Autonomic arousal feedback and emotional experience: Evidence from the spinal cord injured.

We interviewed spinal-cord-injured, other handicapped, and nonhandicapped subjects to investigate the relation between the perception of autonomic arousal and experienced emotion. The three groups differed significantly on only one measure of affect intensity, with the spinal-cord-injured subjects more often reporting stronger fear in their lives now compared with the past. In addition, spinal-cord-injured subjects often described intense emotional experiences. Spinal-cord-injured subjects who differed in their level of autonomic feedback differed in intensity on several measures. Subjects with greater autonomic feedback tended to report more intense levels of negative emotions. The findings indicate that the perception of autonomic arousal may not be necessary for emotional experience. There were weak trends in our data, however, suggesting that the perception of arousal may enhance the experience of emotional intensity. The subjective well-being reports of the handicapped groups were comparable to those of nonhandicapped subjects, indicating successful coping with their disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client perception of the counselor and orality.

Since previous research and psychoanalytic theory have demonstrated that orality is related to accurate perception of others, it was predicted that high-oral clients would be more accurate perceivers of their counselors than low-oral clients. A pilot study of 12 clients and graduate-student counselors found a trend in the expected direction; a larger study of 21 Ss using a revised Perception of Counselor Questionnaire confirmed the hypothesis. Accuracy of perceiving the counselor did not improve from the 1st administration of the questionnaire, which followed the 3rd counseling session, to that which followed the termination of counseling. The most accurate perceptions were made by female clients with male counselors. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group climate development in cognitive and interpersonal group therapy for social phobia.

This study was designed as a longitudinal study of 80 participants in cognitive group therapy (RCT, n = 40) and interpersonal group therapy (RIPT, n = 40) for social phobia during 10 weeks of residential therapy. The aim was to investigate the patterns of group climate development and its impact on treatment outcome. Data were collected using MacKenzie's Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ) 4 times during treatment, and a multilevel (mixed) model approach was used in the analyses. Engagement in RCT groups showed a linear increase during treatment in contrast to a linear decline among patients in RIPT groups. This divergence might be explained by the focus on extragroup and intragroup relationships in RCT and RIPT, respectively. Neither conflict nor avoidance followed the expected pattern, nor did their mean levels influence outcome. However, when 6 extreme values of conflict were removed, there was support for a low–high–low pattern of conflict. In general, these results do not support MacKenzie's generic model of group climate development but suggest that sample characteristics, treatment models, and setting can play major roles in determining the group climate. Of the group climate variables, only the mean level of engagement predicted a change in social anxiety over the course of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol, sexual arousal, and self-control.

Investigated the effects of alcohol on self-regulation using delay of gratification for viewing time for an erotic film as the primary dependent measure. Other measures included reflection–impulsivity, locus of control, sexual-guilt scores, and continuous recording of Ss' penile tumescence. Using a balanced placebo design with 50 undergraduate men, Ss were led to believe that they had consumed an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage, and half of each of these 2 groups received either alcohol or tonic water. In addition, the effects of 3 doses of alcohol (placebo, low dose, high dose) were investigated. Instructional set, regardless of drink content, resulted in longer delay times and increased thoughts with sexual content. Although there was no significant relation between increasing dose of alcohol and delay time, there was an interaction between scores on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale and alcohol dose. Externalizers showed an inverse linear relation between increasing dose of alcohol and delay time. Internalizers showed the opposite trend. Results support other research showing that expectations about drinking can be more potent predictors of behavior than the pharmacological impact of alcohol. Implications for the self-regulation of sexual behavior under the influence of alcohol are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Food preferences as an index or orality.

A self-report questionnaire dealing with food preferences (Food Preference Inventory—FPI) was proposed as a measure of Ss' contemporaneous position in respect to oral-passive vs. oral-sadistic involvement. The measure was pretested and through an item analysis found to be internally consistent enough to be utilized. The questionnaire was expanded and retested on new Ss to guarantee its stability and to increase its discriminatory potential. Finally it was subjected to validation by contrasting the scores of a group of Ss thought to be high on oral passivity (alcoholics) vs. a normal control group and by correlating it with their orality trait scores. The FPI was found to be fairly reliable and yielded data in agreement with the 2 validation predictions. It was concluded that food preferences as measured by the inventory offer a valid means of assessing an individual's position in regard to orality. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loneliness, self-disclosure, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Examined the relationship between interpersonal intimacy and measures of loneliness, social skills, and social activity. 150 unmarried female undergraduates were administered the Self-Disclosure Situations Survey; University of California, Los Angeles, Loneliness Scale; Social Introversion scale of the MMPI; and an activity questionnaire. Results reveal that dispositional level of self-disclosure was inversely related to loneliness and interacted with disclosure flexibility: Appropriate medium disclosure across situations was associated with lower levels of loneliness than was inappropriate disclosure. Peer and observer ratings of social skills were positively related to dispositional disclosure but not to disclosure flexibility or level of loneliness. Among lonely Ss there was a trend for disclosure flexibility to be associated with different levels of social activity. Results suggest that lonely individuals have difficulty appropriately revealing personal information in new relationships and nonstructured social situations. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual complexity, arousal, and epistemic behaviour.

Describes 2 studies with 90 undergraduate Ss testing D. E. Berlyne's theory of epistemic behavior. Exp. I investigated the relationship between (a) conceptual complexity and level of arousal; and (b) conceptual complexity and looking time. In Exp. II, the relationship between conceptual complexity and epistemic behavior was studied. Results suggest that there is an optimal level of conceptual complexity, and that exposure to conceptual complexity above the optimal level results in increases in both level of arousal and epistemic behavior. (French summary) (41 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intimacy, arousal, and small group crowding.

Tested an intimacy-arousal model of small group crowding. This model proposed that increased density produces its effect on crowding by increasing the level of intimacy between people, which in turn precipitates arousal. Under the appropriate circumstances, that type of arousal is labeled as crowding. An experiment with 129 male undergraduates manipulated the variables of level of gaze, expected compatibility, and room size in a small group setting. As hypothesized, increased gaze produced evidence of increased arousal on 2 measures. Further, a predicted Gaze Level?×?Expected Compatibility interaction was found on the ratings of crowding and confinement, with the most negative reactions occurring in the high gaze/low expected compatibility condition. The effect of room size per se was minimal compared to the interactive effects of intimacy and situational expectancy. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision making, conflict, and physiological arousal.

In order to evaluate the effects of difficult discrimination upon the physiological arousal of the organism, 4 groups of 15 female Ss were subjected to different degrees of discrimination difficulty in an avoidance learning situation. Those Ss who were subjected to relatively high degrees of difficult discrimination manifested higher levels of physiological arousal than did Ss who were not confronted with discrimination problems. The implications of this finding are discussed with regard to the etiology of experimental neurosis. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancies, alcohol, and sexual arousal in women.

A total of 40 university female volunteers, all social drinkers aged 18–35 yrs, were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 expectancy conditions in which they were led to believe that the beverage they were administered contained either vodka and tonic or tonic only. For half the Ss in each expectancy condition, the beverage actually contained vodka; for the other half, tonic only. After their drinks, measures of vaginal pressure pulse obtained with a vaginal photoplethysmograph were recorded during a nonerotic control film and 2 erotic films depicting a heterosexual or a homosexual interaction. The 2 groups that received alcohol, regardless of whether they believed that their drinks contained alcohol, showed significantly reduced sexual arousal during both erotic films. No effects of expectancy or an interaction between alcohol and expectancy were obtained. Ss' subjective estimates of intoxication were significantly correlated with their self-report of sexual arousal during both erotic films. The differences between these results and previous findings using similar procedures with male social drinkers are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating dispositions, signatures, and the interpersonal domain.

A person's behavior across situations can be characterized in terms of a mean level (disposition), a dispersion within the person around that mean level, and a stable organization to the pattern of dispersion (signature). The authors' goals were to examine the structure and stability of behavior, both at the level of behavioral dispositions and at the level of behavioral signatures. Participants completed event-contingent records of their social interactions over a 20-day period. Participants recorded their own social behavior (dominant, agreeable, submissive, quarrelsome) in 4 situations defined by the perceived social behavior of their primary interaction partners (agreeable-dominant, agreeable-submissive, quarrelsome- submissive, quarrelsome-dominant). Findings suggest that (a) once the normative influences of situations on behavior are removed, the remaining behavioral variation reflects both consistent cross-situational differences between individuals (dispositions) and consistent situational differences within individuals (signatures); (b) both dispositions and signatures display a 2-dimensional structure in adherence to the interpersonal circle; and (c) both dispositions and signatures constitute stable aspects of personality functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity, positive affect, and interpersonal attraction.

The present study "assumed that interpersonal positive affect is a key determinant of interpersonal dynamics and that personality similarity facilitates the mutual expression of positive effect. The hypothesis was that subjects and their unilateral sociometric choices have significantly similar personality profiles prior to acquaintance, while subjects and their sociometric rejections do not." The hypothesis was supported. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE84I. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital roles, sex differences, and interpersonal attraction.

Tested the hypothesis that role and dispositional factors can alter the usual link between similarity and attraction. In 2 replications, 64 undergraduate females and 64 males with traditional or nontraditional attitudes toward sex roles and marriage (measured by the Marital Role Decisions Questionnaire) rated similar or dissimilar opposite-sex strangers on 3 attraction measures. Results show that sex and traditionality interacted with similarity in determining ratings of the strangers' general likability and personal role attraction (e.g., desirability as a dating partner), but not their functional role attraction (e.g., desirability as a debater on sex roles). The discussion suggests that previous attempts to find interactions have often failed because of a lack of correspondence between dispositional factors and similarity manipulations. Reinforcement and informational explanations could account for the overall findings, but communication factors of extremity and discrepancy could not. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ordinal position, approval motivation, and interpersonal attraction.

Attempted to incorporate ordinal position effects within approval-dependency theory. 257 undergraduates completed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) and birth-order data prior to the actual experiment. Bogus SDSs were completed by the E to correspond to the same score level of the individual Ss but with either 75 or 50% item agreement. The 3 * 2 analyses of variance for SDS scores and expressed attraction indicate that 1st- and middle-born females had higher SDS scores and expressed more attraction. A separate analysis indicates that although only-born females had similar SDS scores, they expressed significantly more attraction. Correlations between SDS scores and expressed attraction were significant. Results are interpreted as being congruent with approval-dependency theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear and autonomic arousal.

32 female undergraduates were classified as having high fear (HF) or low fear (LF) of spiders. After reduction of orienting responses to pictures of neutral animals, experimental Ss were shown pictures of a spider, and control Ss were shown pictures of a snake. Using the response to the last neutral stimulus as a base line, HF experimental Ss when 1st shown a spider yielded greater GSRs than other groups. This increase in GSR responding for HF experimental Ss was, for 2 more trials, maintained relative to control Ss. HF experimental Ss also yielded GSRs of greater duration than all other groups when 1st shown the spider stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived arousal, focus of attention, and avoidance behavior.

Attribution theory holds that perceived arousal may cause a person to draw an inference about his emotions and base his subsequent behavior on that inference. Recent research suggests, however, that this account does not entirely explain the influence of false arousal feedback on simultaneously occurring avoidance behavior. The following model, based on self-awareness theory, is proposed. Autonomic arousal feedback may cause heightened self-focus, followed by 1 of 2 possibilities: (a) If the person believes he can cope with his fear, he will redirect his attention to a behavior–goal comparison in order to match the one with the other. (b) If the person doubts his ability to match his behavior with the goal, such a comparison will be aversive and he will avoid focusing on it. These possibilities should lead to 2 different behavioral reactions as well: Doubtful Ss should avoid the aversive stimulus more quickly when presented with arousal feedback, but confident Ss should not. To test the model, a study was conducted in which 57 undergraduates who had self-rated moderate fear of nonpoisonous snakes and who also had indicated either confidence or doubt about their abilities to do the approach task approached a live boa constrictor in the presence of an accelerating or a constant heartbeat. Both behavioral and self-reported focus of attention results were consistent with the proposed attentional model. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The power motive, group conflict, and physiological arousal.

Tested D. C. McClelland's (1976; see also PA, Vol 68:12164) theory that persons high in power motivation experience high physiological reactivity to "power stress." A group of 192 male undergraduates, from which 64 group leaders were selected by means of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) as being high or low in the need for power (n Power), participated. The 128 Ss not designated as leaders served as group members. The experiment was a 2?×?2 factorial design, in which group conflict (high, low) served as the 1st factor and leader's n Power served as the 2nd factor, which yielded 4 conditions. Group discussion focused on a controversial proposal to market a new sunlamp. The group leader was wired for electromyographic (EMG) recordings and at the end of the experiment completed R. E. Thayer's (1967, 1970) Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List. Analysis of variance for the EMG data disclosed a main effect for condition of the experiment and a marginally significant interaction effect. Consistent with McClelland's theory, the greatest EMG reactivity occurred in high-n-Power leaders subjected to group conflict. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meditation and somatic arousal.

Comments on the similarities and differences found by D. S. Holmes (see record 1984-25288-001) and by the present author in the area of meditation and somatic arousal. It is suggested that (1) basal comparisons are more limited in their ability to tease out differences, (2) Holmes's data on stressful stimulation and meditation are preliminary, and (3) dismissing findings because the (significant) results run counter to expectations runs the risk of overlooking clinical implications. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety, arousal, and schizophrenia: A theoretical integration.

Presents an integration of theories on the impact of anxiety, drive, and arousal on schizophrenic processes. Anxiety reduction, 1-factor arousal, and 2-factor arousal theories are examined. Evidence suggests that it is necessary to consider more than 1 arousal system to account for schizophrenic disorganization. It is proposed that the physiological correlate of the acute schizophrenic state is a divergence among arousal systems which were formerly in equilibrium. Proposals for future research are suggested in the following areas: (a) arousal measures in groups and the same schizophrenics in acute, worsened, or recovered conditions; (b) tonic and limbic arousal and relationships, thought organization, premorbid history, diagnosis and clinical course; and (c) experimental measures of clinical anxiety and mood, attention, ego functions, and neurophysiological responses in normals, neurotics, and schizophrenics. (31/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol, sexual arousal, and the transfer of excitation.

Investigations of the alcohol-related disinhibition of responses to deviant sexual stimuli suggest that the pharmacological actions of ethanol have little influence on the disinhibition process. The mere belief that alcohol is consumed is sufficient to induce increased sexual arousal. Studies with conventional stimuli, however, suggest that interactions occur between the pharmacological presence of ethanol and the psychological expectations of its presence. The present article examines the contribution of pharmacological, cognitive, and environmental variables to perceived sexual arousal. Pictures that elicited either a low or moderate level of self-reported sexual arousal were viewed and evaluated by 64 men and 64 women after completing their drinks. The evaluations and arousal measures suggested significant Instruction by Content by Arousal interactions. The strongest perceptions of arousal occurred among Ss who did not know they were drinking alcohol. When Ss were unaware of the alcohol intoxication, the pharmacological excitation induced by alcohol transferred to the perception and evaluation of the slides. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)