Modification of avoidance behavior: Expectancy, autonomic reactivity, and verbal report.

Evaluated the effects of manipulated cognitive expectancy on avoidance behavior in an experimental paradigm that simulated systematic desensitization. 72 female undergraduates with moderate fear of spiders were divided among 4 expectancy conditions ranging from a set to improve to a set that fear would increase. 2 measures of electrodermal activity were continuously recorded while the Ss, who relaxed in a reclining chair, were exposed to a preserved tarantula. Results indicate that both overt avoidance behavior and 2 verbal indexes were differentially affected by expectancy and that no relationship between avoidance behavior and autonomic reactivity was evident. It is concluded that the processes which mediate systematic desensitization can not adequately be explained by the counterconditioning model alone. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)