ABSTRACT
When I was a psychology undergraduate we were taught statistics by a mathematician. Big mistake. We were not mathematicians and we were floundering. Several months before taking our final exams we were rescued by a lecturer who was a non-mathematician and understood our difficulties. When I became a psychology lecturer and was asked to teach statistics I took the decision to approach the subject in a very different way. Eventually I found one that was effective. In my first statistics session with students I asked them to complete a questionnaire which included rating themselves on a scale for maths anxiety. Over 70 per cent of the students reported having high levels of maths anxiety.
