The Role of Anxiety on Novices' Rifle Marksmanship Performance

In this study we examined the role of anxiety on novices' performance on the psychomotor task of rifle marksmanship. The stages-of-skill-development model suggests that aptitude influences performance while learning a skill; however, the model does not address the role of affect. Assessments for state anxiety and state worry were administered to 42 novice shooters. Aptitude and state worry predicted shooting performance (r = .67) comparable to more direct psychomotor measures used in prior research. Incremental validity analyses showed that aptitude accounted for 11% of the variance, and state worry explained an additional 34% above and beyond aptitude. The use of noncognitive assessments can broaden the understanding of skilled performance. Although aptitude influences learning a skill, it appears that novice shooters' performance is also influenced by affective states such as anxiety.