Math anxiety, but not induced stress, is associated with objective numeracy.

Many daily activities require a basic understanding of math. Numeracy, which refers to individual differences in the ability to understand numerical concepts and work with probabilities, has been linked to health-related decision-making and medical and financial outcomes. Whether affective influences impact numeracy has not been experimentally assessed, although research has shown that emotions impact judgments and decision-making. Stress is one commonly experienced affective influence that could impact numeracy. We examined whether objective and subjective numeracy were influenced by stress induced from anticipating giving a speech in a laboratory setting. We also examined the association of self-reported math anxiety, or apprehension pertaining to mathematics, with objective and subjective numeracy. Two experiments were conducted; the second was a direct replication. Undergraduate students (Experiment 1, n = 99; Experiment 2, n = 139) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a stress induction or a neutral condition. Whereas neither objective nor subjective numeracy significantly differed across conditions, math anxiety was a consistent predictor of objective and subjective numeracy. Math anxiety and baseline perceived stress did not consistently moderate any effects. These findings have implications for health care, educational, and financial contexts in which people must make decisions that involve complex numbers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)Public Significance Statement: People’s ability to work with and interpret numbers correctly, or their numeracy, influences medical and financial decision-making and outcomes. In the present study, people with more math anxiety—that is, apprehension about math—performed worse on a numeracy measure and rated their numeracy as worse. Some participants were placed under stress, yet their numeracy was not impacted relative to participants who did not experience stress. This suggests that it may be worthwhile to test whether interventions that reduce math anxiety can improve health decision-making.