Does the thought of household budgeting make your palms sweat and your heart race?

Did you avoid math classes when you were in school, or pick a career where you thought you'd never have to encounter numbers?

Or maybe you have a child who panics at the mere thought of algebra.

Math is essential to our everyday lives, but for people with math anxiety, any tasks involving

math can cause dread and fear.

Now psychologists are studying where math anxiety comes from, how it affects people's lives

and careers, and what interventions can help people overcome it.

So how common is math anxiety?

When does it usually start?

Can you be good at math but still have math anxiety?

Are girls more likely to experience it than boys?

If you have math anxiety, what can you do to become more comfortable with math?

And if you're a parent who see signs of math anxiety

in your child, what can you do and where can you go for help? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology,

the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between

psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills. My guest today is Dr.

Molly Jamison, a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Northern Colorado.

She's an educational psychologist who studies math anxiety in both children and adult learners.

She's explored the factors that contribute to math anxiety as well as the relationship between math anxiety and math performance.

She also created a developmentally appropriate scale to assess math anxiety in primary grades

and has worked on interventions for students and teachers to decrease

math anxiety. Dr. Jameson, thank you for joining me today.

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