Relationship between GSR and anxiety indexes in projective drawings.

96 male college students drew a man, a woman, and an automobile while continuous GSRs were obtained. A significant difference was found in the degree of anxiety for the 3 drawings. The auto yielded the lowest level of anxiety, and the woman drawing the highest level of anxiety. Adaptation differences were found for 7 of the graphic anxiety indexes. For the man drawing, secondary sexual body parts yielded the most anxiety, followed by the sexual body area. The sequence was the opposite for the woman drawing. Low but significant correlations were found between 10 of the 23 possible graphic indexes and either GSR frequency or conductance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

GSR conditioning, anxiety, and extraversion.

"Hypotheses by Eysenck and Spence relating GSR conditioning to extraversion and anxiety, respectively, were examined… [Ss] scoring on the extremes of anxiety and extraversion were selected… . Using a conditioned response amplitude measure,… a significant positive relationship was found between anxiety and conditioning. No significant relationship was found between extraversion and conditioning… . The results give clear support to Spence's theory while failing to support that of Eysenck." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4CG27B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on anxiety, instructions, and word association performance.

In earlier work, a word association test (WAT) was presented under 2 conditions as a "sensitive personality test" and under neutral conditions. The resultant WAT scores were correlated with 2 tests of anxiety. The present work investigates the results of presenting the WAT as a sensitive measure of intelligence rather than personality. Again, the resultant scores were correlated with measures of anxiety. Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale (1958) appeared to be more sensitive to S's anxiety in the experimental situation than Taylor's MAS or Bendig's (1956) Lack of Protection Scale. The results are related to the nature and theory of anxiety. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3HK53S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some relationships between GSR conditioning and judgments of anxiety.

"The aim of the present study was to investigate… the relationship between GSR conditioning and various clinical judgments of anxiety in a sample of psychiatric patients conditioned under presumably optimal procedures… . anxiety groups ranked on the basis of admission psychological data… were found to be significantly different in conditionability." This was not so with Ss ranked via the Taylor MA scale, and "anxiety groups revealed no significant differences in extinction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defensiveness as a factor in sex differences in anxiety.

Hypotheses involving defensiveness as a rationale for explaining sex differences in scores on anxiety questionnaires were investigated. Instruments differentially susceptible to the influence of defensiveness, the Structured-Objective Rorschach Test (SORT) and the Taylor MA scale were used in gathering data from 236 college students enrolled in a general psychology course. The following results were obtained: the relation between the MA scale and SORT was not higher for females (contrary to predictions); MA scale scores were higher for females (as predicted) while SORT scores were higher for males (no difference predicted); and no relation between either the SORT or the MA scale and grade-point average was found (contrary to predictions). The results appeared to fit an acquiescence rationale better than a defensiveness rationale, and it was argued that this hypothesis merits further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and anxiety differences in eyelid conditioning.

Data concerning the relationship between eyelid conditioning performance and 2 S variables, Ss' sex, and scores on the MA scale, are examined. In studies employing standard procedures, high-anxiety Ss were superior to low-anxiety Ss in 23 of 27 comparisons, and females superior to males in 18 of 19 comparisons. In contrast, the direction of the differences was split approximately equally between high- and low-anxiety Ss and between males and females in studies in which conditioning was presented within the context of masking probability-learning task. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioning and generalization of GSR as a function of awareness.

"This study was essentially a replication of… (an) experiment on the unconscious conditioning of autonomic responses. When… (the previous) methods of data analysis were used, their results in general were confirmed." Limitations and critique of the previous methodology is offered, and its effect on the results obtained is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

GSR conditioning in anxiety states, normals, and chronic functional schizophrenic subjects.

"Conditioning of the GSR to electric shock in 60 hospitalized anxiety states, 60 normal controls, and 60 chronic functional schizophrenics yielded the following… [results]: With magnitude of response (in log conductance units) during experimental extinction as an indirect measure of strength of conditioning, and anxiety Ss showed significantly stronger conditioning than both the normal and schizophrenic Ss, the difference in response magnitude being some increasing function of the number of extinction trials, as shown by a significant interaction term." (28 ref.) From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1HK83H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies in efficiency: Verbal conditioning as a function of degree of task centering. A replication.

The present study is an approximate replication of an experiment by Letchworth and Wishner (1962). Its substantive purpose was to test the effects on verbal conditioning of self- and other centered (SC and OC) instructions in interaction with 2 types of task orienting instructions. From the concept of efficiency it was predicted that there would be a significant interaction of the following form: SC Ss would have a relatively higher rate of conditioning than OC Ss under relaxed instructions, while the reverse would be true under problem instructions. Procedural changes from the previous study were incorporated in order to increase experimental control. A significant interaction supported the experimental hypothesis and duplicated the results of the previous study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment of anxiety through systematic desensitization in therapy groups.

The effects of short-term treatment by modified systematic desensitization in time-limited intensive therapy groups were evaluated in a matched groups design. 10 chronically anxious college males, treated by the group method, were evaluated on the basis of personality and anxiety scales against an "own-control" period, and 4 equated groups of 10 Ss each. 1 group served as an untreated control for evaluating extra-treatment effects on college grade-point average, as an objective, public criterion. Ss in the remaining groups received 1 of the following individual treatments: systematic desensitization, insight-oriented psychotherapy, or an attention-placebo treatment. The group method produced several significant improvements, suggesting that combined group desensitization offers an efficient and effective treatment for social-evaluative anxiety. (27 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus generalization as a function of clinical anxiety.

"It was hypothesized that the state inferred from manifest clinical symptoms of anxiety would show functionally similar motivational properties to the state of anxiety defined in terms of an implicit response that has been conditioned to situations involving noxious stimulation. It was predicted that both types of anxiety would exhibit the energizing properties of a drive and therefore elevate response gradients of generalization… . The results showed that the groups designated as high in clinical anxiety showed significantly more generalization than the low-clinical anxiety groups under the strong-shock condition. No difference was found between the 2 levels of clinical anxiety for either the weak-shock or buzzer condition." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling priorities as a function of survey instructions and sex of respondent.

I constructed two surveys that were identical in counseling needs assessed but different in whether students were asked to assess their own counseling needs or those of students in general. Both surveys were administered in counterbalanced order to 293 university students. There was a high positive correlation between the counseling priorities indicated by the two surveys (rs?=?.80, p?     

Adult performance as a function of sex of experimenter and sex of subject.

8 male and 8 female Es each tested 8 male and 8 female Ss in a simple sorting task. During an initial 1.5 min. each S's base rate of response was ascertained; following this, the E delivered a supportive statement every 30 sec. for the next 5.5 min. Performance did not increase as a function of the introduction of the supportive statements. Significant differences in base rate and in performance after the base rate period were found as a function of sex of E and of the interaction between sex of E and sex of S. Highly reliable differences appeared in the performance of Ss tested by different Es. The rank-order correlations of men and women tested by men and by women were significant, indicating a similar hierarchy in level of performance of male and female Ss tested by the male Es and a similar hierarchy for Ss tested by female Es. (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)     

"Manifest" anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and the rate of conditioning.

"The validity of the Taylor Scale of Manifest Anxiety was examined with a view to reconciling the contradictory results of the studies of the relation between anxiety and the rate of conditioning… . The results indicated that different scores on the scale do not represent different degrees of manifest anxiety, though the scores within a limited range (19 to 33) are more likely to be associated with a clinical diagnosis of "anxious" than are scores above and below this range." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Looking, recalling, and GSR as a function of defense.

10 pictures were viewed for 10 sec. each, during which the eye fixations were photographed and GSR was recorded. An independent assessment was made for each of 16 Ss of the defenses of isolation and repression. The defense of isolation was strikingly associated with venturing to look around more, and the defense of repression with looking around less: in contrast to repressors, isolators looked at the "ground" as well as the figure; they scattered their fixations and they made bigger jumps from 1 fixation to the next. Isolation was better than repression for the recall of sexual content. No strong trends emerged from correlations of GSR and defense ratings. Some looking measures correlated significantly with standard Rorschach scores. The findings seem consistent with results for cognitive styles as well as with clinical understanding of the defenses. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of worry on physiological and subjective reactivity to emotional stimuli in generalized anxiety disorder and nonanxious control participants.

The present study examined the effect of worry versus relaxation and neutral thought activity on both physiological and subjective responding to positive and negative emotional stimuli. Thirty-eight participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 35 nonanxious control participants were randomly assigned to engage in worry, relaxation, or neutral inductions prior to sequential exposure to each of four emotion-inducing film clips. The clips were designed to elicit fear, sadness, happiness, and calm emotions. Self reported negative and positive affect was assessed following each induction and exposure, and vagal activity was measured throughout. Results indicate that worry (vs. relaxation) led to reduced vagal tone for the GAD group, as well as higher negative affect levels for both groups. Additionally, prior worry resulted in less physiological and subjective responding to the fearful film clip, and reduced negative affect in response to the sad clip. This suggests that worry may facilitate avoidance of processing negative emotions by way of preventing a negative emotional contrast. Implications for the role of worry in emotion avoidance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)