Effects of waiting with others on changes in level of felt anxiety.

The generally held notion that "misery loves company" was tested on college students. Ss were exposed to an anxiety-producing situation, i.e., a recording of an apparently nerve-wracking procedure going on in the "next room" to which they soon would be exposed. 3 experimental conditions were employed; after exposure to the anxiety producing stimulus S was: (a) left alone, (b) put with other Ss and allowed to talk, or (c) put with others but not allowed to talk. Effect of group on experience of anxiety was measured. Being with others was effective in reducing anxiety only in Ss who were first-born children, and there was an effect on S's experience of anxiety when allowed to communicate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual recognition as a function of anxiety, motivation, and the testing situation.

The hypothesis was made that degree of anxiety and motivation would influence S's performance on tasks measuring skill in discovering objects embedded in a stimulus field, particularly as the situation was structured to be stressful or not. Ss low in anxiety and high in motivation performed significantly better than Ss high in anxiety but with low motivation. In the nonstressful situation, Ss low in anxiety and motivation performed significantly poorer than their counterparts. It is recommended, therefore, that situational task variables be considered as crucial factors in analysing behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some conditions of anxiety extinction.

Four procedures for extinguishing anxiety were tested with rats as Ss. The results support the following conclusions: 1. Remaining away from an anxiety-eliciting situation for a short period of time does not bring about extinction of anxiety; 2. The Pavlovian extinction operation does weaken the strength of conditioned anxiety; 3. The anxiety extinction process is accelerated by the pairing, during the extinction operation, of the anxiety-producing stimulus with a positive reinforcer (a cage mate stimulus animal); and tentatively, 4. An additional emotionalizing operation (blocking of escape) that is concurrent with the extinction operation will impede the extinction process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduction of test anxiety through cognitive restructuring.

This collaborative clinical outcome study with 36 18–49 yr old Ss compared 2 procedures for reducing test anxiety with a waiting list control. In the first, systematic rational restructuring, the participants were trained to realistically reevaluate imaginally presented test-taking situations. In the second, a prolonged exposure condition, Ss were presented the same hierarchy items but with no instructions for coping cognitively. Ss were administered the following measures of test anxiety; the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness, Achievement Anxiety Test, Test Anxiety Questionnaire, Fear of Negative Evaluation, Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, and the Trait Scale of the Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results show greater anxiety reduction in the systematic rational restructuring condition, followed by the prolonged exposure group, with no changes for the control. Only those in the rational restructuring condition reported a significant decrease in subjective anxiety when placed in an analog test-taking situation. Ss in the restructuring condition also reported greater generalized anxiety reduction in social-evaluative situations. Within the broader context of cognitive behavior therapy, these results indicate that the cognitive reappraisal of anxiety-provoking situations can offer an effective treatment procedure for the reduction of anxiety. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of anxiety level and psychological stress on verbal learning.

"It was predicted that under neutral conditions high anxiety (high drive) Ss would exhibit a performance superior to that of low anxiety (low drive) Ss on a paired-associate learning task with minimal intratask interference but that under conditions of psychological stress (report of inadequate prior performance) high anxiety Ss, due to the greater arousal of interfering extratask responses, would no longer exhibit the superiority found under neutral conditions. Results indicated that while the high anxiety Ss under neutral instructions were significantly superior to the low anxious, as predicted, and the Ss operating under stress were inferior to their neutral controls, the predicted interaction between anxiety level and stress was not found." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling, sensitivity training, and instruction: Implications for the training of college student volunteers and for outcome research.

Assigned 59 male undergraduate volunteers to 1 of 3 social skills training conditions-videotaped modeling, sensitivity training, or no training-and later placed them in a small group situation wherein each member presented a personal problem and attempted to understand the problem of another. Half of the groups received general instructions; 1/2 received specific instructions. Under general instructions, modeling- and sensitivity-trained Ss performed better than Ss with no training on both specific behavioral and global qualitative measures. However, under specific instructions, all Ss performed equally well. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the selection and training of nonprofessional mental health workers, and for outcome research on sensitivity training and modeling. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subject, experimenter, and situational variables in research on anxiety.

3 organismic variables, test anxiety of Ss and of Es, and sex of S were manipulated in a verbal-learning situation. 2 siuational variables, preliminary differential-motivating instructions, and success-failure reports were also studied. High test anxious Ss performed at lower level than did low test anxious Ss, and females were superior to males. Female Ss performed best when run by low test anxious Es. Many significant interactions involving both organismic and situational variables were obtained. The results strongly indicate the need for investigations which simultaneously manipulate these variables in psychological experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and an experimental study of empathy.

104 Ss in all, divided into groups of 6, had the opportunity of empathizing with the assumed anxiety of 1 of their number with whom they had interacted. The critical S was placed in a test situation and in ? of the cases performed poorly and in the other ? very well. The palmar sweating of the other Ss was measured during the test performance and their reports on their own feelings of anxiety were obtained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety (drive) level and performance in eyelid conditioning.

Studies from the Iowa laboratory and elsewhere that have involved a comparison of the eyelid conditioning performance of Ss scoring at the extremes of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MA) scale are reviewed. In 21 of 25 independent comparisons, differences between groups were in favor of the high anxiety (HA) Ss, with the majority being statistically significant. Although these data provide substantial confirmation of the implication of the drive interpretation of MA scale that HA Ss should exhibit a higher level of performance than LA Ss, an attempt was made to ascertain what factors might be responsible for failure of the difference to occur in some studies. The major factors appeared to be small numbers of Ss and the presence of "voluntary form" responders in the samples. Significant differences appear to be related to the degree of experimental naiveté of the Ss and the extent to which the experimental situation is designed to arouse some degree of apprehensiveness. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous fantasy as a resource of high grade retardates for coping with a failure-stress frustration.

Institutionalized high grade (60 IQ and above) retardates between the ages of 12 and 22 were divided into 2 groups on the basis of degree to which fantasy (as measured by a Fantasy Inventory) characterized their personality makeup. Ss were then placed in a frustrating situation (E making deprecatory remarks regarding S's tracing geometric designs). Post frustration, Ss were placed in a waiting room situation, one group permitted, the other not, to talk, smoke, and chew. High and low fantasizers were not generally distinguishable except by 2 of the subscales of an Attitude Questionnaire. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generality of the interaction model of anxiety with respect to two social evaluation field studies.

Hypothesized that Ss high in social evaluation trait anxiety (TA) would experience significantly greater changes (i.e., between stress and nonstress conditions) in TA than Ss low in social evaluation TA. It was further predicted that for the noncongruent interpersonal, physical danger, ambiguous, and innocuous TA dimensions, TA changes experienced by Ss high and low in TA would not differ significantly. 26 high school students (Exp I) and 28 24–60 yr old middle management corporate executives (Exp II) were administered the S-R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness, the Present Affect Reactions Questionnaire, and the Perception of Situations Rating form under stressful (examination situation [Exp I] and on-the-job situation oriented toward achievement and performance [Exp II]) and nonstressful conditions. While the predicted relationships between TA, state anxiety (SA), and situation stress were confirmed, results provide only moderate support for the interaction model of anxiety because Ss did not strongly endorse the initial assumption that the stressful situations would be perceived as primarily socially evaluative. The apparent discrepancy between situation perception and SA levels of Ss high and low in social evaluation TA is discussed in terms of differential responsiveness to trait-congruent situational elements within various TA groups. (French abstract) (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Procedural variation in behavioral avoidance tests.

Varied level of demand for approach to a live snake in a behavioral avoidance test by presenting the test either as a measure of degree of avoidance (low demand) or as a measure of physiological components of anxiety which required that Ss handle the target object (high demand). Mode of presentation of instructions was also manipulated; 1/2 of the 50 female undergraduates in each condition heard "1-shot" tape-recorded instructions and were alone in the test room (impersonal mode), while the other 1/2 heard the instructions presented by a "live" E who accompanied the S to the test room and provided sequential instructions for each step in the behavioral avoidance test (personal mode). The main effect of context was significant on latency to touch and overt fear measures (with low-demand Ss displaying more fear), while the main effect of mode was significant for behavior approach score as well as overt fear (the personal mode was associated with less avoidance). Implications for psychotherapy outcome research employing behavioral avoidance tests are discussed. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal and GSR response in experimental interviews as a function of three degrees of "therapist" communication.

Volunteer Ss were placed in 3 experimental therapy situations talking to: a tape recorder; a therapist who would respond on a nonverbal level only; and a regular therapeutic situation, nondirectively oriented. The degree of manifest (GSR) and reported anxiety was obtained as well as ratings re the patient's tendency to approach meaningful areas of discussion and amount of associated affect. Over a period of 5?hr. sessions, the "regular" group showed a tendency to approach more affectively-laden content and to experience more anxiety with the initial approach, but overall anxiety reduction. "Tape" and "nonverbal" group results were discussed and compared. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defensiveness and self-acceptance in the management of hostility.

It was predicted that degree of self-acceptance (SA) and defensiveness (D) interact to influence the expression of hostility. It was hypothesized that Ss with low D and high SA (the adjustive) would express strongest feelings of anger with little anxiety associated with feelings of anger, while the high D/high SA person (the repressive) would express least anger, and the low D/low SA person (the anxious) would reveal high aggression-anxiety. Degree of SA was predicted to be inversely related to displacement of hostility. Ss (college students) were exposed to a frustrating situation (failure in a test situation with concomitant insult). The results generally supported the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group therapy of phobic disorders by systematic desensitization.

Phobic patients were placed in groups receiving either insight or desensitization (Wolpe, 1958) therapy. In approximately 20 sessions, 13 of 18 Ss treated by Wolpe's method were able to tolerate the fantasy of their phobic situation as well as to live through the experience outside of therapy without experiencing anxiety. Only 2 patients were symptom free in a comparable number of hours of insight-oriented group therapy. The 15 non-symtom-free Ss in the latter group were then placed in densensitization groups: 10 improved in 10 sessions. The implication of the results were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies in efficiency: Muscle-action patterns in reaction time as related to GSR conditioning.

A significant interaction between degree of efficiency in reaction time and in meeting task requirements in the GSR conditioning situation was found, such that efficient Ss tended to take longer to reach criterion under instructions to relax, while there was no difference between the groups when the requirement was to solve a problem. Under the relax instructions the correlation of right- to left-arm tension with trials to successive CRs was .60; under problem instructions it was -.04. Taken together with the previous studies, these results are interpreted as support for the method of analysis implied by the concept of efficiency. They prepare the way for further tests of the hypothesis that efficiency will be related to degrees of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The conscious control of thematic projection.

Conducted 2 experiments with undergraduate Ss (N = 118). In Session 1 of Exp I, one group was instructed to be honest in responding to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), while another group was instructed to fake high need for achievement. In Session 2, instructions for the 2 groups were reversed. Results indicate that Ss could successfully fake the possession of need for achievement. In Session 1 of Exp II, all Ss were instructed to respond honestly to the TAT. In Session 2, Ss were instructed either to be honest again or to inhibit projections revealing their personalities. Test-retest reliability was lower for Ss who had faked responses in the 2nd session than for Ss who had been honest. In neither experiment were judges able to identify Ss who were faking. The findings that Ss can consciously introduce false projections and inhibit true projections have implications for the theory of projection (i.e., persons unconsciously project unconscious traits) and for the use of projective techniques for personality assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation as a variable in work-partner selection.

It was hypothesized that in making a work-partner choice between a competent nonfriend and a less competent friend Ss with high achievement motivation would select the competent nonfriend; those with high affiliation motivation, the less competent friend; and those high in both motivations would show evidence of conflict. Friendship ratings together with achievement and affiliation motivation scores were obtained from the Ss, who were then divided into groups of 4 consisting of 3 mutual friends and 1 nonfriend. The nonfriend was made to succeed on the group task, and the friends, to fail. The Ss were then told to write down their choice of a work-partner. The results confirmed the set of hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effet du niveau de peur, de la nature des consignes et d'un re-test lors d'un test d'approche comportementale.

56 16–22 yr old female students with either a moderate or a strong fear of harmless snakes were selected on the basis of a combined score from the Fear Survey Schedule and another fear questionnaire. The 2 experimental groups were submitted twice to a test of behavioral approach whereas a control group was submitted only once to the test. For each level of fear, half of the Ss were given neutral instructions to approach the stimulus and the other half were strongly urged to approach it and go through the whole series of steps of the approach test. Ss in the experimental groups received the same instructions on both test occasions. Results show a retest effect (i.e., Ss were less fearful in the 2nd test), but no significant effect due to the type of instructions. Ss with the higher level of fear showed less approach behavior, went more slowly through the steps of the approach test, and verbally expressed stronger anxiety. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How affiliation affects stress in fear and anxiety situations.

Three experiments with 156 male undergraduates investigated why the presence of calm others reduces an individual's arousal in a fear situation but intensifies the arousal in an anxiety situation. In the fear situation, Ss anticipated receiving a physically painful stimulus; in the anxiety condition, Ss anticipated receiving an innocuous but embarrassing stimulus. Overall results indicate that (a) Ss stressed by a fear context only underwent stress reduction with a calm other present if he looked at the calm other; (b) the mere presence of a co-participant was stress-inducing for Ss stressed by an anxiety context; (c) the stressed-fear Ss directed attention outward toward impinging environmental stimuli, whereas the highly aroused anxiety Ss did not or could not do so. It is argued that stressed-fear Ss were able to model a calm co-participant because their attention was directed outward, whereas stressed-anxiety Ss did not model a calm co-participant because their attention was turned inward. Some ideas are offered as to how a calm model may be able to serve as a stress preventer for a person in an anxiety situation. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)