TOLERANCE OF REPRESSORS AND SENSITIZERS TO NOXIOUS STIMULATION.

HYPOTHESIZED THAT SENSITIZERS WOULD APPROACH AND REPRESSORS AVOID PROLONGATION OF PHYSICALLY AVERSIVE STIMULATION. THE DISTRIBUTION OF REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION (R-S) SCORES FOR 84 MALES AND 116 FEMALES WAS SEPARATELY DIVIDED INTO QUARTILES FOR BOTH SEXES. 4 LEVELS OF SHOCK WERE DETERMINED: RECOGNITION, MODERATELY AVERSIVE, PAIN AVERSIVE, AND ENCOURAGED AVERSIVE. RESULTS SUGGEST, CONTRARY TO PREDICTION, THAT MALE SENSITIZERS AVOID AND REPRESSORS APPROACH PAINFUL STIMULI. HOWEVER, BOTH FEMALE REPRESSORS AND SENSITIZERS TEND TO AVOID NOXIOUS STIMULATION AS COMPARED WITH THE MIDDLE QUARTILES. THE CONCEPTS OF DIFFERENTIAL DRIVE LEVEL AND SOCIAL ACQUIESCENCE ARE USED IN INTERPRETING THESE RESULTS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

EFFECTS ON THINKING OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONFLICT AROUSAL AND ORAL FIXATION.

PSYCHOANALYTIC WRITINGS HAVE DELINEATED AN ORAL CHARACTER WHO IS IN CONFLICT ABOUT EARLY ORAL WISHES AND NEEDS. ORAL CONFLICTS WERE AROUSED VIA COGNITIVE TASKS CONTAINING ORAL REFERENTS IN ORDER TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ORALLY FIXATED SS REACT TO ORAL CONFLICT AROUSAL WITH DECREMENTS ON SUCH TASKS, BUT NOT WHEN TASK CONTENTS ARE NONORAL. 30 MALE ALCOHOLICS AND 30 NONORALLY FIXATED CONTROLS WERE STUDIED ON A CHAIN WORD ASSOCIATION TEST AND A PROVERBS TEST, BOTH CONTAINING ORAL AND NONORAL STIMULI. A T-TEST EVALUATION OF RESULTS INDICATED AT HIGH SIGNIFICANCE LEVELS THAT ORAL CONFLICT AROUSAL IN THE ALCOHOLICS LEADS TO THINKING IMPAIRMENTS IN THE FORM OF VARIOUS REGRESSIONS TOWARD PRIMARY PROCESS MODES AND HAS A GREATER EFFECT ON ALCOHOLICS THAN ON THE FUNCTIONING OF CONTROL SS. THOUGHT PROCESSES ARE PREDICTABLY AND CONVERSELY VARIABLE ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF THOUGHT CONTENT. (32 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ITEM AMBIGUITY AND ITEM DISCRIMINATION IN THE MMPI.

EVALUATED 2 CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF ITEM AMBIGUITY WITH RESPECT TO THE DISCRIMINATION POWER AND RESPONSE DIRECTION OF MMPI ITEMS. INTERPRETIVE AMBIGUITY RATINGS AND RESPONSE AMBIGUITY VALUES WERE OBTAINED ON THE ITEMS IN ORDER TO DIVIDE THEM INTO GROUPS BY AMBIGUITY CHARACTERISTICS. A CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS INDICATED THE PRESENCE OF A LOW POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 2 MEASURES. THE ITEMS WERE ANALYZED WITH RESPECT TO THE NUMBER OF SCALES ON WHICH THEY ARE KEYED AND IN TERMS OF THEIR VARIABILITY IN RESPONSE DIRECTION. IT WAS EXPECTED THAT ITEMS HIGH IN INTERPRETIVE AMBIGUITY AND LOW IN RESPONSE AMBIGUITY WOULD HAVE GREATER DISCRIMINATION POWER AND WOULD BE MORE VARIABLE IN KEYED RESPONSE DIRECTION. BOTH EXPECTATIONS WERE CONFIRMED. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN INTERPRETIVE AND RESPONSE AMBIGUITY IS USEFUL TO CONSIDER IN ITEM-ANALYSIS PROCEDURES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ESCAPE AND APPROACH RESPONSES IN AVOIDANCE LEARNING.

IN EXP. I, 18 MALE ALBINO SPRAGUE-DAWLEY 85-100 DAY OLD RATS WERE ORIGINALLY TRAINED TO RUN FROM A DISTINCTIVE SHOCK CHAMBER (SIDE A) TO A DISTINCTIVE SAFE CHAMBER (SIDE B) AND CONFINED ON SIDE B FOR EITHER 30 OR 150 SEC. AFTER REACHING CRITERION, ALL GROUPS WERE GIVEN REVERSAL TRAINING (SIDE B TO SIDE A) WITH 30-SEC CONFINEMENT. THE GROUP WITH 150-SEC CONFINEMENT IN ORIGINAL LEARNING LEARNED FASTER BUT REVERSED SLOWER THAN THE 2 30-SEC CONTROL GROUPS. IN EXP. II, 52 MALE SS WERE SHOCKED OR NOT SHOCKED IN AN EXTERNAL SHOCK BOX, AND THEN TRANSPORTED BY HAND TO 1 SIDE OF A 1-WAY BOX FOR EITHER 30 OR 150 SEC. OF CONFINEMENT. AFTER 8 TRIALS, ALL GROUPS WERE GIVEN AVOIDANCE TRAINING EITHER TOWARD OR AWAY FROM THEIR PRETRAINING CONFINEMENT CHAMBER. THE GROUP THAT WAS BOTH SHOCKED IN THE EXTERNAL SHOCK BOX AND CONFINED FOR 150 SEC. LEARNED FASTER WHEN RUN TOWARD AND SLOWER WHEN RUN AWAY FROM THE PRETRAINING CONFINEMENT SIDE THAN ALL OTHER GROUPS (CONTROLS). (FRENCH SUMMARY) (17 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SENSATION SEEKING AND VOLUNTEERING FOR SENSORY DEPRIVATION AND HYPNOSIS EXPERIMENTS.

3 STUDIES CONDUCTED AT 3 DIFFERENT UNIVERSITIES TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A SENSATION-SEEKING TENDENCY AND VOLUNTEERING FOR EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOSIS AND SENSORY DEPRIVATION. MALE AND FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES WHO VOLUNTEERED FOR HYPNOSIS EXPERIMENTS WERE FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER ON THE SENSATION-SEEKING SCALE (SSS) THAN NONVOLUNTEERS. FEMALES VOLUNTEERING FOR SENSORY DEPRIVATION EXPERIMENTS WERE HIGHER ON THE SSS THAN NONVOLUNTEERS, BUT MALE VOLUNTEERS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN ONLY 1 OF THE 2 SAMPLES TESTED. MARKED UNIVERSITY POPULATION DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND ON THE SSS, AND THESE DIFFERENCES BORE SOME RELATION TO THE MAGNITUDE OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VOLUNTEERS AND NONVOLUNTEERS WITHIN EACH SEX GROUP. NO RELATIONS BETWEEN BIRTH ORDER, HYPOMANIA, ANXIETY, AND VOLUNTEERING WERE FOUND IN THE STUDIES WHERE THEY WERE EXAMINED. (17 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND ADJUSTMENT, REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE.

SS WERE 40 MALADJUSTED MALE PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED ON A PSYCHIATRIC WARD AND 40 ADJUSTED MALE PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED ON A MEDICAL SURGICAL WARD. THE MEDICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC GROUPS WERE EACH COMPOSED OF EQUAL SUBGROUPS OF LOW- AND HIGH-COMPETENCE REPRESSORS AND SENSITIZERS. ALL SS COMPLETED A SOCIAL DESIRABILITY MINIMIZED Q-SORT FOR "REAL SELF" AND FOR "IDEAL SELF." RESULTS SHOWED THAT SELF-ACCEPTANCE AS EXPRESSED IN A SELF-IDEAL DISCREPANCY SCORE IS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO THE DEFENSIVE-STYLE CONTINUUM OF REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION, WITH REPRESSORS EXPRESSING SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER SELF-IDEAL DISCREPANCIES THAN SENSITIZERS. NO RELATIONSHIP WAS FOUND BETWEEN SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND THE DIMENSIONS OF ADJUSTMENT OR SOCIAL COMPETENCE. (33 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SOME PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE CORRELATES OF STRONG APPROVAL MOTIVATION.

50 MALE COLLEGE STUDENTS WERE ADMINISTERED 2 MEASURES OF FIELD DEPENDENCE, THE ROD AND FRAME TEST (RFT) AND THURSTONE'S EMBEDDED FIGURES TEST (EFT); 2 TASKS TO SPECIFY KINDS OF STRATEGIES USED IN RECEPTION AND SELECTION CONCEPT-ATTAINMENT SITUATIONS; A SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL TO MEASURE MEANING ATTRIBUTION; AND A DELAYED AUDITORY-FEEDBACK (DAF) TASK TO MEASURE INTERFERENCE WITH SPEECH. SS WITH A STRONG NEED FOR APPROVAL, AS MEASURED BY THE MARLOWE-CROWNE SOCIAL DESIRABILITY SCALE, WERE FIELD DEPENDENT ON THE RFT (P .01) AS PREDICTED, BUT NOT ON THE EFT, AND HAD A RETARDED RATE OF SPEECH IN THE DAF TASK (P .05) AS PREDICTED. IN A 2ND EXPERIMENT (N = 40), THE RFT RESULT WAS REPLICATED (P .01). THE CONCEPT-ATTAINMENT AND MEANING-ATTRIBUTION HYPOTHESES WERE NOT CONFIRMED. THE HYPOTHESES THAT STRONG APPROVAL MOTIVATION IS DEVELOPMENTALLY LOWER THAN WEAK APPROVAL MOTIVATION IS DISCUSSED BRIEFLY. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

TWO TESTS OF A THEORY OF VERBAL-DISCRIMINATION LEARNING.

2 TESTS WERE MADE OF A THEORY WHICH ASSUMES THAT VERBAL-DISCRIMINATION (VD) LEARNING IS BASED UPON A FREQUENCY DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN THE RIGHT AND WRONG WORDS. IN EXP. I 150 UNDERGRADUATES WERE GIVEN EITHER 0, 2, OR 5 FREE-RECALL LEARNING (FL) TRIALS ON A LIST OF WORDS PRIOR TO THE WORDS' BECOMING EITHER THE CORRECT OR INCORRECT MEMBERS OF PAIRS IN A VD LIST. WHEN WORDS FROM FL WERE CORRECT IN VD, PERFORMANCE ON VD LEARNING WAS NEARLY PERFECT ON ALL TRIALS. WHEN WORDS FROM FL BECAME INCORRECT IN VD LEARNING, 2 FL TRIALS HAD ESSENTIALLY NO INFLUENCE ON VD LEARNING; WITH 5 FL TRIALS PERFORMANCE WAS INITIALLY HIGH ON VD LEARNING, BUT PROGRESSED VERY SLOWLY OVER TRIALS. IN EXP. II 45 SS WERE FORCED TO VOICE BOTH THE CORRECT AND INCORRECT MEMBERS OF PAIRS IN A VD LIST. THE INTENT WAS TO MAKE LEARNING BASED ON A FREQUENCY DIFFERENTIAL DIFFICULT. LEARNING WAS MARKEDLY RETARDED AS COMPARED WITH CONTROLS. CONTROLS FORCED TO PRONOUNCE ONLY THE CORRECT RESPONSE PERFORMED BETTER THAN A GROUP LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES. BOTH EXPERIMENTS ARE INTERPRETED AS SUPPORTING THE THEORY. (FRENCH SUMMARY) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

COGNITIVE SENSITIVITY TO AVERSIVE MATERNAL STIMULATION IN LATE-ADOLESCENT MALES.

THE DEGREE OF INTERFERENCE PRODUCED BY SIMULATED MATERNAL CENSURE AND CONTROL WITH THE COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE OF LATE ADOLESCENTS WHO PERCEIVED THEIR MOTHERS AS CONTROLLING AND HOSTILE (HC-LN) WAS USED TO IDENTIFY SS WHO HAD ADAPTED TO THESE AVERSIVE MATERNAL CUES AND THOSE WHO HAD NOT. CONTROLS HAD LOW-CONTROL, HIGH NURTURANCE (LC-HN) MOTHERS. SS WERE 40 MALE STUDENTS. COMPARISON OF DISRUPTED AND NONDISRUPTED HC-LN MALES ON THE MMPI FOUND DISRUPTED SS HIGHER ON THE MA SCALE AND NONDISRUPTED SS HIGHER ON THE D SCALE. NO MMPI DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND FOR CONTROLS. IT WAS PROPOSED THAT INNER-DIRECTEDNESS (HIGH D) WAS ASSOCIATED WITH ADAPTATION TO AVERSIVE MATERNAL CUES, OUTER-DIRECTEDNESS (HIGH MA), WITH NONADAPTATION. OVERALL GROUP COMPARISONS SHOWED HC-LN SS HIGHER ON THE D, PT, SC, AND SI SCALES THAN LC-HN SS. (22 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

RELATIONSHIP OF REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION TO ADJUSTMENT STATUS, SOCIAL DESIRABILITY, AND ACQUIESCENCE RESPONSE SET.

ATTEMPTED TO CLARIFY THE RELATIONSHIP OF REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION TO ADJUSTMENT STATUS, SOCIAL DESIRABILITY, AND ACQUIESCENCE RESPONSE SET. SS WERE 83 HOSPITALIZED MALE MEDICAL/SURGICAL PATIENTS CLASSIFIED AS ADJUSTED AND 78 HOSPITALIZED MALE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS CLASSIFIED AS MALADJUSTED. THE DEFENSIVE STYLE OF REPRESSION OCCURRED WITH SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER FREQUENCY IN THE ADJUSTED POPULATION, WHILE THE DEFENSIVE STYLE OF SENSITIZATION OCCURRED WITH SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER FREQUENCY IN THE MALADJUSTED POPULATION. THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION BETWEEN THE REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION DIMENSION AND BOTH SOCIAL DESIRABILITY AND ACQUIESCENCE RESPONSE SET. HOWEVER, THE CORRELATIONS WERE LOW ENOUGH TO SUGGEST THAT THE REPRESSION-SENSITIZATION DIMENSION IS TAPPING SOMETHING NOT MEASURED BY THE OTHER 2 VARIABLES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

OUTER-DIRECTEDNESS IN THE DISCRIMINATION LEARNING OF NORMAL AND MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN.

HIGH- AND LOW-DISTRACTIBLE RETARDATES OF MIXED ETIOLOGY AND NORMALS OF A COMPARABLE MA LEARNED A 3-CHOICE SIZE DISCRIMINATION WITH AND WITHOUT AN ADDITIONAL CUE. FOR 1/2 OF THE SS IN THE CUE CONDITIONS THE CUE ALWAYS INDICATED THE CORRECT STIMULUS, AND FOR THE OTHER 1/2 THE CUE INDICATED AN INCORRECT STIMULUS. FOR 1/2 OF THE SS IN EACH OF THE CUE CONDITIONS THE CUE WAS E'S FINGER, FOR THE OTHER 1/2 THE CUE WAS A LIGHT. THE HYPOTHESIS THAT RETARDATES ARE MORE OUTER-DIRECTED IN PROBLEM SOLVING THAN NORMALS GENERATED THE PREDICTION THAT THE LEARNING OF THE RETARDATES WOULD BE MORE ENHANCED IN THE POSITIVE CONDITION AND MORE DEBILITATED IN THE NEGATIVE CONDITIONS. CONFIRMATION OF THIS HYPOTHESIS WAS FOUND IN THE NEGATIVE CONDITIONS. NO DIFFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH TYPE OF CUE OR LEVEL OF DISTRACTIBILITY WERE FOUND. FAMILIAL RETARDATES WERE FOUND TO BE LESS OUTER-DIRECTED IN THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING THAN WERE NONFAMILIAL RETARDATES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DISTRACTOR AND PROBE TECHNIQUES IN SHORT-TERM MEMORY.

2 EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS A MARKED DIFFERENCE IN SHORT-TERM MEMORY AS A FUNCTION OF WHETHER THE RETENTION INTERVAL IS FILLED WITH UNRELATED NONLEARNING MATERIALS (DISTRACTOR TECHNIQUE) OR WITH CATEGORICALLY RELATED LEARNING MATERIALS (PROBE TECHNIQUE). EXP. I WAS A REPLICATION OF A PREVIOUS TRIGRAM STUDY, AND INTEREXPERIMENT COMPARISONS SUGGESTED THE SAME BASIC RETENTION FUNCTION FOR DISTRACTOR AND PROBE TECHNIQUES. EXP. II ATTEMPTED TO SHOW THAT BOTH TYPES OF RETENTION-INTERVAL ACTIVITY HAD COMPARABLE EFFECTS IN A PROBE TYPE OF PAIRED-ASSOCIATE TASK. IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT RATE CONSTANTS MIGHT DIFFER BUT THE FUNCTION ITSELF WOULD NOT; AND THE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL TO BE REMEMBERED APPEARS MORE CRITICAL THAN THE TYPE OF INTERPOLATED ACTIVITY. (FRENCH SUMMARY) (21 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF INTERNAL-EXTERNAL CONTROL AS A PERSONALITY DIMENSION.

EXTENSIVE NEW DATA ARE REPORTED ON THE TEST-RETEST RELIABILITIES AND PERSONALITY SCALE CORRELATES OF THE INTERNAL-EXTERNAL (I-E) CONTROL DIMENSION. I-E IS FOUND TO RELATE CONSISTENTLY TO MEASURES OF MALADJUSTMENT, WITH INTERNAL SCORERS LESS MALADJUSTED. I-E IS RELATED TO A VARIETY OF PERSONALITY SCALES, WITH INTERNAL SCORERS DESCRIBING THEMSELVES AS MORE ACTIVE, STRIVING, ACHIEVING, POWERFUL, INDEPENDENT, AND EFFECTIVE. FOR 2 OF 3 SAMPLES, INTERNAL SCORERS WERE ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EFFECTIVE AS MENTAL HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERS THAN EXTERNAL SCORERS. THESE RESULTS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THOSE REPORTED IN PREVIOUS REVIEWS, BUT ADJECTIVAL DESCRIPTIONS OF EXTREME SCORERS, AND OTHER DATA, SUGGEST THAT INTERNAL SCORERS ARE A MORE HOMOGENEOUS GROUP THAN EXTERNAL SCORERS. SUGGESTIONS ARE OFFERED FOR DIFFERENTIATION OF THE CONCEPT OF EXTERNALITY. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

BIRTH ORDER, ANXIETY, AND VERBALIZATIONS IN GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY.

AN INITIAL STUDY AND A REPLICATION WERE CONDUCTED TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIRTH ORDER AND ANXIETY AS THEY RELATED TO SPEECH IN GROUP THERAPY. 48 PATIENTS UNDERGOING GROUP THERAPY AT A STATE MENTAL HOSPITAL SERVED AS SS, WITH 24 IN THE INITIAL STUDY AND 24 IN THE REPLICATION. IN BOTH STUDIES, 1/2 THE SS WERE 1ST BORN, AND 1/2 WERE LATER BORN. SPEECH WAS RECORDED FOR 5 CONSECUTIVE THERAPY MEETINGS IN 6 GROUPS, FOR A TOTAL OF 30 GROUP THERAPY MEETINGS INVESTIGATED. 3 ANXIETY MEASURES AND THE MINIMAL SOCIAL BEHAVIOR SCALE WERE ALSO ADMINISTERED. RESULTS SUPPORTED ALL HYPOTHESES IN THAT: (1) 1ST-BORN AND HIGH-ANXIOUS SS SPOKE MORE FREQUENTLY THAN LATER-BORN OR LOW-ANXIOUS SS, (2) 1ST-BORN PATIENTS ASKED MORE QUESTIONS DURING THERAPY THAN LATER-BORN PATIENTS, AND (3) 1ST BORNS SPOKE MORE THAN LATER BORNS WHEN HIGHLY ANXIOUS. VERBALIZATIONS OF HOSPITALIZED MENTAL PATIENTS ARE RELATED TO THEIR BIRTH ORDER AND ANXIETY LEVEL, WHICH HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY PRACTICE AND RESEARCH. (17 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DIFFERENTIAL PATIENT PERCEPTION AMONG VARIOUS PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINES.

INVESTIGATED THE DEGREE OF AGREEMENT AMONG STAFF MEMBERS FROM 8 PROFESSIONAL GROUPS (PSYCHOLOGISTS, SOCIAL WORKERS, PSYCHIATRISTS, TEACHERS, REHABILITATION WORKERS, NURSES, AND MALE AND FEMALE TECHNICIANS) WITH RESPECT TO THEIR PATIENT PERCEPTION. 48 PROFESSIONALS WERE ASKED TO DESCRIBE, USING THE SONOMA CHECK LIST, A MALE AND A FEMALE PATIENT (1) READY FOR DISCHARGE TO A FAMILY-CARE HOME OR, (2) WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM PSYCHOTHERAPY. A CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE 4 RATINGS INDICATED HIGH AGREEMENT AMONG THE 8 GROUPS WITH RESPECT TO THE 1ST 2 RATINGS, BUT CONSIDERABLE DISAGREEMENT ON THE 2ND 2 RATINGS. BOTH PSYCHIATRISTS AND PSYCHOLOGISTS SEEK THERAPY PATIENTS WITH STRENGTHS AND WITH PATHOLOGY; TECHNICIANS TEND TO EMPHASIZE BEHAVIORAL MANAGEMENT; NURSES ARE MORE CONCERNED WITH AFFILIATIVE TENDENCIES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEFENSE IN A THERAPY-LIKE SITUATION.

THE MAJOR HYPOTHESES WERE THAT (1) HIGH-ANXIOUS (HA) SS TALK WITH LESS SPONTANEITY AND AFFECT IN AN AMBIGUOUS CONDITION THAN IN A MORE STRUCTURED ONE, WHILE FOR LOW-ANXIOUS (LA) SS THE REVERSE RELATIONSHIP OBTAINS; AND (2) LA SS TALK WITH LESS AFFECT AND SPONTANEITY THAN HA SS. 52 HA AND LA WOMEN WERE EACH INSTRUCTED TO TALK AS A PATIENT MIGHT IN THERAPY. 2 SETS OF INSTRUCTIONS USED WERE INTENDED TO VARY IN AMBIGUITY. HA SS DID TALK WITH GREATER AFFECT AND SPONTANEITY THAN LA SS, AND THE PREDICTED INTERACTION WITH AMBIGUITY OCCURRED. THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE ANXIETY SCALE CONSTITUTED A MEASURE OF DEFENSIVE STYLE. FURTHER, THE USUAL HA GROUP IS NOT HOMOGENEOUS, BUT CONTAINS AT LEAST 2 SUBGROUPS. (36 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MULTIVARIATE STUDY OF THE PATIENT-THERAPIST SYSTEM.

EACH OF 4 THERAPISTS SAW EACH OF 4 PATIENTS IN COUNTERBALANCED ORDER FOR 1 PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC INTERVIEW LASTING APPROXIMATELY 20 MIN. EACH OF 5 VARIABLES (TOTAL ACTIVITY, PERCENTAGE OF FEELING WORDS, PERCENTAGE OF ACTION WORDS, NUMBER OF QUESTIONS, AND NUMBER OF REINFORCEMENTS) WAS SCORED SEPARATELY FOR EACH PATIENT AND EACH THERAPIST FOR EACH OF 4 SECTIONS OF EACH INTERVIEW. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT BOTH THERAPIST AND PATIENT BEHAVIORS WERE DETERMINED BY THE THERAPIST, THE PATIENT, AND THE PARTICULAR PATIENT * THERAPIST INTERACTION AND THAT THERAPISTS SHOWED MORE VARIATION IN THEIR BEHAVIOR WITH DIFFERENT PATIENTS THAN PATIENTS SHOWED IN THEIR BEHAVIOR WITH DIFFERENT THERAPISTS. (2 P. REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MALE-FEMALE DIFFERENCES IN MMPI EGO STRENGTH: AN ARTIFACT.

HYPOTHESIZED THAT THE LOWER EGO STRENGTH (ES) SCORES OF WOMEN WERE NOT A FUNCTION OF A GENERAL TENDENCY FOR WOMEN TO ADMIT TO MORE PATHOLOGY THAN MEN BUT RATHER WERE DUE TO A NUMBER OF ITEMS ON THE SCALE WHICH SEEMED TO MEASURE SEX-ROLE IDENTIFICATION. AN ITEM ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT THE ES DIFFERENCES WERE A FUNCTION OF A NUMBER OF SPECIFIC ITEMS WHICH IN MOST CASES WERE RELATED TO SEX ROLE. ES SCORES SIGNIFICANTLY PREDICTED SPEED OF RESPONSE TO PSYCHOTHERAPY. WHEN THE TESTS WERE RESCORED WITHOUT THE ITEMS TO WHICH MEN AND WOMEN HAD RESPONDED DIFFERENTIALLY, THE MALE-FEMALE DIFFERENCES IN ES WERE CANCELED OUT, BUT THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF ES IN REGARD TO PSYCHOTHERAPY WAS NOT AFFECTED. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

COUNTERCONDITIONING THERAPY USING FREE ASSOCIATION: A PILOT STUDY.

DESCRIBES THE TREATMENT OF 2 SEVERELY NEUROTIC PATIENTS BY DESENSITIZATION USING FREE ASSOCIATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH MUSCLE RELAXATION. THIS THERAPY USED NO PREPLANNED FEAR HIERARCHIES; RATHER, THE SS SELECTED THEIR OWN MATERIAL AND THE RATE AT WHICH THEY DEALT WITH THAT MATERIAL IN EACH SESSION. PROCEDURES FOR TEACHING MORE EFFECTIVE INTERPERSONAL BEHAVIOR WERE USED WITH BOTH SS FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF COUNTERCONDITIONING. IN BOTH CASES, THE RATE OF IMPROVEMENT DURING COUNTERCONDITIONING WAS AT LEAST AS RAPID AS THAT REPORTED FOR COUNTERCONDITIONING USING HIERARCHIES OF SCENES. THE USE OF FREE ASSOCIATION OFFERS IMPORTANT ADVANTAGES WHERE AN S'S SOURCES OF ANXIETY ARE DIFFICULT TO ISOLATE AND SCALE FOR INTENSITY. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

COMPARISON OF DESENSITIZATION AND PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION IN TREATING TEST ANXIETY.

STUDENTS WHO REPORTED HIGH LEVELS OF TEST ANXIETY RECEIVED SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION, RELAXATION TRAINING, OR NO TREATMENT. THESE SS WERE FOLLOWED ON 4 MEASURES BELIEVED TO REFLECT ANXIETY LEVEL. IT WAS PREDICTED, IN KEEPING WITH DESENSITIZATION BY COUNTERCONDITIONING, THAT DESENSITIZED SS WOULD SHOW LESS ANXIETY THAN SS WHO RECEIVED ONLY RELAXATION TRAINING AND THAT BOTH GROUPS WOULD SHOW LESS TEST ANXIETY AFTER TREATMENT THAN CONTROLS. RESULTS SHOW THAT DESENSITIZATION SS ATTAINED SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER GRADES THAN THE OTHER 2 GROUPS WHICH DID NOT DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER. THE OTHER MEASURES SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS. SINCE THE RESULTS OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND NONREACTIVE MEASURE CONFIRM THE PREDICTION WITH REGARD TO THE SUPERIORITY OF DESENSITIZATION OVER THE 2 CONTROL CONDITIONS, IT IS CONCLUDED THAT EVIDENCE FOR THE COUNTERCONDITIONING EXPLANATION WAS PROVIDED. (29 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)