Cognitive interference in computer anxiety

This study investigated the sources of cognitive interference in high vs. l ow computer anxious university students. A total of 149 psychology undergra duates were administered measures of computer anxiety, trait anxiety, compu ter experience and positive and negative thoughts associated with computers and computer use. It was hypothesized that individuals high in computer an xiety would report a greater number of debilitative thoughts than individua ls low in computer anxiety. However, individuals high in computer anxiety w ere expected to report more on-task thoughts than individuals low in comput er anxiety. In support of the hypotheses, a multivariate analysis of varian ce revealed that the high computer anxious group reported experiencing sign ificantly more negative evaluations, off-task thoughts and negative compute r cognitions than the low computer anxious group. In addition, the high com puter anxious group reported fewer computer enjoyment cognitions than the l ow computer anxious group. Contrary to previous research findings, computer anxiety was not related to on-task thoughts when statistically controlling for of-task thoughts. The results are discussed in light of cognitive mode ls of anxiety and prior research.