Effect of interpersonal relationships upon verbal conditioning.

"Two conditioning experiments were conducted in which E used 'mmm-hmm' to reinforce sentences which S began with pronouns 'I' or 'We.' Experiment I relied upon instructions to create a condition of either High- or Low-Attraction between S and E. Experiment II utilized… [a] scale to establish Compatible and Incompatible groups in terms of interpersonal needs… . Ss who were incompatible, or not attracted to E, suppressed the effects of reinforcement until removed from E's presence. The implications of these findings for generalizing from verbal conditioning situations to the patient-therapist relationship in clinical settings was discussed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)