ABSTRACT
To assess individuals’ levels of receiver apprehension, L. R. Wheeless developed a 20-item, Likert-type instrument with response options ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Items on this instrument are designed to measure how persons generally respond while functioning in their role as “receiver”. C. V. Roberts reported a significant correlation between Receiver Apprehension Test (RAT) scores and physiological arousal (tympanic temperature) during a listening task. M. J. Beatty found that RAT scores functioned in a manner consistent with assimilation theory. Specifically, RAT scores were basically stable, but they were increased by the anticipation of a difficult listening task. In the early development of the RAT, Wheeless factored individuals’ responses to both the receiver-oriented RAT and source-oriented Personal Report of Communication Apprehension items. Reasoning that persons might be apprehensive as sources, but not as receivers (and vice versa), Wheeless found responses factored separately, with all items loading on their respective factors.
