Personality and verbal conditioning effects.

In line with the studies on the conditioning of verbal behavior and their reference to psychotherapy, the present study investigates the effects of Autonomy (as measured by the EPPS) upon verbal conditioning. The hypothesis was made that Autonomy would interfere with susceptibility to verbal conditioning. Ss were interviewed, being asked to talk about themselves; E reinforced (said "um-hmm" and nodded head) under 3 conditions, viz., when S made positive self-statements, negative self-statements, or reinforced randomly throughout the interview. The results indicate that by responding selectively, an interviewer can influence the verbalization of S; in this instance, reinforcement was effective in producing a significant effect on positive self-statements, but not negative ones. Meaning of results are discussed with relation to other research and an attempted formulation. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3CJ41B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)