The effect of subliminal stimulation upon autonomic and verbal behavior.

Using the subception hypothesis of Lazarus and McCleary, 2 hypotheses pertaining to the effect upon verbal and autonomic behavior of subliminal visual stimulation were tested. The hypotheses stated that: response latencies and GSRs would be determined by the affective value of the stimuli, and the verbal guesses made during subliminal stimulation would be associations to the stimulus items. 7 Ss were used, and after subliminal presentation of the stimuli, each S was presented with his responses and asked to match them against the stimulus items. The part of the hypothesis pertaining to response latencies was not supported, but the part pertaining to GSRs was confirmed. The second hypothesis, likewise, was confirmed. 18 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of behavior through verbal conditioning: Effects in group therapy.

An hypothesis that seems to be gaining acceptance on the basis of experimental (as opposed to heretofore face) validity, is that the interpersonal relationship in therapy is not only able to modify the patient's behavior, but in a predictable and desirable direction. This hypothesis was cross-validated by using a group of patients in a Veterans Administration hospital, all in group therapy. The experimental condition, the independent variable, involved exposing S to a TAT-like situation outside of therapy. E responded differentially to the emotionally-toned words used by S: (a) by nodding and saying "mm-hm," (b) by communicating to S via a machine that emitted a clicking sound and added on a counter, and (c) a "no reinforcement" group. Change in the patient's behavior, the dependent variable, was assessed by ratings on a scale to measure interpersonal relationships in group therapy. Significant improvement in the measure of interpersonal behavior in the group therapy was noted in Condition A only. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3IG28U. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contingent time off to increase verbal behavior: A case report.

Describes the case of a withdrawn adolescent male outpatient at a mental health clinic who was instructed to record his own verbal behavior. Consequences were implemented to increase the frequency of verbal responses. S "earned" his way out of the clinic by increasing his verbal behavior to an established criterion performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immunosympathectomy and avoidance behavior.

Presents a review of studies on avoidance learning by immunosympathectomized mice. It is concluded that the evidence has not confirmed a special mediational role for the sympathetic nervous system. However, immunosympathectomized animals have a reduced range of adaptive responses, a consequence of which is inferior performance when stressors relevant to the physiological function of the sympathetic system are used. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pleasure, addiction, and habit: Factors in verbal report or factors in smoking behavior?

Presents findings of 3 experiments with 30 undergraduates that tested the validity of the Tomkins Reasons for Smoking Questionnaire and suggested that individual differences in reasons for smoking may be important in devising therapies for smoking reduction. Exp I compared the smoking rates of Ss who scored high and low on the Pleasure-Taste scale for adulterated and nonadulterated cigarettes; Exp II compared the rates of high- and low-scoring smokers on the Addict scale following deprivation or nondeprivation periods; Exp III comared the effects of increasing self-monitoring on smoking in Pleasure-Taste and Habit smokers. Adulteration of taste produced greater smoking reductions for high Pleasure-Taste smokers than for low Pleasure-Taste smokers, and increased self-awareness produced greater smoking reductions for Habit than for Pleasure-Taste smokers. Deprivation resulted in stronger reports of distress in addicted smokers but had no noticeable effects on smoking rates. In addition, data are reported on the effects of self-monitoring on self-perception and reasons for smoking (RFS) test scores. There are suggestions that the self-knowledge revealed by RFS scale scores is more accurate for factors closely linked to external cues and less accurate for reports of internally defined states. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The discrepant repressor: Differentiation between low anxiety, high anxiety, and repression of anxiety by autonomic–facial–verbal patterns of behavior.

Examined the notion that personality questionnaires can be used to predict different styles of coping with anxiety, as expressed by individual differences in patterns of autonomic, verbal, and nonverbal reactions. In line with earlier modifications of the repression–sensitization concept, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) were used to select 4 groups of 12 Ss each from a pool of 206 male university students in Germany: low-anxious Ss, repressors, high-anxious Ss, and defensive high-anxious Ss. Measures of autonomic arousal, facial activity, and self-reported affect were obtained during a potentially anxiety-arousing free-association task and during a number of control conditions, including an amusing film. Significant differences in baseline-corrected heart rate and self-reported anxiety as well as rated facial anxiety all indicated that repressors exhibited a discrepancy between low self-reported anxiety and high heart rate and facial anxiety; low anxious Ss reported an intermediate level of anxiety, although they showed low heart rate and facial anxiety; high-anxious Ss had consistently high values on all 3 variables; and the defensive high-anxious Ss showed an intermediate level of anxious responding. These group differences were specific to the task of freely associating to phrases of mixed (sexual, aggressive, neutral) content and to self-reported anxiety, indicating that they reflect individual differences in coping with anxiety. (31 ref) (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 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)     

Cognitive desensitization and avoidance behavior: A reevaluation.

Attempted to partially replicate and extend a study by S. Valins and A. Ray (see record 1968-04107-001) on the effects of false heart rate feedback on avoidance behavior. In the previous study, Ss reporting a fear of snakes saw slides of snakes while hearing either meaningless sounds or bogus heart rate feedback indicating they were not afraid of snakes. The present study with 30 female undergraduates replicated these conditions while including a no-treatment control and a group of Ss led to believe that snakes did affect them. Actual heart rate was monitored during the sessions and posttreatment interviews were conducted to more fully assess Ss' reactions. Analyses failed to reveal significant between-group differences on any of the outcome indices of fear. This was attributed to the apparent failure of experimental Ss to reevaluate their fear on the basis of their heart rate feedback. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Species-specific behavior and acquisition of avoidance behavior in rats.

Studied thigmotaxis (i.e., the tendency to run in contact with objects) in 3 experiments with a total of 54 female Long-Evans rats. Exp. I indicated that Ss became more thigmotactic and immobile following shock compared with no-shock conditions. Exp. II demonstrated that when 2 groups were required to make comparable, but different, avoidance responses, the group whose avoidance response was more closely related to the S's species-specific defensive behavior was acquired at a faster rate. The 3rd experiment indicated that the differences in the acquisition of the avoidance responses in Exp. II were not due to differences in operant rates for the 2 responses per se, since acquisition of these same 2 responses was similar under appetitive motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interviewer disclosure modeling, information revealed, and interviewee verbal behavior.

Investigated the effectiveness of the interviewer as a model of and recipient for interviewee self-disclosure when modeled content revealed favorable or unfavorable personal information. Of 24 undergraduate males who served as Ss, 8 were in a control condition and received only minimal interview structuring. During a 30-min interview, Ss talked about their relationship with 4 target persons. Contrary to a "model status loss" hypothesis suggested by previous research, the disclosure of unfavorable information did not decrease the effectiveness of the interviewer's interventions. Although Ss' perceptions of their disclosing interviewer were in the expected direction on 9 of 10 interpersonal rating dimensions, between-group differences did not reach significance. Ss talked longer and achieved higher levels of self-exploration in both modeling conditions than in the no-model control situation. Frequency and patterning of Ss' positive and negative self-references also were related to treatment conditions. Implications for psychotherapy interventions and continued interview behavior research are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body position, facial expression, and verbal behavior during interviews.

The communicative value of body position and facial expression was evaluated by measuring an O's ability to detect a relationship between nonverbal and verbal behavior which had been simultaneously emitted. The verbal and nonverbal stimuli were collected during 2 different standardized stress interviews. Judges (Js) were shown pairs of photographs together with short written speech samples and required on each trial to pick the photograph which matched the verbal behavior. In 4 separate experiments with different groups of Js, accurate judgments were obtained. Evidence for a relationship between nonverbal and verbal behavior simultaneously emitted was replicated across 2 different samples of interview behavior and under 3 cue conditions—seeing the head, body, or whole person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and the conditioning of verbal behavior.

Ninety hospitalized psychiatric patients were administered the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. The S's were then required to make up sentences in response to a stimulus card on which were printed a verb and one of six pronouns. E reinforced any sentence starting with I or WE by saying "good" or flashing a light. Scores on the Taylor scale showed a relationship to the amount of conditioning produced by "good." Light, as applied in this study, does not function as a reinforcer in a verbal situation. Implications for further research are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy influences the operation of personality on behavior.

The authors investigated the moderating effect of expectancies on personality for 2 different addictive behavior processes: (a) drinking and (b) binge eating and purging characteristic of bulimia nervosa. Study 1 found that positive expectancies for social facilitation from drinking moderated the effect of extraversion on drinking behavior among undergraduate men and women. Study 2 found that the expectancy that eating will help manage negative affect moderated the effect of trait urgency on bulimic symptoms among undergraduate women. Thus, the relationships of the trait risk factors to these 2 addictive behaviors are stronger if one also holds certain expectancies for reinforcement from those behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with adults' angry behavior: Behavioral, physiological, and verbal responses in preschoolers.

This study replicated and extended a study of Cummings (1987) by examining 4- and 5-year-olds' behavioral and verbal responses to adults' angry behavior and collected data on physiological responses. We found behavioral and verbal responses of distress and that systolic blood pressure increased in response to anger. As in Cummings (1987), children's behavioral emotional responses to anger predicted other aspects of responding. Angry/ambivalent children showed a complex heart rate pattern, including a decrease with the onset of anger, whereas heart rate increased in response to anger for concerned/distressed children. Both groups reported more emotional distress (mostly anger) than unresponsive children, and angry–ambivalent children reported the most nonplay responses (e.g., leave, mediate). The results provide more support for discrete patterns of responding to adults' angry emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)