Expectancy, false galvanic skin response feedback, and systematic desensitization in the modification of phobic behavior.

Compared systematic desensitization and 2 pseudotherapy manipulations with and without false galvanic skin response feedback after every session suggesting improvement in the modification of intense snake and spider fear. Ss were 36 spider- and snake-phobic 18-59 yr old women. Results indicate no consistent differences between the 3 treatment groups, although all treatments were significantly more effective than no treatment in modifying physiological, behavioral, and self-report measures of fear. A 4-mo follow-up showed stability in fear reduction on self-report measures for the 3 treatment groups. Overall results contradict a traditional conditioning explanation of systematic desensitization. An alternate explanation for the operation of systematic desensitization emphasizing the motivational as opposed to conditioning aspects of the procedure is discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)