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Jenna Walther
Dr. Elliot
REVISION OF THEORY PAPER
October 24, 2013
Towards a Theory of Writing Apprehension: An Exposition of Neurotic Writers
It is possible for a person to be apprehensive when composing a theory paper
using research about neuroticism, writing apprehension, and writers block: continuously
editing, constantly deleting, or staring at a blank document past the deadline; worrying
about sounding sophisticated and evaluation of intelligence. “The odd thing is that though
writer’s block is a familiar, even popular notion, it is one of the least studied dysfunctions
of the composing process” (Rose 1). Limited theory exists for writing apprehension;
additionally, studies and research about writing anxiety, is a narrow scope with a limited
amount of information. “A small body of literature exists for a phenomenon related to
writer’s block: writing apprehension or anxiety” (Rose 3). Neuroticism, a broad domain
of the Big Five personality traits, can help explain the anxiety and fear someone may
have during the writing process; fear of being evaluated or judged, anxiety about the rules
of composition, and fallacious thoughts about what makes writing “sophisticated”.
Writing is an affective and cognitive process. Cognition can influence the affective, while
the affective can influence cognition, if it is believed that attitudes can be changed or
molded from experience. Perhaps, better techniques can be offered in academic settings
to stifle the apprehension that so many writers, professional or student, face. In Writer’s
Block: The Cognitive Dimension, Mike Rose unfolds how apprehensiveness can lead to
blocking (high blockers contrasted with low-blockers) and the integral role cognition
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plays in the writing process: from the planning strategies, to the rigid rules of
composition, editing too early, and misleading assumptions so many people use in their
writing. “Writer’s block, then, can be defined as an inability to begin or continue writing
for reasons other than a lack of basic skill or commitment…but since blocking is a
composing process dysfunction that is related to skill in complex, not simple, ways, some
high-blockers might eventually produce quality papers” (Rose 3). An important question
lies within writing apprehension: Does a personality trait, such as neuroticism, have a
relationship with writing anxiety? If so, than it gives a reasonable explanation as to why
students may have low writing and testing scores. This paper attempts to give theoretical
framework to how people with neurotic traits link to writing apprehension, or what will
be called a theory of “neurotic writers”.
Background of the Big Five personality dimensions
The Big Five personality dimensions were developed through a scientific,
nomothetic, and lexical approach, among a long history of research. “One starting place
for a shared taxonomy is the natural language of personality description” (Oliver,
Norman, and Soto 117). In other words, how one uses language to describe his or her
attributes can extrapolate categories where majorities of people use common,
synonymous descriptors of their personality. Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientious,
Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience are the five broad terms that make up The Big
Five; each category having its own intricate traits to which it corresponds. Oliver and
Srivastana, in “The Big-Five Trait Taxonomy: History, Measurement, and Theoretical
Perspectives”, explains further, “the Big Five structure does not imply that personality
differences can be reduced to only five traits. Rather, these five dimensions represent
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personality at the broadest level of abstraction, and each dimension summarizes a large
number of distinct, more specific personality characteristics” (105).
There are exceptions and limitations in every type of study. There are unlimited
amounts of descriptive words once could use to describe aspects of their personalities.
Nomenclature of other cultures must be taken into consideration as well; and it is
currently being studied. This paper will focus on the personality trait of neuroticism and
how it affects writing.
Accounting for phenomena in the social world
Since the early philosophers (e.g. Ancient Greek), have found Neuroticism
(emotional instability) be common trait in people. Neuroticism seems to have the most
negative effect on a person’s attitudes and self-concept. As the world evolved in to
societies focused on academia and intellect, cognition was altered and the affective
domain was impacted.
Cognitive and the affective factors and their impact cannot be mutually exclusive.
Cognition is gaining knowledge through action, thought, senses, and experiences.
Affective relates to emotions and attitudes; these elements act as a seesaw. The Big Five
is an ontological consideration. As humans, we are born with certain temperaments and
attitudes. One may be able to alter an attitude with experience, cognition, and maturity.
Cognition is epistemological (we gain knowledge through experience), however, people
do not come into the world as a blank slate, but with genes and traits. Basic tendencies of
person come from biological considerations and direct our actions (how we react, make
choices, and so on). Experiences can alter self- conception; external influences can
impede upon attitudes, forcing one to adapt or maladapt, but the main traits and basic
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tendencies still exist and lie within the individual. Maturity and growth occur in
increments, but it is not until the next challenging situation that basic tendencies kick in
all over again. The individual must then go through another “growth spurt” and
realign/readjust their basic tendencies.
Universal typology for the phenomenon of writing apprehension
The traits linked with Neuroticism are: anxiety, angry hostility, depression, selfconsciousness, impulsivity, and vulnerability. When a person inherits neurotic
tendencies, they are already subject and sensitive to external influences (causal pathways)
defined by the nature and descriptive lexical terms of the trait itself. The trait of
neuroticism is a key ingredient to the phenomenon of writing apprehension, writing
anxiety, “writer’s block”, or simply, the fear of writing. “The term writing apprehension
was coined by Daly and Miller (1975). It refers to a situation and subject specific
individual difference associated with a person’s tendencies to approach or avoid
situations perceived to potentially require writing accompanied by some amount of
perceived evaluation” (Daly and Wilson 327).
By time students are in the education system, they bring their own personality
traits and basic tendencies. They either adapt or become maladapted to schooling. Their
self-concept and characteristic adaptions are triggered by neurotic tendencies. Their
emotional reactions to external influences affect their self-concept. Maturity in cognition,
through experience, can offset or set-off basic tendencies (neuroticism) in their work and
ability in an academic setting, depending upon external influences (such as a teacher or
deadlines), their self-concept, and attitudes.
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In the example of the “neurotic writer” the basic tendency is to be anxious,
whether the assignment makes him or her nervous or fearful of the evaluation for his
attempt at writing; the writer finds it difficult to start or complete the task at hand based
upon strategy and rules of composition; or the writer lacks the confidence or has self
doubt about one’s knowledge and ability. Depending upon the attitude a writer has about
writing will influence completion of the assignment or giving up and not complete it.
The teacher may or may not be harsh grading the assignment, but with feedback,
a student and teacher can see where the problem exists. Many teachers use affective
explanations when a capable student is struggling with writing (“He or she is too hard on
themselves”). Rather than looking for purely an affective explanation, one must consider
personality traits and the best way to readjust basic tendencies. Many people are writing
apprehensive; neuroticism is the missing link in studies and research. Using the resources
in this paper, people may be able to target “neurotic writers” and make corrective
adjustments to pedagogy and curriculum to discover new ways to teach composition; the
rules, organization of information, evaluation, and other complex concepts by measuring
neuroticism and writing apprehension.
Gaining insight due to typology
The Big Five taxonomy acts as a framework for use in research to outline possible
reasons for human traits and, further, attitudes. The questions in the Big Factor Inventory
allow a researcher to rate and scale points accumulated by a subject to find specific
personality traits; in other words, the BFI allows measurement of neuroticism. The
adoption of The Big Five into quantitative and qualitative research, via empirical
measurement, has offered evidence about how personality dimensions influence cognitive
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and affective components. Having neurotic personality traits exhibits attitudinal values
found within apprehensive writers.
The Daly-Miller test is a valid instrument that measures writing apprehension, or
social phenomena, using a questionnaire of 26 items and scaling answers. In 1975,
Michael Miller and John A Daly founded the writing apprehension test. They found that
students with negative writing experiences become apprehension and have a tendency to
procrastinate and avoid writing. The questions reflect the attitudes a person has towards
writing, which portrays components of their personality. A person who has a fear of
writing is more likely to suffer from low confidence, negative self-concept,
procrastination, stress, nervousness, and depression.
A study which yields insight about the classification of the apprehensive writer is
Lynn Bloom’s “The Composing Processes of Anxious and Non-Anxious Writers: A
Naturalistic Study”. Bloom classifies the difference between how anxious and nonanxious college students compose their writing. Bloom explains common problems she
found in her naturalistic case study (from her abstract):
“Some of the common problems were the lack of structured writing times,
procrastination, and distractions. The writers who overcame their problems often
needed help only to organize their writing tasks into discrete steps or to budget
their time properly. Such case studies are theoretically and pedagogically useful to
writing teachers, because they can show discrepancies between writers'
perceptions of their effectiveness and their actual performances throughout their
writing processes. When teachers record naturalistic observations of writers at
work, they invite self-evaluation by anxious writers to modify work habits and
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streamline the writing process. In this way, students' writing apprehensions
decrease, and some of them learn to enjoy writing”.
Bloom used the Daly-Miller Test to measure writing apprehension in the students. She
observed the students, both anxious and non-anxious, in writing workshops to reduce
writing anxiety. She found that most non-anxious writers have more efficient patterns in
their writing than anxious writers. Non-anxious writers write with purpose, organization,
and time management, with control of their behavior. The Daly-Miller test is an
important and vital tool in gaining insight to this typology.
Rose comments on the work of Bloom in his book:
“Bloom finds that some of her anxious writers are, in fact, good writers and do
not necessarily steer clear of courses and majors that involve writing. Like their
less skilled but equally anxious peers, however, they evince certain
misconceptions (e.g., That others write better and with more ease than they do)
and characteristics (e.g., perfectionism, procrastination). Non-anxious writers, on
the other hand, tend to be realistic in their assessment of their writing and efficient
in the management of their time” (Rose 15).
Many researchers believe that writing apprehensive students would make career choices
that avoid writing, but this is not always the case. Neurotic writers may not be
apprehensive about all writing, but rather, certain topics that may trigger anxiety, or the
complexity of the writing. Other influence that may trigger frustration and anxiety is what
the teacher expects, their own value judgment of their writing, or judging the value of the
assignment.
A sequence of proclivities of the apprehensive writer
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The proclivities of a person or student can be highly influenced by personality
affecting cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal domains. Cognition is how a student
commands the modes of discourse (EDNA), rules of composition, strategy and
organization of the task at hand. The intrapersonal domain involves a student’s work
ethic, attitude, and view of his or her self. The interpersonal domain involves group work,
evaluation, audience, collaboration, and the external influences of a task.
There are two outliers of neuroticism: perfectionism and low confidence.
Perfectionism is the inability to continue writing due to doubting the skills and the quality
of the product. Low confidence is the inability to start writing due to self-doubt or low
self esteem in which no matter what is produced, it is not quality. Symptoms of the
negative impacts neuroticism causes are what Martinez, et. al., refers to as non-starters,
noncompleters, and nonexhibitors in their article “Pain and Pleasure in Short Essay
Writing: Factors Predicting University Students’ Writing Anxiety and Writing SelfEfficacy”;
“Through an examination of case studies, Barwick (1995) found that those with
writing anxiety could be classified into three categories: non-starters,
noncompleters, and nonexhibitors. Nonstarters avoid anxiety stemming from loss
or rejection and demonstrate denial, self-idealization, and criticism.
Noncompleters repress their aggressive impulses to avoid feeling loss or rejection.
Nonexhibitors repair the pain of loss through intellectualization or obsession in
taking apart and re-creating essays” (352).
Nonstarters and noncompleters match the category of low confidence neuroticism, due to
their lack of self-esteem and self-efficacy. Nonexhibitors match the category of
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perfectionism, which can lead to compulsive behaviors in trying to perfect one’s writing
by doubting the quality of their product.
These issues affect the cognitive domain since the writers may not feel that they
have the strategies or knowledge to combat certain compositional skills or modes of
discourse such as expository, descriptive, narrative, and argumentative writing. A
perfectionist writer may feel that their thoughts or sentences “don’t come out right”,
depending on the task, causing blocking. A low-confidence writer may feel that they are
incapable of the task and avoids it.
The intrapersonal domain affects the self-efficacy, self-concept, and work ethic to
writing. “Writing self-efficacy is influenced not only by the student’s own physiological
and emotional reactions to a task, but also by past experience and verbal feedback from
others” (Martinez, et. al. 352). Neuroticism influences the intrapersonal domain greatly
since it focuses on the attitudes and beliefs within the writer.
Finally, the intrapersonal domain focuses on external pressures of the writer.
Whether the task is collaborative or being evaluated by peers or a teacher, these factors
can place pressure on the writer causing nervousness, doubt their ability, or incompletion
of assignment to avoid rejection or failure of writing ability.
Variables that impact the construct of apprehensive writing
The theory postulates many different relationships about writing apprehension
and how the measurement of neuroticism, based upon factor analysis, play into the notion
of what Rose refers to as “writers block.” Mike Rose has done some profound work in
trying to measure “writer’s block”: using questionnaires, observation of the writing
process, and informal interviews post-assignment, to probe the thoughts behind college
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students’ actions. Rose is one of the pioneers of researching writers block and
apprehension using cognitive psychology theory (1984). His case study delineates and
describes “blocking behaviors” of college students, and uses questionnaires to “describe
blocking behaviors and items that describe cognitive and cognitive/attitudinal variables
related to blocking” (16). Rose claims that both high and low blockers use rules and
assumptions for organization and the writing process, but the difference is between
rigidity and flexibility in those rules may cause the writer to block.
“Skill problems have long been examined and a bewildering panoply of
treatments—from sentence-combining to role-playing—has been built. But when
the capable writer cannot write, we are puzzled and often resort to broad affective
explanations…It is possible that this affective bent explains why writer’s block
has never been the object of the educator’s scrutiny” (1-2).
Rose refers to cognition in an epistemological approach. Students learn rules,
organization, and evaluation of their writing, which contributes to the anxiety, fear,
apprehension, and frustration in writing. Many students miss deadlines, use inflexible
rules and strategies, which disrupt the flow of their writing. If the Big Five personality
domain of neuroticism is considered and applied to apprehensive writing, than this could
possibly give researchers practical implications to investigate and address the affective
explanations, and build upon the cognitive explanations, people use in the face of writer’s
block; and finally offer guidance to those suffering with “neurotic writing” and pedagogy
to the teachers teaching neurotic writers. After all, neuroticism—emotional instability,
lack of confidence, fear of evaluation, and negative emotions can all stagnate a person’s
ability to produce a document or doubt the product they are producing.
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Neurotic writing is not based upon the notions of Paul Federn. He “analyzes what
he refers to as “the neurotic style,” but that is more a faulty (with the faults suggesting
psychological disturbances) than a blocked style” (Rose 13). Rather, having the
personality of neuroticism, a person’s attitudes and discourse influenced and manifested
by this trait or basic tendency (e.g. “I get stuck while writing papers because I cannot find
the words I want to say). Evaluation of writing by a “neurotic writer” adds more anxiety;
and further “attitudes are manifested when writers evaluate what they have written”
(Rose 10). Actual psychological disturbances may clearly disrupt the writing process, but
not all anxious writers necessarily have psychological disturbances. Certain limitations of
style of prose, strategies for organization, the type of discourse being written about,
intrapersonal attitudes and feelings, or external pressures such as time limitations, peer or
teacher evaluation may cause an already anxious writer to block.
Federn is known for his works done with “ego psychology” and psychotics.
Martin Bergmann quotes Ferdern, in his article “The Place of Paul Federn’s Ego
Psychology in Psychoanalytic Metapsychology”, “our body and psyche belong
permanently to our ego” because “we feel that processes within us, even though they may
be interrupted by forgetting or unconsciousness, have a persistent origin within us…”
(97). Federn makes a strong point and can be linked to how a neurotic personality can
affect the ego of nonexhibitors and noncompleters. However, he only addresses one
domain of competence—the intrapersonal domain. There are many other components
within a writer that neuroticism can affect besides a bruised ego.
In Rose’s Afterword, he states: “The case study of Glenn (and of Stephanie in
“The Cognitive Dimension of Writer’s Block”) further suggests that personality
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characteristics could be related to proficient or limited composing. However, the present
study did not involve the sort of testing and extended clinical interviews that would be
necessary to diagnose cognitive style or dimensions of personality.” (103). The
measurement of neuroticism in writers (personality dimension) can be the missing link to
apprehensive writers and how they compose their writing.
Some other variables that impact apprehensive writers are apart of the
intrapersonal and interpersonal domains. Race, income, gender, and ethnicity impact an
individual’s self-concept and attitudes when it comes to intellectual and writing abilities.
There is now emphasis on standardized testing which can heighten anxiety levels
for students. Many studies show that variables of race and income impact the
performance of students on these tests. Douglass Harris states in his article, “Schools
serving student populations that are both low poverty and low minority are 89 times more
likely to be consistently high performing compared with high-poverty, high-minority
schools” (367). Although this claim has to do with standardized testing, it also can show
a relationship between low poverty and low minority and high poverty and high minority
student populations with writing scores and success. Schools in high poverty areas
already suffer from less opportunity in schooling. Minority students have to tend with
learning a new language and composition. Minority and high poverty also tend to be
synonomous, meaning that minority students will not receive the attention, skills, and
strategies they need to succeed in education—heightening anxieties in the learner. This
may lead to rejection of writing or avoiding a writing task.
Another common belief, due to standardized testing, is that females outperform
males when it comes to literacy and writing. Having this attitude, males are at risk for
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avoiding writing assignments, procrastination, prematurely doubt the quality of their
work, and place barriers on their skills in writing. Martinez et. al. claims “women are
twice as likely as men to experience anxiety” ( Benton, Robinson, Tseng, Newton, &
Benton, 2003; Herrington, Matheny, Curlette, McCarthy, & Penick, 2005 qtd. on 352).
Also, “Cayton (1990) argued that women may encounter more difficulty mediating
between their own voice and the demands of the academic audience, and that they are
likely to face more challenged because of conventions of power and authority in
discourse” (352).
Practical Implications of “Neurotic Writing”
Rose and Bloom both research college students writing composition, attitudes,
and intricacies. Although they reinforce the idea that apprehension/writing anxiety is
prevalent in students writing, they are using college students—students invested in their
work and have persevered through primary and secondary education. Many of these
students want to be educated and have a desire to grow and acquire new skills and
knowledge. They may have more anxiety than students who are not invested. College
students are more mature and have formed compositional strategies—even if they do
cause anxiety, they focus on their work more purposefully. Elementary and high school
students may not be completely invested and have not fully developed cognitive skills
and abilities. This does not mean they are not capable; rather there is a cognitive and
affect difference in their strategies, judgments, and values. This is why it is important to
measure personality traits in students to work on more effective strategies for
compositional growth for those students with neurotic traits, causing writing
apprehension.
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The practical implications for this theory are for both educators and learners and
addressing the issues associated between neuroticism and writing apprehension. In
contemporary schooling, administration and teachers place emphasis on high stakes
testing in order to measure student achievement and mastery of academic subjects such as
Language Arts. In order to address these issues, writing apprehension needs to be studied
in order to find new ways to approach the neurotic writer. In “Am I Really that Bad?:
Writing Apprehension and Basic Writers” Buley-Messeiner contributes to operational
issues of writing apprehension: “control cannot be acquired from teachers or textbooks.
Control must be developed through the meaningful connection of self, reader, text, and
intention. Furthermore, basic writers can learn to make that connection, as many of my
students have proved… As we work out possible answers with our students, their writing
apprehension may diminish and their writing confidence may grow” (15). Messeiner
suggests a method of teaching that allows connection to the students for them to learn and
engage in writing, rather than to fear it. This will help raise confidence levels and
hopefully control neurotic tendencies.
Reeves also addresses how to correct the issue of writing anxiety in her article
“Minimizing Writing Apprehension in the Learner-Centered Classroom”: “As
apprehensive writers have generally done very little writing and that has been judged
unsatisfactory by prior teachers, a good way to begin is with writing in class every day,
creating a non-threatening, practice-like atmosphere where traditional lecturing and
grading take a back seat” (39). Reeves’s suggestion allows for the interpersonal domain
to be addressed. The approach of putting less emphasis on grades and strict rules of
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composition will allow the writer to relieve his or her anxiety of being evaluated and not
having the skills to complete the task.
Mike Rose makes an important declaration in the afterword of his study; “In some
cases, writer’s block may be an inevitable part of compositional growth…Britton et al.
have noted that “difficulties may actually increase as the writer grows more proficient”.
And, perhaps, as the writer grows more proficient, writing begins to mean more and
involve more risks…Blocking can result” (104). Academic growth triggers neurotic
behavior. There are assignments due in multiple classes, time is limited, and social
pressures surround students amongst race and socioeconomic as variables of
consideration. Neurotic behavior is prevalent through history and has been found in every
type of personality study and research. An important factor is to find where the anxiety
begins to exist; this would require measurement of neurotic traits in students; this could
influence or possibly alter the education system. It is not possible to have complete
flexibility in all writing or deadlines, but finding new methods to help combat anxiety
that neurotic writers feel could be the answer to deal apprehensive writing. There is no
doubt that compositional growth breeds some type of anxiety, both professional and
student, but to have strategies and skills to be able to cope with neuroticism is vital. I
conclude with a quote by McCrae and Costa about the purpose of theory; “A theory
organizes findings to tell a coherent story, to bring into focus those issues and phenomena
that can and should be explained” (159). The phenomena of writing apprehension affects
all types of writers, but measuring neuroticism using the BFI, trait, and personality theory
could lead researchers to new relationships, evidence, and methods for dealing with
“Neurotic Writers”.
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