Maths anxiety
Do you panic whenever your coursework involves calculations?
Or does your mind just go blank when trying to split the bill at a restaurant?
If the answer to either of these questions is yes, it’s possible that you suffer from maths anxiety. This little-discussed fear can have a long-lasting impact on the numeracy skills of both adults and children, so in recognition of National Numeracy Day (22nd May 2024), we’ve chosen to highlight it in this month’s SLD blog.
What is maths anxiety?
Consider a small child who has decided to brave the top diving board at a swimming pool. They climb all the way to the top, start walking towards the edge, and then see just how far it is to the water. At this point, one of two things generally happens:
The child might be scared but is ultimately able to convince themselves that they can do it, and they jump off the edge.
Fear takes over and the child freezes, unable to jump, but also unable to turn around and come back down the way they came.
These two different responses can be attributed to whether the brain assessed the distance to the water as a “challenge” or a “threat”. As Johnston-Wilder et al. explain, both responses involve an increased heart rate, but a challenge causes the arteries to dilate and hence more blood and oxygen to reach your brain and muscles - this enhances your ability to react to the situation (e.g. to rationally assess that it must be safe). In contrast, a perception of threat causes the arteries to constrict, reducing the flow of blood and oxygen, and reducing your ability to think clearly – this leads to your brain feeling flooded by panic and you being paralysed by fear.
Maths anxiety is what happens when the brain learns to assess maths as a threat, and it’s hugely problematic for a whole number of reasons. In a given moment, it fills your brain with panic, leaving you unable to think about the problem in hand. This is followed by feelings of stupidity and embarrassment at not being able to solve the problem, so you then start to label yourself as “bad at maths”. This, in turn, leads you to avoid maths wherever possible, so you end up out-of-practice and struggling again the next time you are faced with maths. The end result is a vicious circle of feeling like a failure.
With all that said, it’s not hard to see why some people develop negative feelings towards maths. However, the key lesson that we should all take from the above analogy is that the only real difference is confidence – if you believe you can do it, your brain triggers challenge mode and gives you the tools to manage, whereas if you lack confidence, it triggers threat mode and stops you being able to think properly.
What causes maths anxiety?
Why is it that some people lose all confidence in their maths abilities and learn to assess maths as a threat?
When I tell people what my job is, they often proceed to tell me how much they hated maths at school, usually combined with stories of being put on the spot to answer questions (e.g. that “game” where you can only sit down after you’ve answered a question correctly). This, along with lots of similarly anecdotal evidence in the literature, suggests humiliation and embarrassment are strong factors in causing maths anxiety.
However, another commonly suggested cause is that children pick up maths anxiety from their teachers, carers, or parents – in other words, maths anxious adults lead to maths anxious children in yet another vicious circle.
While it is hard to pinpoint exact causes, both of these theories are at least consistent with research that shows maths anxiety tends to increase with age, i.e., nobody is born maths anxious! Moreover, maths anxiety affects people of all mathematical abilities, so it can’t simply be poor performance causing maths anxiety. In my opinion, this research should be taken as good news – even if you feel very maths anxious, you could still be very good at maths and you should be able to “unlearn” the anxiety to become maths confident!
What can we do about it?
If you feel like you suffer from maths anxiety, it might be helpful to keep the following in mind:
Know that you are not alone! Estimates vary, but one recent UK survey found that almost one in every five adults said numbers made them nervous.
Always remember that the mind blanks you experience when faced with maths are nothing to do with being stupid – nobody can think and panic at the same time.
When doing any maths, always try to start with easy problems that you know you can manage. This will build up confidence ready to tackle harder questions.
If you ever find yourself panicking, stop immediately. Once you’re in threat mode, you will not be able to think clearly again until you have calmed down, and you will only frustrate yourself by trying to continue. Do some breathing exercises or your chosen relaxation technique, and then try some easy questions to build up confidence again.
Build maths into your regular routine. Avoidance is your worst enemy, so start doing a little maths each day to build up your confidence. It’s the same logic as the ‘Couch to 5K’ running programme – if you start by attempting too much, you’ll end up in pain and hating running, so it’s better to build it up with short, regular runs. For anyone wanting to improve their everyday maths, you should have a go at the National Numeracy Challenge, which provides you with short lessons tailored to your current confidence and ability level.
Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. If you are a student at the University of Glasgow, book an appointment with a maths adviser in Student Learning Development who will be happy to help you get on track to improving your confidence with numeracy.
Further Reading
To find out more about maths anxiety, I highly recommend reading this ‘Toolkit for Teachers and Learners, Parents, Carers and Support Staff’ which is where I learned about the challenge vs threat model.
There are also lots of excellent resources available on the National Numeracy website, including the National Numeracy Challenge, information on maths anxiety, and 5 top tips for overcoming maths anxiety.
And finally, there are lots of suggested readings on the Maths Anxiety Trust’s website.
Written by Dr Jenny August, Maths Adviser for SLD