal to the
struggle and loses its place in the court of consciousness.
Guilt is the form in which conscience is normally repre-
sented . . . and anxiety is experienced when there is
'unconscious guilt,‘ i.e., repressed, dissociated guilt,
which is pressing forward for recognition but which is notb//
recognized as such" (Mewrer, 1950, p. 622).

It is possible, then, that anxiety level may be
more commensurate with level of conscience development
than it is with guilt because guilt content is repressed
in some individuals. It is quite possible that repression
operated in enough subjects to yield the negative results.
The entire repression explanation is, of course, hypothetical
since the present study did not pretend to measure level
of conscience development per se.

A possible alternate explanation for the finding
of a negative relationship between anxiety and guilt is
that children who attain high severity of guilt scores
have strong internalizations. Children with such well-

developed consciences are likely to give responses scored

36

high on a severity of guilt dimension because they are very
much aware of what behavior constitutes a moral violation.
It may be that subjects with high guilt scores do not feel
anxious because they are accustomed to meeting societal
expectations regarding approved behavior and are, con—
sequently, less likely to be censured than children with
weak internalizations.

The second hypothesis contended that there would be
a higher positive correlation between anxiety and guilt
about death wishes than between anxiety and guilt about
theft or disobedience because (1) death wishes deal with
basic ambivalence toward parents; (2) death wishes are
strongly counter to societal taboos; and (3) the death wish
story, as opposed to the other two, is constructed so that
the hero can take few positive steps to dilute his feelings
of guilt. The hypothesis was not confirmed since all
correlations were negative and there were no significant
differences between the coefficients.

It is interesting, and Table 3 clearly points to
the fact that the second hypothesis was completely con-
firmed for the smaller sample of 13 subjects. The only
significant correlation between anxiety and guilt level was
for the death wish story and there is a positive association.
The most salient question is, of course, why the direction
of the smaller sample is positive, as predicted, rather
than negative as is that of the larger sample. It would

appear that children who have lost one parent repress

37

feelings of guilt about death wishes less often than their
counterparts with the family intact. Possibly the children
in the smaller group find awareness of guilt more tolerable
than those in the large sample. With one parent absent,
for example, basic internalization of standards may not be
as strong, and consequently, feelings of guilt may not be
as uncomfortable. On the other hand, it may be that when
one of the child's parents disappears, the child is less
likely to be successful in repressing guilt about death
wishes than is his peer with both parents at home.

The fifth hypothesis of a positive correlation
between confession and anxiety was not confirmed. In
fact, confession was related negatively (r = -.169), but
not significantly, to anxiety. The positive correlation
was predicted on the basis of the supposition that con—
fession and guilt are highly associated and that confession
may indicate level of conscience development. The explan—
ations for negative association between anxiety and guilt
are applicable here since confession is behavior indicative
of guilt awareness. The negative correlation between
anxiety and confession would tend to contradict the propo-
sition that the purpose of confession is tension-reduction.
It is not the most, but the least, anxious children who

confess frequently.

Achievement versus: anxiety, guilt. The third
and fourth hypotheses concerned prediction of curvilinear
relationships between anxiety and achievement and guilt

and achievement.

38

The prediction of a curvilinear relationship be-
tween anxiety and achievement was completely confirmed when
it was found that both Eta regressions were significant.

It would appear, then, that moderate anxiety may function
as a motivating agent and that achievement is low when
anxiety is either extremely high or low.

The findings of this study are in disagreement with
many of those investigations, heretofore mentioned, which
isolated a negative linear association between the two
variables. It is very difficult to ascertain whether
correlation ratios were conducted on the data in the pre-
vious research projects. Reese (1961) does specifically
state that the Eta which he computed showed a negative,
linear relationship between the CMAS and a timed arithmetic
achievement test with fourth and sixth grade subjects.

The Keller and Rowley (1961) study found 8 out of
23 correlations between anxiety and achievement to be
negative in their work with fourth, fifth, and sixth
graders. They could predict achflevement reliably on the
basis of anxiety and intelligence, for only the highly
anxious group. The fact that prediction was possible for
only the most anxious of their sample could be explained
by the curvilinear results obtained in the present study.

A curvilinear relationship between guilt and
achievement was predicted because it was reasoned:

(1) that guilt would be related to achievement in the

same fashion as is anxiety, and (2) guilt might function

‘h

39

as an achievement-motivator. The hypothesis was not
entirely confirmed. A straight linear positive relation-
ship was found between the variables guilt and achievement.
There are two theoretical explanations for the results.
First, it is possible that guilt does, in fact, function
to motivate achievement but that high guilt is not
incapacitating. Second, the guilt variable as measured
by the story completion instrument used here may not have
a high enough "ceiling" and if it were possible to accrue
more guilt points a curvilinear association might emerge.
An additional factor that deserves consideration
regarding the association between guilt and achievement is
that of productivity. Total number of words produced was
analyzed for association with guilt score for 20 subjects
(10 scoring highest and 10 scoring lowest on guilt). A
Chi square corrected for continuity (walker and Lev, 1953)
of 5.0, significant between the .02 and .05 levels, indi-
cates that there is a strong association between guilt
level and total number of words produced on the story
completion items. Subjects who score high on guilt also
write a large total number of words for their stories. It
is possible that the factor of productivity is basic to
determining level of guilt and achievement, which might

account for the linear guilt-achievement correlation.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The major objective of the research summarized here
was to examine the relationship between manifest anxiety
and level of guilt in seventh and eighth grade boys.
Achievement, confession, and guilt about death wishes
were also investigated as they relate to the basic
anxiety-guilt association.

Statistical analyses of a correlational nature
were primarily performed on data collected from a sample
of 68 male, seventh and eighth grade students. A
few additional correlations were conducted on the scores
of a group of 13 children who were excluded from the major
sample because they did not meet control conditions (both
parents present at home). The instruments used were:

(1) the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, (2) three story
completion guilt items, (3) a personal data questionnaire,
(4) California Total Reading and Arithmetic Fundamentals
tests.

The hypotheses investigated in the study are listed
below:

Hypothesis I. There is a significant positive
correlation between degree of manifest anxiety and level

of severity of guilt.

4O

41

Hypothesis II. There is a higher positive cor-
relation between manifest anxiety and severity of guilt
about death wishes than between anxiety and guilt about
violation of maternal commands or theft.

Hypothesis III. There is a curvilinear relation-
ship between achievement and anxiety.

Hypothesis IV. There is a curvilinear relationship
between achievement and guilt.

Hypothesis V. There is a positive correlation
between degree of manifest anxiety and amount of confession.

Correlational tests revealed that there is a strong
relationship between anxiety and guilt but that the associa—
tion is in a negative rather than positive direction as
predicted. The hypothesis that there is a higher positive
correlation between manifest anxiety and guilt about death
wishes than between anxiety and guilt in the other moral
areas was found untenable for the large sample of 68
subjects but confirmed for the small sample of 13 children.
Since there is a non-significant, negative correlation
between anxiety and confession, the fifth hypothesis was
rejected. A curvilinear association, as hypothesized, was
found between anxiety and scholastic achievement. However,
a positive linear, rather than curvilinear, relationship
was found to exist between guilt and achievement.

The most salient conclusion to be drawn from the
research is that there is indeed a strong relationship

between the variables of anxiety and guilt in children.

42

The predicted positive association may not have been
found because the instruments used measure specific guilt
and global anxiety, and because they tap different levels
of awareness. A reasonable explanation for the fact that
a negative association was found appears to be that some
children with highly developed superegos and concomitant
anxiety find it necessary to repress feelings of guilt.
The fact that the second hypothesis was substantiated only
for the group of subjects with a parent absent from the
home can be explained by the possibility that awareness
of guilt about death wishes is more operative in children
who have "lost" a parent. There was confirmation for the
contention that anxiety and guilt function as motivators

for achievement.

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1960, 31, 739-747.

 

Keller, E. Junior high school and additional elementary
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Kerrick, Jean. Some correlates of the Taylor Manifest
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Levitt, E. Ecological differences in performance on the
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Lipsitt, L. A self-concept scale for children and its
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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale

Read each question carefully. Put a circle around the word

YES if you think it is true about you. Put a circle around

the word NO if you think it is not true about you.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

NO

It is hard for me to keep my mind on anything.
I get nervous when someone watches me work.
I feel I have to be best in everything.

I blush easily.

I like everyone I know.

I notice my heart beats very fast sometimes.
At times I feel like shouting.

I wish I could be very far from here.

Others seem to do things easier than I can.
I would rather win than lose in a game.

I am secretly afraid of a lot of things.

I feel that others do not like the way I do
things.

I feel alone even when there are people around
me.

I have trouble making up my mind.

I get nervous when things do not go the right
way for me.

I worry most of the time.

I am always kind.

I worry about what my parents will say to me.
I often have trouble getting my breath.

I get angry easily.

I always have good manners.

My hands feel sweaty.

50

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

NO

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

NO

No

No

No

N0

No

No

51
I have to go to the toilet more than most
people.
Other children are happier than I.
I worry about what other people think about me.
I have trouble swallowing.

I have worried about things that did not really
make any difference later.

My feelings get easily hurt.

I worry about doing the right things.

I am always good.

I worry about what is going to happen.

It is hard for me to go to sleep at night.

I worry about how well I am doing in school.

I am always nice to everyone.

My feelings are hurt easily when I am scolded.
I tell the truth every single time.

I often get lonesome when I am with people.

I feel someone will tell me I do things the
wrong‘way.

I am afraid of the dark.

It is hard for me to keep my mind on my
school work.

I never get angry.

I often feel sick in my stomach.

I worry when I go to bed at night.

I often do things I wish I had never done.
I get headaches.

I often worry about what could happen to my
parents.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

52

I never say things I shouldn't.

I get tired easily.

It is good to get high grades in school.
I have bad dreams.

I am nervous.

I never lie.

I often worry about something bad happening
to me.

APPENDIX B

Instructions and Guilt Stories

1. Instructions: We're interested in finding out what
boys your age are like. In each of the booklets that you
have are some questions to answer yes or no, three stories,
and a form to fill out at the end. Do not turn any page
and go on until you are through with it. The three stories
you are to finish where they leave off. This is notan
English class. Don't worry about spelling. There are no
right or wrong answers: you can say anything you want in
the stories and use any language you want. Just finish

the stories, telling what happens and how it turns out, and
what the people in your story are thinking and feeling.

No one here at school will see your stories--I'11 take
them back to the University with me. It is very important
that you answer every question completely. Do not leave

any out. Raise your hand if you have a question.

2.. Stories
a. Disobedience

One day Ted's mother goes visiting a friend of hers
in another town. At noon just after his lunch Ted phones
his mother and talks with her. She tells him to be a good
boy and says that she will be home at suppertime. New
Ted is all alone with nothing to do. He thinks of the
boxes in the top of his mother's closet. She has told him
never to take down the boxes. He knows that his mother won't
be home till suppertime. Ted climbs up and takes down the

boxes.

54

55

b. Theft

Bill's friends have formed a baseball team. They
promised Bill he could be their catcher if he could get
a catcher's mitt. His father told him he could not buy
him a catcher's mitt. Bill saved all the money he could.
At last he had $10.00 saved up to get a really good glove.
When he arrives at the sports store, he sees the clerk
going down to the cellar of the store. The clerk does not
see Bill. Bill decides to look at the catcher's gloves
himself before calling the clerk. He finds just the one
he wants. Then he reaches for his money. It is gone.
He realizes that he has lost it on the way downtown. Bill
feels awful. He looks around. There is nobody in the
store or near it outside. The clerk is still in the cellar.
It occurs to Bill that the mitt would just fit under the
bulge in his jacket. He hides the mitt under his jacket and

walks out of the store. No one sees him leave.

c. Death Wishes

Dave likes his baseball coach. The other day the
coach promised him privately that Dave could pitch in the
big game on Saturday. When the team meets for final practice,
the coach doesn't say anything to Dave about pitching. 'Dave
is afraid he has forgotten or changed his mind. He keeps
thinking to himself over and over again: "The coach isn't
going to keep his promise. I hope he doesn't even make

the game, I wish he'd drop dead!" When Dave arrives at the

56

game on Saturday afternoon, he hears that the coach has
just been in an accident and has been taken to the

hospital. Everyone is worried. The game is about to begin.
Dave sees from the scoreboard that he is scheduled to

pitch.

APPENDIX C

Story Completion Scoring

Story 1. - Disobedience
Story 2. - Theft

Story 3. - Death Wishes

Level I
A. No doubt and/or unimpaired performance

Story 3 - no mention of worrying about the coach
and no difficulty in pitching

B. Blatant missing the point

Story 3 - statements as "don't judge a guy by the
way he acts"

C. verbalizations of discomfort (sorry, worried,
feeling bad)

Story 1 - sorry opened boxes and saw presents
Story 2 — afraid of being seen
Story 3 - worried about the coach and accident
Level II
A. Distortion - moderate

l. Situational (as doubts and/or performance
decrement)

Story 3 - pitching poorly
2. Behavioral (as, going to hospital after game)
B. Involuntary confession

Story 2 - parents ask child how he bought glove
when he left his money at home

C. Externalization - mild
1. Moderate punishment
Story 1 - spanked and sent to bed

Story 2 - having to work after school to pay for
glove

58

59

2. Getting caught
Story 1 - mother returns early
D. Special cases
1. Story 1

Good deed - as, child catches robbers after
opening boxes

Gift for someone other than hero in boxes
Forgetting to replace boxes
2. Story 2

Finding money and returning glove without
either type confession

3. Story 3
Intent to do well for coach's sake

verbalizations of discomfort involving cause
and effect (feelings of blame)

Level III
A. Distortion - severe

1. Situational (as doubts and/or performance decrement)
Story 3 - inability to pitch

2. Behavioral
Story 1 - does not take boxes down
Story 2 — does not steal glove
Story 3 - goes to hospital before game

B. voluntary confessions (special cases in story 2
below)

1. Returns glove and confesSes

2. Finds money, returns glove, and confesses

E.

60

Externalization - severe
1. Severe punishment by others - as, sent to jail
2. Injury to hero or others

Story 1 - falling down well or TNT in boxes
blows up

3. Courting punishment

Story 2 - returning to continue to steal until
caught

Moralizing - statements about what hero should or
should not do, what is right and wrong

Special case in story 3 - upset and intends to do
well for coach's sake.

If there is a question:

1.

2.

A series of Level II responses with one questionable
Level III response, score Level III

When responses of two levels are present, score
highest.

APPENDIX D

Questionnaire

Fill out the following list of questions Completely.
Check one answer where there are blanks. Raise your hand

if you have a question.

1. Name 2.

 

3. Age 4.

5. Race: White ( ) Negro ( )
6. Are both your parents living? Yes
7. Your parents are:
( ) Married and together ( )
( ) Separated ( )
8. Religion
( ) Protestant ( )
( ) Catholic ( )
9. How often do you attend church?
( ) Every week ( )
( ) Twice a month ( )

10. Where does your father work?

 

Male ( ) Female ( )

Birthdate
Month Day Year

 

() N0()

Divorced

Other

 

Jewish

No preference

Once a month or less

Never

 

11. What does he do there?

 

12. What was the highest grade in school that your father

reached or degree he received?

 

62

APPENDIX E

Means and Standard Deviations:

Anxiety, Guilt, Achievement

Variable

Anxiety

Grades combined
7th
8th

Guilt

Grades combined
7th

8th

Stories

a. Disobedience
Combined
7th
8th

b. Theft
Combined
7th
8th

c. Death Wishes
Combined
7th
8th

Achievement
(percentile ranks)
7th

8th

Confession
Combined
7th

8th

Mean

15.15
14.12
16.06

6.34
6.78
5.94

2.10
2.25
1.97

2.24
2.34
2.14

2.00
2.21
1.83

42.38
41.06

4. 22
4.72
3.78

64

Standard
Deviation

6.41
7.06
5.61

2.50
1.49
1.74

.07
.08
.07

.08
.07
.09

.09
.09
.08

23.45
29.15

1.35
1.32
1.24

68
32
36

68
32
36

68
32
36

68
32
36

68
32
36

32
36

68
32
36

APPENDIX F

Scattergrams for Curvilinear Hypotheses

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