Mathematical anxiety, also known as math phobia, is a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in daily life and academic situations. This is, arguably, distinct from statistics anxiety where the negative state is the result of encountering statistics at any level but related to but distinct from mathematical anxiety.
Math Anxiety
Mark H. Ashcraft defines math anxiety as "a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance" (2002, p. 1). It is a phenomenon that is often considered when examining students' problems in mathematics. According to the American Psychological Association, mathematical anxiety is often linked to testing anxiety. This anxiety can cause distress and likely causes a dislike and avoidance of all math-related tasks. The academic study of math anxiety originates as early as the 1950s, when Mary Fides Gough introduced the term mathemaphobia to describe the phobia-like feelings of many towards mathematics. The first math anxiety measurement scale was developed by Richardson and Suinn in 1972. Since this development, several researchers have examined math anxiety in empirical studies. Hembree (1990) conducted a meta-analysis of 151 studies concerning math anxiety. The study determined that math anxiety is related to poor math performance on math achievement tests and to negative attitudes concerning math. Hembree also suggests that math anxiety is directly connected with math avoidance.
Ashcraft (2002) suggests that highly anxious math students will avoid situations in which they have to perform mathematical tasks. Unfortunately, math avoidance results in less competency, exposure and math practice, leaving students more anxious and mathematically unprepared to achieve. In college and university, anxious math students take fewer math courses and tend to feel negative towards the subject. In fact, Ashcraft found that the correlation between math anxiety and variables such as self-confidence and motivation in math is strongly negative.
According to Schar, because math anxiety can cause math avoidance, an empirical dilemma arises. For instance, when a highly math-anxious student performs disappointingly on a math question, it could be due to math anxiety or the lack of competency in math because of math avoidance. Ashcraft determined that by administering a test that becomes increasingly more mathematically challenging, he noticed that even highly math-anxious individuals do well on the first portion of the test measuring performance. However, on the latter and more difficult portion of the test, there was a stronger negative relationship between accuracy and math anxiety.
According to the research found at the University of Chicago by Sian Beilock and her group, math anxiety is not simply about being bad at math. After using brain scans, scholars confirmed that the anticipation or the thought of solving math actually causes math anxiety. The brain scans showed that the area of the brain that is triggered when someone has math anxiety overlaps the same area of the brain where bodily harm is registered. And Trezise and Reeve show that students' math anxiety can fluctuate throughout the duration of a math class.