Operant conditioning in a quasi-therapy setting.

In 6 recorded interviews with student volunteers, S was asked to talk about himself. E differentially reinforced ("mm-hm" with a nod) positive or negative self-references, or reinforced not at all. Conditioning occurred re reinforcement of negative statement, not under conditions of reinforcement of positive references or nonreinforcement. No relationship was found between initial level of anxiety or emotional adjustment and conditionability. General, but not statistically significant, trends towards reduction of anxiety or improvement in adjustment were noted. Most Ss were unaware of therapist's manipulation of his verbalizations. Conclusion: a patient's verbalizations can be influenced by therapist's communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of pressure and individual neuroticism on emotional responses to task-role ambiguity.

Conducted a study of 106 graduate students (identified as high or low in neuroticism by scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory) to test the hypothesis that task-role ambiguity is aversive in the presence of independently induced pressure and not aversive in a low-pressure situation; individual neuroticism was hypothesized to be a trait which explained additional variance in reactions to ambiguity. Ss were administered structured or ambiguous exams under high or low pressure. Attitudes toward the exam and self-confidence were negatively affected by ambiguity only under high pressure. Ambiguity led to greater reported emotional stress only in high-neuroticism individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Self Verbalization and Emotional Arousal": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by David C. Rimm and Stuart B. Litvak (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1969[April],74[2],181-187). On page 187 of the article corrections need to be made in the first and second paragraphs. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1969-09037-001.) Investigated certain assumptions derived from A. Ellis' theory relating implicit verbalization to emotional arousal. Emotional responses (GSR and respiration changes) of 18 undergraduates instructed to silently read sequences of affectively loaded sentences were compared with those of 9 Ss who read neutral sentences. The relationship between relevance to S of the content of the sentences and level of emotional response was investigated, as was the effect of sentence type (observation, inference, or evaluative conclusion) on level of emotional response. Results were that Ss showed a significantly greater response to affectively loaded than to neutral sentences on 2 out of 3 responses measures. Neither relevance nor sentence type were found to have any significant effect. Results were interpreted as offering only partial support for the theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive theory and the generality of pessimism among depressed persons.

38 depressed (as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory) and 52 nondepressed college students were given a series of anagrams to solve. A 1-chance subgroup was informed that they would win a free movie ticket if they were successful in the task. A 2nd-chance subgroup received the same instructions as the 1-chance subgroup but were also informed that if they failed, they would have another opportunity in a different, undefined task. Ss were subdivided into success and failure subgroups that either succeeded at or failed the anagram task. Immediately afterwards, Ss reported their emotional state on the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Depressed Ss reported greater depression, anxiety, and hostility than nondepressed Ss in the 1-chance condition but not in the 2nd-chance condition; this interaction occurred independent of Ss' success or failure in the task. Results are viewed as indicating that current cognitive theories about the generality of pessimism in depression are incomplete. An explanation of the results in terms of the saliency of future reward opportunity is suggested as a basis for further study. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of symptoms and aging attribution on emotions and coping.

280 Ss reported the responses they would manifest to scenarios that varied the severity, duration, and ambiguity of a common set of symptoms. Severity had more impact on coping strategies than duration or illness label; severe symptoms elicited stronger emotional upset and a higher incidence of self-care behaviors and seeking of medical care. Responses of 334 other adults showed that attribution of symptoms to aging increased with age, was more frequent for mild symptoms, and was associated with reduced emotional response to symptoms and a tendency to delay seeking treatment. In a field study, 168 patients seeking medical care for a variety of symptoms completed interviews tracing symptom processing and emotional and coping reactions. The attribution of symptoms to aging was greater for older than younger Ss and resulted in a significant tendency to delay seeking medical care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in interpersonal perception as a means of reducing cognitive dissonance.

A situation was structured so that Ss were under the impression they were reading to someone a negative evaluation about him. Half of the Ss expected to meet this person later, where the nature of the situation could be explained and rectified; the other half were told they would not be given such an opportunity. It was predicted that there would be greater cognitive dissonance where S was given a choice whether to read the abusive statement or not and where no opportunity to meet the individual and rectify matters would be permitted. This prediction was confirmed. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE02D. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What are friends for? Students' expectations of the friendship encounter.

Examined possible factors contributing to a client's desire to talk to a friend about personal and/or emotional problems. The Expectations About Counseling questionnaire was administered to undergraduates to assess their expectations about a counseling session with a friend (167 Ss) and with a counselor (411 Ss). Results suggest that Ss highly valued genuine, accepting, confrontive friends whom they could trust. Less importance was placed on a friend being empathic, expert, and directive. Ss indicated a willingness to take responsibility for what occurs during the session and for being open with their friend. Females valued genuineness, trust, attractiveness, acceptance, openness, concreteness, and nurturance significantly more than males; 3rd-yr students reported a greater expectancy to be liked by their friends than did students at other class levels. Comparison of these data with Ss' expectations for counselors revealed several similarities and differences. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional factors in the forgetting of word associations.

Systematic explorations of the hypothesis that emotional factors influence memory has eventuated in both acceptance and rejection of the premise. The present study is patterned after the experimental model used by Rapaport et al. The modification introduced concerns the nature of the stimulus words; herein the "neutral" and "emotional" words are equated with regard to frequency of usage. The dependent variable included an evaluation of the emotionality of each word by Es, by Ss, and S's GRS. Factor analysis of the data revealed 2 factors affecting recall: emotionality and "response variability" (between Ss and between testing sessions) suggesting that "the forgetting of word associations is a function of both emotional and non-emotional determinants." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3CL99L. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic differences in avoidance learning by Rattus norvegicus: Escape/avoidance responding, sensitivity to electric shock, discrimination learning, and open-field behavior.

Studied the behaviors of Long-Evans rats selectively bred for either good (SHA line) or poor (SLA line) shuttle box avoidance learning. The results of Exp I indicated that the phenotypic difference in avoidance learning was not associated with differences in speed of escape or avoidance responding. Differences between the lines in frequency of intertrial responses (ITRs), which appeared during training but not during pretest, suggest that ITRs in Ss of the low-avoidance SLA line were more suppressed by electric shock than in Ss of the high-avoidance SHA line. This result suggests that SLA Ss may be more emotionally responsive than SHA Ss. Exp II demonstrated that the Ss of the 2 lines did not differ in absolute sensitivity to electric shock, and Exp III showed that the poor performance of the SLA line was not due to an inability to learn. Ss also provided evidence that the poor avoidance learning by SLA Ss was due to their emotional reactivity. Observations of open-field behavior in Exp IV were consistent with this hypothesis. It is concluded that the major consistent correlate of the phenotypic difference in avoidance learning was greater emotionality or emotional reactivity in SLA than in SHA Ss. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Infant preference for both male and female infant-directed talk: A developmental study of attentional and affective responsiveness.

12 infants (aged 18–30 wks) in Exp 1 were significantly more attentive to a video recording of both a male and a female speaker delivering infant-directed talk (IDT) rather than adult-directed talk (ADT). Results were extended and replicated in Exp 2 with 32 infants (aged 4–5.5 mo or 7.5–9 mo). Younger Ss were significantly more responsive than older Ss on both attentional and affective measures. 16 infants (aged 4–5.5 mo) in Exp 3 preferred vocal features of IDT over ADT even with facial features held constant. 20 undergraduates in Exp 4 rated infants listening to IDT as more appealing, suggesting that IDT may facilitate the establishment of an emotional relationship between adults and infants. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extending our understanding of burnout: Test of an integrated model in nonservice occupations.

C. L. Cordes and T. M. Dougherty (1993) provided a conceptual framework of job burnout in nonservice organizations. This study sought to determine the "fit" of that theoretical model within nonservice occupations. LISREL VIII was used to test this model on 165 participants, and the overall model fit the data well. Supervisory support moderated the relationships between the role conflict, role ambiguity, and quantitative role overload stressors and emotional exhaustion and between emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Unexpectedly, role conflict, role ambiguity, and quantitative role overload had a positive impact on emotional exhaustion when supervisory support was high. As expected, participation had a negative association with depersonalization. Employees experiencing emotional exhaustion were more likely to feel nervous or tense at work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of smoking opportunity on attentional bias in smokers.

The emotional Stroop task was used to examine the influence of opportunity to smoke on attentionall bias to smoking-related stimuli. At the outset of the study, 92 nicotine-deprived smokers were told that they (a) would, (b) would not, or (c) might be able to smoke during the experiment. Next, participants completed an emotional Stroop task, in which they were presented with smoking-related or -unrelated words in an unblocked format. Smokers demonstrated interference to the smoking words, relative to matched neutral words, F(1, 87)?=?18.0, p?F(2, 87)?=?4.35, p?     

Differences in gradients of stimulus generalization as a function of psychiatric disorder.

On the basis of the "Dollard and Miller… principle that 'increasing the strength of the drive raises the entire gradient of generalization… ' [and that]… such emotional states as fear, anxiety, and guilt can acquire the properties of a drive… . The present research investigates the hypotheses that there are differences in the shape of the SG gradients among psychotic, neurotic, and control Ss… . The results indicate that (a) the psychotics showed more generalization than the nonpsychotics; (b) the neurotics showed less… than the psychotics, but did not differ from the controls; and (c) the brain-damaged Ss showed more generalization than the nonpsychotics, but they did not differ from the psychotics." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between projective and direct measures of fear arousal.

The present study reports on the use of a projective measure which in 2 independent replications appeared to be a valid measure of level of induced fear, and which showed a high correlation (+.75) with a direct response scale. However, the data suggest that despite the magnitude of their relationship, the 2 measures are differentially sensitive to expressions of motivation which reflect the Ss' general style of defensive emotional response. Ss who reported themselves as being reticent in expressing their feelings of pain showed greater fear arousal on the projective measure than on the direct measure, while the opposite was true of Ss who reported that they were likely to express their pain to others (p     

Providing help and desired relationship type as determinants of changes in moods and self-evaluations.

Observed in 2 initial studies was converging evidence that helping improves the helpers' moods and self-evaluations. In these studies Ss induced to help showed improved moods and self-evaluations relative to Ss not given an opportunity to help. A 3rd study examined the moderating effects of desired relationship type on reactions to having helped. In this study Ss were led to desire either a communal or an exchange relationship with another. They then helped the other or were not allowed to help. Among Ss led to desire a communal relationship, but not among those led to desire an exchange relationship, helping was associated with greater improvements in moods than not helping. Helping tended to improve self-evaluations regardless of desired relationship type. However, this effect reached statistical significance only among subjects led to desire a communal relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social, emotional, and intellectual behavior at school among children at high risk for schizophrenia.

Four classroom teachers rated the school behavior of 44 12–17 yr olds of schizophrenic parents and 70 Ss of normal parents as part of an ongoing high-risk study. The ratings were made by teachers using the Pupil Rating Form and the Hahnemann High School Behavior Rating Scale. Ss of schizophrenic parents showed greater interpersonal disharmony, less scholastic motivation, more emotional instability, and lower intelligence than the control Ss, but the difference in introversion was not significant. Two of the 4 Ss with 2 schizophrenic parents had extremely low ratings for scholastic motivation, harmony, emotional stability, and intelligence and a 3rd was rated extremely low on emotional stability, but none of them was extremely introverted. On the basis of the results and a preliminary examination of intermediate outcomes (early hospitalization or psychological treatment after the initial school assessments), it is concluded that disharmony, emotional instability, and low intelligence are the early markers for vulnerability to schizophrenia worthy of most attention. The surprising absence of introverted behavior among Ss of schizophrenic parents indicates that introversion—when it is observed—may best be construed not as a static typology of preschizophrenic character but as a dynamic phase in a process of coping and retreat that precedes schizophrenic breakdown, sometimes by many years. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cardiovascular and emotional responses in women: The role of hostility and harassment.

The relation of hostility and harassment to cardiovascular and emotional responses was examined by having 51 women (aged 18–26 yrs) high and low in hostility complete a task with or without harassment. Harassed high hostile Ss showed greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases during task and recovery periods than did harassed low hostile Ss and nonharassed Ss. Harassed low hostile Ss evidenced greater SBP increases during task and recovery periods than did nonharassed Ss. Among high hostile women, cardiovascular elevations during the task were associated with self-reported levels of negative affect. Antagonistic hostility, relative to neurotic hostility, was positively associated with harassment-induced SBP changes. These results support the hypothesis that hostile people exhibit excessive behaviorally induced cardiovascular responses to interpersonally challenging tasks that evoke anger-related emotional states. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need for stimulation as a source of stress response to perceptual isolation.

The study was undertaken to see if Ss who had shown a greater stress reaction to perceptual isolation could be shown to have a greater "need" for stimulation than those who were not so stressed by isolation. Ss selected on the basis of their high or low reactions to the prior isolation experiment were tested in a second 3-hr perceptual isolation situation, only this time they were given the opportunity to make an operant response which would produce random visual or auditory stimulation depending on their choice. Those previously stressed by isolation made significantly more responses for visual and auditory reinforcement than the low-stress group. All Ss responded more for visual than for auditory reinforcement. (29 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in intensity of emotional experience: A social role interpretation.

According to gender role theory, women's greater emotional intensity than men's stems from normative expectations for sex differences that arise as a result of men's and women's social roles. In Exp 1, endorsement of normative expectations for sex differences was associated with sex differences in Ss' own emotions: To the extent that they endorsed stereotypical differences between men and women, female Ss reported personally experiencing emotions of greater intensity and male Ss reported experiencing emotions of lesser intensity. The 2nd study manipulated expectations for responsiveness while Ss viewed a series of emotion-inducing slides. When instructions rendered normative expectations comparable for men and women, no sex differences were obtained in emotion self-reports. Furthermore, women evidenced more extreme electromyograph physiological responding than men, suggesting general sex differences in emotion that are not limited to self-report. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)