Learned helplessness and learned resourcefulness: Effects of noncontingent success and failure on individuals differing in self-control skills.

In Exp I, 72 undergraduates were assessed using the Self-Control Schedule and received noncontingent success-, failure-, or no-feedback on a task that ostensibly assessed therapeutic abilities. Ss were subsequently tested on insolvable puzzles. In Exp II, 72 undergraduates followed the same procedure as in Exp I but were subsequently tested on solvable anagrams. Results show that the performance of Ss with low resourcefulness (LR) in self-control skills on the insolvable puzzles was debilitated by the helplessness induction, while Ss with high resourcefulness (HR) and LR Ss showed equal helplessness-induced deficits on the anagrams. As predicted from the self-control model, HR Ss more frequently checked statements indicating positive self-evaluations and task-oriented thoughts and less frequently checked negative self-evaluations than did LR Ss during exposure to uncontrollability in both experiments. It is concluded that the self-control model best accounts for Ss' self-reactions during exposure to uncontrollability or failure, while the learned helplessness model accounts for the generalization of helplessness from uncontrollable situations to controllable ones. The list of self-referent statements used in the experiments is appended. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment to social deprivation and verbal conditioning.

Control Ss who experienced high prior deprivation of a reinforcing stimulus (approval) responded more with a reinforced response in a verbal conditioning situation than Ss less deprived. Other Ss committed themselves to undergoing postexperimental deprivation of social reinforcement after the same high prior social deprivation. A model suggested by dissonance theory predicted that such Ss who committed themselves for lower rewards would experience greater dissonance; the greater the dissonance, the more could Ss justify their decisions and reduce dissonance by reducing their motive for social reinforcement, consequently behaving in the conditioning situation as Ss who had low motivation for social reinforcement. As expected, experimental Ss in the High Dissonance condition who committed themselves for low reward ($1.00) responded less to social reinforcement, i.e., they showed a smaller increase in response strength of emission of verbal behavior than Control Ss or Low Dissonance Ss who committed themselves for high reward ($5.00). (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and information processing: Self-schemata and the encoding of self-referent information.

Tested the suggestion made by cognitive theorists that in depression, negative environmental events can activate self-schemata that structure the processing of information in a negative fashion. Either success or failure feedback was provided to 23 depressed and 24 nondepressed female undergraduates (determined by Beck Depression Inventory scores), and the personal favorability of trait adjectives recalled in a depth-of-processing paradigm was examined. At the self-referent processing level, depressed Ss did not respond to success feedback by processing and recalling more favorable self-references, while nondepressed Ss did so respond. These findings suggest that depressed individuals suffer from a deficit in the ability to activate positive self-schemata with which to process positive self-relevant information and not necessarily from an oversensitivity in the processing of negative information. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood changes, physiological responses, and self-statements during social rejection imagery.

Exp I, partially replicating M. Goldfried and D. Sobocinski's (see record 1975-26824-001) methodology, evaluated the cognitive behavioral assumption that one's images and correct verbalizations mediate emotional and physiological arousal. Ss were 32 female university students who scored at the extremes on the importance of social approval scale from the Irrational Beliefs Test. It was hypothesized that relative to the low-irrational Ss, high-irrational ones would emit more negative and fewer positive tasks- and self-referent self-statements, report greater emotional arousal, and exhibit greater increases in physiological arousal while visualizing social rejection scenes. The major finding was that the groups differed significantly in the frequency of negative self-referent self-statements; virtually no support was obtained for the other hypotheses. Exp II, which used 24 females and which did not employ self-statements or physiological measures but was otherwise similar to Exp I, was a more exact replication of the Goldfried and Sobocinski study. Exp III, with 36 Ss, was a complete replication of the Goldfried and Sobocinski study. The data from the latter 2 studies indicate no differences in the reported moods of high- and low-irrational Ss following visualizations of social rejection scenes. Conceptual and clinical implications are discussed. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective recall of positive and negative feedback, self-control behaviors, and depression.

Tested 2 sets of hypotheses, derived from cognitive–behavioral theories of depression, that (a) compared to a sample of nondepressed controls, depressed Ss would underestimate the frequency of reinforcement and overestimate the frequency of punishment received during an ambiguous laboratory task; and (b) when given the opportunity to self-reinforce or self-punish, depressed Ss would self-reinforce less often and self-punish more often than controls. Three of these predictions were supported. In an experiment with 24 depressed and 21 nondepressed undergraduates (Beck Depression Inventory), depressed Ss recalled less positive and more negative feedback than controls. As expected, these differences were significant only at a high rate of reinforcement and at a low rate of punishment. In the latter condition, however, depressed Ss were accurate in their recall, while nondepressed Ss underestimated the frequency of negative feedback. Depressed Ss self-reinforced less often than controls, but there were no differences in rates of self-punishment. Implications for cognitive and behavioral theories of depression are discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability, item-response time, and item significance.

Pathological personality item responses have been shown to relate to the social desirability scale values of test items. It was hypothesized that both social desirability and pathological item-response frequency might vary as a function of the time permitted to answer test items. Two groups of Ss were administered the items of the Maslow, Birch, Honigman, McGrath, Plason, and Stein Security-Insecurity Inventory. Social desirability scale values for the items were established. Maximal reading time required for each item was also determined, and both groups were permitted to view each item for the same established length of time. 1 group was allowed 2 sec., the other group 10 sec. for each response. It was observed that time pressure reduced the number of pathological item responses, and that items scaled either high or low in social desirability tended to be answered in the socially desirable direction under time pressure. Females generally provided more critical or pathological item responses than did males. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-consciousness, self-attention, and social interaction.

Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 128 female undergraduates to test the effects of self-focused attention on positive and negative social interactions. In Study 1 the behavior of dispositionally high and low publicly self-conscious women (as measured by the Self-Consciousness Scale) was examined in an interpersonal situation involving rejection by a group. It was hypothesized that persons high in self-consciousness, being more aware of how they are perceived by others, would be more sensitive and react more negatively to the rejection than those low in self-consciousness. The predictions were confirmed. In Study 2, female Ss were presented with favorable or unfavorable feedback in the context of an interview, and self-attention was experimentally manipulated by exposing half the Ss to their images in a mirror. Self-awareness increases the negative response to the negative evaluation and tended to increase the positivity of the positive evaluation. The implications of self-awareness theory for the social self and social interaction are discussed. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of positive and negative thinking on performance in an achievement situation.

To induce different types of thinking, 151 undergraduates were given either positive or negative self-referent statements about competence in either an achievement or a social interaction situation and were asked to recall an experience in which they had had the thoughts conveyed by these statements. They then completed an anagrams task that was described as a measure of intelligence and verbal ability. Before doing the anagrams, half the Ss in each condition predicted how well they might perform, whereas the other half performed the task without generating predictions. Negative thinkers tended to perform better than positive thinkers when either (a) Ss' thoughts were achievement-related and they did not predict their performance on the anagrams task before engaging in it, or (b) Ss' thoughts pertained to social relations and they did predict their performance on the anagrams task. In no case did positive thinking lead to significantly better performance than negative thinking. Results suggest that the effects of positive and negative thinking were mediated by the influence of these different types of thinking on the motivation to perform well on the achievement task. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regulating affect interpersonally: When low esteem leads to greater enhancement.

We tested the hypothesis that low self-esteem persons use self-presentation to improve their affect. In Experiments 1–3, Ss high in self-esteem (HSE) and low in self-esteem (LSE) responded publicly or privately to positive or negative feedback from a computer "personality test" (Experiments 1 and 2) or from a peer (Experiment 3). In public, LSE Ss complimented positive sources and derogated negative sources more than their counterparts did. Experiment 2 showed that this was not due to another person's awareness of the feedback, ruling out a strict impression management interpretation. In Experiment 4, some Ss were coaxed to compliment the source of feedback and others were coaxed to derogate the source of feedback. When publicly complimenting positive feedback or derogating negative feedback, LSE Ss generally showed a rise in esteem relative to their counterparts. Based on these findings, a model of affect regulation in interpersonal relations is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Operant conditioning in a quasi-therapy setting.

In 6 recorded interviews with student volunteers, S was asked to talk about himself. E differentially reinforced ("mm-hm" with a nod) positive or negative self-references, or reinforced not at all. Conditioning occurred re reinforcement of negative statement, not under conditions of reinforcement of positive references or nonreinforcement. No relationship was found between initial level of anxiety or emotional adjustment and conditionability. General, but not statistically significant, trends towards reduction of anxiety or improvement in adjustment were noted. Most Ss were unaware of therapist's manipulation of his verbalizations. Conclusion: a patient's verbalizations can be influenced by therapist's communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do confidants of depressed women provide less social support than confidants of nondepressed women?

Tested the prediction that during a simulated telephone conversation, the confidants of depressed women would provide less social support than the confidants of nondepressed psychiatric and nonpsychiatric control women. The coded speech of Ss and their confidants indicated that (1) confidants echoed the positive or negative valence of the statements made by Ss, (2) depressed women exhibited more depressotypic speech than women in both control groups, (3) confidants of depressed women also made more depressotypic statements, possibly due to the echoing phenomenon, (4) contrary to prediction, there were no significant group differences in the sequential dependencies of responses that confidants made to depressotypic or antidepressotypic subject statements, and (5) contrary to prediction, the affect of depressed women's confidants was not more negative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression, self-focused attention, and the negative memory bias.

On the basis of self-regulatory perseveration theory, we hypothesized that the negative memory bias commonly found among depressed people is mediated by excess levels of self-focused attention and thus can be reduced by preventing depressed people from focusing on themselves. In Experiment 1, nondepressed and subclinically depressed college students were induced to either focus on themselves or externally and then to recall 10 events that had happened to themselves during the previous 2 weeks. Consistent with our hypotheses, events recalled by depressed Ss were more negative than events recalled by nondepressed Ss under conditions of self-focus but not under conditions of external focus. We conducted Experiment 2 to determine whether this effect was specific to self-referent events or generalizable to events that happened to other people. Experiment 2's findings replicated the previous findings for self-referent events but showed a different pattern for recall of events that happened to others, suggesting that self-focus reduces the negative memory bias among depressed individuals by deactivating their self-schemas. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Laboratory induction of mood states through the reading of self-referent mood statements: Affective changes or demand characteristics?

Recent investigators have attempted to manipulate mood in the laboratory by having Ss read a series of self-referent mood statements and have reported significant changes in affect. The present study assessed the contribution of demand characteristics to the outcomes of these experiments. In addition to having Ss (female undergraduates) read elating, neutral, or depressing self-referent statements or instructing them to act elated or depressed, 2 counter-demand groups were included in which Ss read the elation or depression statements but were told to expect to feel the reverse of what the statements implied. Results indicate that demand characteristics do indeed contribute to mood shifts engendered by this technique, but that the shifts are not merely artifactual. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responsiveness to affective stimuli by obese and normal individuals.

Conducted 2 experiments to test the hypothesis that the obese are more responsive than normals to both positive and negative affective stimuli. In Exp I, obese and normal high school males (N = 46) gave ratings of positively and negatively arousing slides. In Exp II, the behavior of obese and normal children 1 mo-6 yrs old (N = 79) in a positively and a negatively arousing situation was observed. Obese Ss in both experiments responded more strongly than normals to the positive affective stimuli; obese Ss in Exp I responded more strongly than normals to the negative emotional stimulus. A possible reason for the failure of obese Ss in Exp II to respond more strongly than normals to the negative affective stimulus is discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of negative verbal cues upon verbal behavior.

Research which investigated the capacity to modify behavior, starting from the framework of Skinner's operant conditioning paradigm and utilizing verbal behavior, was found to have primarily explored the effect of positive secondary reinforcement. The present investigation explored the effect of a negative verbal cue presented under different schedules of reinforcement upon verbal behavior. Ss (male VA psychiatric patients) responded to projective techniques. The E varied the frequency of negative verbal reinforcement defined as "unh unh." The hypothesis that such a negative reinforcement would depress verbal behavior was substantiated, with a periodic schedule of reinforcement being more effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between probability of endorsement and social desirability scale value for a set of 2,824 personality statements.

A group of 47 male and 48 female judges rated 2824 personality statements for social desirability using a 9-point rating scale. Another group of 110 male and 111 female Ss described themselves in terms of the same set of 2824 statements by answering each "true" or "false." The correlation between probability of a "true" response and social desirability scale value for the combined sex groups was .892. The distribution of the social desirability scale values of the 2824 statements was distinctly bimodal. These results are in accord with another large-scale study in which 1647 personality statements were investigated. In view of the large number of personality statements involved in these 2 studies, it is suggested that a correlation of .90 between probability of endorsement and social desirability scale value and a bimodal distribution of the scale values of personality statements may be characteristic of the population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of counselor sex and sex role and client sex on clients' perceptions and self-disclosure in a counseling analogue study.

Studied the effects of client sex and counselor sex and sex role on the counseling relationship, using an analogue format in which 35 male and 39 female undergraduate students participated in simulated counseling interviews. Ss were stratified by sex and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: (a) masculine male counselor, (b) feminine male counselor, (c) masculine female counselor, and (d) feminine female counselor. At the conclusion of the interview, the S completed the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (Form OS-M-64) and a questionnaire assessing the S's satisfaction with the counseling session. The audiotapes of the sessions were rated by trained judges for (a) positive affective self-references, (b) negative affective self-references, and (c) total non-affective self-references of the Ss. Male Ss were more satisfied with the counseling process than female Ss. Male Ss indicated greater satisfaction and a higher level of counselor regard with feminine counselors than with masculine counselors, regardless of counselor sex, but female Ss indicated greater satisfaction and a higher level of counselor regard with masculine counselors than with feminine counselors, regardless of counselor sex. Male Ss talked most about themselves with feminine female counselors and least about themselves with masculine female counselors, while female Ss talked most about themselves with feminine male counselors and least about themselves with masculine male counselors. These findings are related to the feminist pleas for same-sex pairing in the counseling relationship. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)