Pain and dissociation in the cold pressor test: A study of hypnotic analgesia with "hidden reports" through automatic key pressing and automatic talking.

To test whether pain blocked by hypnotic analgesia may still be perceived at some level, 20 highly hypnotizable undergraduates participated in an experiment involving cold pressor pain in the normal condition and in hypnotically suggested analgesia. 3 reports were obtained reflecting felt pain within the hypnotic analgesia condition: the usual verbal report on a numerical scale, a manual report by "automatic key pressing," and a retrospective verbal report through "automatic talking." 9 Ss who were amnesic for both keypressing and automatic talking reported more pain in the automatic (hidden) reports than in their usual verbal reports. 8 of these 9, following release of amnesia, had a clear perception of 2 levels of awareness of the pain: the usual hypnotic experience of pain attenuated by analgesia suggestions, and a knowledge at another level of a more severe pain. In no case, however, did an S give a retrospective report of normal suffering at this "hidden" level. The hypnotically analgesic S may have reported no pain verbally because he was amnesic for it; when amnesia was removed he recalled the sensory pain, but without a suffering component, because suffering apparently did not occur. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological arousal, dissonance, and attitude change: Evidence for a dissonance-arousal link and a "Don't remind me" effect.

Two experiments, with 80 undergraduates, replicated and extended research by R. T. Croyle and J. Cooper (see record 1984-11595-001) indicating that cognitive dissonance involves physiological arousal. In Exp I, Ss wrote counterattitudinal essays under conditions of high or low choice and, to assess arousal effects owing to effort, with or without a list of arguments provided by the experimenter. In high-choice conditions only and regardless of effort, Ss showed both arousal (heightened galvanic skin response) and attitude change. Arousal, however, did not decline following attitude change. The more effortful task (no arguments provided) produced increased arousal but not greater attitude change. In Exp II, the opportunity to change one's attitude following a freely chosen counterattitudinal essay was manipulated. As in Exp I, arousal increased following the essay but did not decline following a postessay attitude change opportunity. When Ss were not given an attitude change opportunity, however, arousal did decline. It is suggested that if dissonance is a drive state, drive reduction typically may be accomplished through gradual cognitive change or forgetting. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inspecting expectancy: Some laboratory results of relevance for teacher training.

Because the principal requirement of any "purposive system" is feedback, the dynamic system of teacher-student interaction having as a purpose the advancement of student problem-solving abilities could, therefore, be expected to show the importance of feedback. 80 male college students were required to assist 1 "bright" and 1 "dull" hypothetical student on a problem-solving task. Dimensions of teacher-student feedback were evaluated as a function of teacher expectancy and awareness of possible expectancy effects. Results show that teacher expectancy effects were evident when Ss were unaware of the possibility of such effects and thus were unprepared to deal with students of differing abilities grouped together. Unaware Ss directed both greater levels of encouragement and criticism toward the student of presumed greater ability. Ss who were given special instruction that heightened awareness of expectancy effects were able to guard successfully against qualitatively different treatment of students of differing abilities. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of schemes for recognizing additive and alternative effects in a "natural experiment" context.

20 Ss at each of 4 age levels (4th, 6th, and 8th grade and college) were presented a "natural experiment" problem situation in which they were asked to interpret the more complex situations in which (a) either of 2 alternative variables is sufficient to produce an outcome, or (b) 2 variables are additive in their effect on an outcome. Not until adolescence could Ss isolate alternative or additive causes in a multivariable situation, though it is speculated they may comprehend the concept of alternative causes well before this age. Only 65% of college Ss exhibited correct reasoning in one or both situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posthypnotic amnesia: Suggestions of an active process in dissociative phenomena.

In a study with 62 undergraduates, a retroactive inhibition design was used to examine the process of posthypnotic amnesia. Ss were assigned to either a posthypnotic amnesia or a no-posthypnotic amnesia treatment group and were administered the 1st 11 items of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Results support the notion that "forgotten" material is as available to amnesia Ss at some level as it is to nonamnesic Ss. Further, so-called forgetting appears to be the result of an active process, that is, something the S does. Implications for understanding dissociative phenomena in general are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The point of no return in choice reaction time: Controlled and ballistic stages of response preparation.

Used a countermanding procedure and race model to assess separately the effects of experimental factors before and after the "point of no return" in response preparation (i.e., where the decision to move becomes irrevocable) in 3 experiments with 22 undergraduates. Results reveal details about processes that so closely precede the initiation of movement that they cannot be inhibited. These processes appear to be affected by the repetition of stimulus–response pairs but not by the physical or semantic properties of the stimuli. Findings support a model of response preparation in which (a) response inhibition depends on the outcome of a race between independent excitatory and inhibitory processes and (b) reaction time (RT) is the sum of the durations of at least 2 stages, separated by the point of no return. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)