Transfer, behavioral improvement, and anxiety reduction in systematic desensitization.

Studied the degree of transfer and fear change associated with 4 levels of desensitization, pseudodesensitization, and no treatment in 74 female snakephobic undergraduates. Only Ss desensitized to 75% or more of the hierarchy demonstrated reliably greater reductions in avoidance behavior than controls. However, Ss completing 50% or less of the hierarchy showed smaller transfer decrements than those who finished the hierarchy. Results also suggest that repeated exposure tends to improve transfer efficiency. On the posttest, desensitization Ss reported significantly less anxiety than no-treatment controls when repeating their highest pretreatment responses, but were no different from either control group when performing new approach responses, suggesting that behavioral improvement is not dependent upon the elimination or inhibition of conditioned emotional arousal. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)