The competition of affective responses in human subjects.

"The present study is an attempt to study competing responses in human affective behavior. The following hypothesis was tested: a reduction of the magnitude of a conditioned anxiety response can be produced by the simultaneous elicitation of certain other affects. The procedure… consisted of the simultaneous tachistoscopic presentation of two letters, one having an anxiety response conditioned to it under hypnosis, and the other a response of either sadness, contentment, or delight. In the control condition the other letter was affectively neutral. The competing affects hypothesis was confirmed for the pairing of contentment and anxiety (only)." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)