Showing papers in "Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1968"

Systematic desensitization as a counter-conditioning process.

Abstract: Systematic desensitization, demonstrated in both clinical and experimental studies to reduce avoidance behavior, entails the contiguous pairing of aversive imaginal stimuli with anxiety-competing relaxation. If, as is widely assumed, the efficacy of the procedure derives from a genuine counterconditioning process, a disruption of the pairing between graded aversive stimuli and relaxation should render the technique ineffective in modifying avoidance behavior. This hypothesis was strongly confirmed: significant reduction in avoidance behavior was observed only in densensitizat ion Ss, with none occurring either in yoked Ss for whom relaxation was paired with irrelevant stimuli or in yoked Ss who were gradually exposed to the imaginal aversive stimuli without relaxation. Other theoretical issues were raised, especially the problem of transfer from imaginal to actual stimulus situations. Recent years have witnessed increasing application of the systematic desensitization procedure, as developed by Wolpe (1958), to the modification of a wide range of neurotic disorders. In this therapeutic method the client is deeply relaxed and then instructed to imagine scenes from a hierarchy of anxietyprovoking stimuli. Initially he is asked to imagine the weakest item in the list and, if relaxation is unimpaired, is gradually presented incremental degrees of aversive stimuli until eventually he is completely desensitized to the most upsetting scene in the anxiety hierarchy.

Alleviation of learned helplessness in the dog.

Abstract: Dogs given inescapable shock in a Pavlovian harness later seem to “give up” and passively accept traumatic shock in shuttlebox escape/avoidance training. A theoretical analysis of this phenomenon was presented. As predicted by this analysis, the failure to escape was alleviated by repeatedly compelling the dog to make the response which terminated shock. This maladaptive passive behavior in the face of trauma may be related to maladaptive passive behavior in humans. The importance of instrumental control over aversive events in the cause, prevention, and treatment of such behaviors was discussed.

Assessment of the social atmospheres of psychiatric wards.

Abstract: The development of a Ward Atmosphere Scale, which differentiates between the social atmospheres of psychiatric inpatient wards, is described. An initial form of the scale was given to patients and staff on 14 wards from Veterans Administration, state, community, private, and university hospitals. The 2nd form of the scale consists of items which significantly differentiate between wards for patients and/or staff. This form includes 12 subscales, e.g., Spontaneity, Autonomy, Affiliation, Aggression, Variety, and Support, each of which measures the emphasis on 1 dimension of ward atmosphere. Ward profiles which compare average patient perceptions of different wards have been constructed. The importance of developing measures of psychological environments and the implications relating to the matching of individual needs and environmental press were discussed.

Preliminary report on the application of contingent reinforcement procedures (token economy) on a "chronic" psychiatric ward.

Abstract: An 86-bed closed ward in a Veterans Administration hospital was used in a 2-yr. study involving the application of a \"token economy.\" For the patients, labeled chronic schizophrenics or brain damaged, every important phase of ward life was incorporated within a systematic contingency program. Patients received tokens for performing specified desirable behaviors involving self-care, attending activities, interacting with others, or demonstrating responsibility. The tokens could be exchanged for the \"good things in life\" such as passes, movies, and well-located beds. The results at the end of a year indicated a significant increase in the performance of reinforced \"desirable\" behaviors and a general improvement in patient initiative, responsibility, and social interaction.

Physiological arousal as a function of imagined, vicarious, and direct stress experiences.

Abstract: The study examined the extent to which skin conductance (SC), heart rate (HR), and respiration rate (RR) indexes indicated similarities and differences among arousal patterns to direct aversive stimulation, observing another experiencing the situation, and imagining oneself in the situation. Holding one's hand in 2° C. water provided the aversive situation. 36 male and 36 female unselected undergraduates underwent the 3 experiences in balanced orders. The results indicated that the direct experience was the most arousing, but the imaginative and vicarious experiences could not be clearly distinguished from one another when the magnitude of change was considered. Qualitative differentiation appeared in HR changes with the direct and imagined experiences producing HR acceleration and the vicarious experience producing deceleration. The implications of the findings for desensitization procedures and social learning theory were discussed.

Psychopathy, autonomic functioning, and the orienting response.

Abstract: Autonomic activity was continuously recorded while primary psychopaths (P), secondary psychopaths (S), and nonpsychopaths (NP) listened to a series of repetitive tones and solved simple arithmetic problems. During rest, Group P had lower levels of skin conductance and autonomic variability than did Group NP, but the difference in autonomic variability disappeared during the arithmetic period. Group P was generally less autonomically responsive to the tones, particularly when GSR and cardiac responses were expressed in terms of individual differences in the range of autonomic activity possible. While GSR habituated at the same rate for all groups, cardiac deceleration and, to a lesser extent, digital vasoconstriction habituated more slowly for Group P than for Group NP. Moreover, Group P gave a relatively small cardiac deceleratory response to a novel tone presented after the repetitive tones. The results were interpreted in terms of autonomic, cortical, and sensory coupling. research has actually been carried out. Walton, 1960) have suggested that certain Moreover, the results of this research, though features of psychopathic behavior may be suggestive, have not always been consistent, related to some form of autonomic (and in For example, the psychopath's resting level some cases cortical) dysfunction. In most of autonomic activity has been found to be cases, it is assumed that the psychopath has normal in some cases and below normal in a hypoactive autonomic nervous system others. Similarly, he has been found to be (ANS) with the result that he is deficient in autonomically hyperresponsive, hyporespon-those autonomic correlates of anxiety neces-sive, and normally responsive to a variety of sary for the development and maintenance of neutral and stressful stimuli, certain patterns of behavior. Although several Methodological differences between studies studies are consistent with this assumption, it may account for part of the discrepant find-is nevertheless true that very little is really ings. However, a more important reason may known about the ways in which the function-be the fact that not all investigators have used ing of the psychopath's ANS differs from that the same or comparable criteria for the selec-,_.. , tJ t.T,i.vTT ui. ti on °f psychopathic subjects (5s). In many Research Grant 609-7-163 from the National Health studles > 5s were selected m accord wlth the Grants Program (Canada). Michael Quinn and S. A. American Psychiatric Association definition of Thorvaldson collected the data, while Averil Hare, sociopathic personality disturbance—antiso-Margaret Parkinson, and Ruth Kent assisted in c j a i …

Three models of clinical judgment.

Abstract: 3 simulation models were applied to clinical judgments of \"psychotic\" vs. \"neurotic\" for 29 judges across 7 samples of MMPI profiles. A crossvalidated multiple correlation was used as a goodness-of-fit measure for the 3 judgment models. On this basis, each of the 29 clinical judges was characterized as being either \"linear\" or \"configural\" in his utilization of MMPI test data, where configurality was operationally defined by the fit of the data to a model employing configural, or patterned, variables. It was shown that configurality was a consistent judgmental characteristic distinguishing 16 of the judges, but this characteristic was unrelated to both accuracy and amount of clinical training. Also, judges, as a group, tended to change their manner of judgment with changes in samples of MMPI profiles.

Elimination of a sadistic fantasy by a client-controlled counterconditioning technique: a case study.

Abstract: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the 1st report of the elimination of a sadistic fantasy by conditioning methods, as well as the 1st to describe a client-controlled technique for counterconditioning sexual responses. The mainstay of the therapy entailed client-controlled masturbation sessions, in which strong sexual feelings were paired with pictures and images of females in nonsadistic contexts. This presumed positive counterconditioning was supplemented in the consulting room by imaginal aversive counterconditioning (\"covert sensitization\"), whereby an extremely disgusting scene was paired in imagination with a typical sadistic fantasy. Furthermore, therapeutic change seemed to be facilitated through the client's reconstruction of his problem in conditioning terms, rather than in terms of mental illness and putative unconscious processes.

Characterizing the psychological state produced by LSD.

Abstract: 2 studies, involving 69 male inmates of an experimental penal institution, investigated the psychological states produced by LSD as compared with amphetamine and placebo controls. A number of scales on a newly developed subjective drug-effects questionnaire significantly differentiated the groups. This instrument was further used to identify 3 qualitatively different subjective states produced by LSD (moderately euphoric, dysphoric, and ambivalent). New techniques for exploring the perceptual and vocal components of emotional change were also applied. These techniques further elucidated the quality and possible origin of the psychological states produced by LSD. The results (which indicate the presence of highly intense but contradictory emotions) were interpreted in the light of a current theory of emotion and Bartlett's concept of \"effort after meaning.\

Situational analysis of a therapeutic community milieu.

Abstract: The reactions of patients and staff were investigated in a representative sample of daily settings in a psychiatric inpatient ward in order to assess the relative amounts of variance accounted for by settings, individual differences, modes of response, and their interactions. The results indicated that, for patients, individual differences accounted for more variance than setting differences, whereas, for staff, individual differences generally accounted for less variance than setting differences. Most importantly, the Individuals X Settings interactions generally accounted for approximately 20% of the total variance. It was concluded that individuals, settings, modes of response, and their interactions each contribute practically important proportions of total variance, and that each of these sources of variation must be sampled in attempts to measure and predict individual behavior.

Desensitization and the experimental reduction of threat.

Abstract: A systematic desensitization procedure and 2 of its components were tested for ability to reduce stress responses in a laboratory threat situation. Ss received 1 of 4 types of training procedures before exposure to a stressful film: an analogue of therapeutic desensitization, relaxation, cognitive rehearsal, or no-training control. Stress response during the showing of a dramatic film on industrial accidents was measured by concurrent self-report, heart rate, and skin-conductance measures. The results showed that the separate components of desensitization—relaxation and cognitive rehearsal—were as effective alone as when combined in the complete desensitization program. On several measures, cognitive rehearsal appeared to be the most effective threat reducer. Further recognition and exploration of \"insight\" functions served by such behavior-therapy techniques as systematic desensitization is urged.

Future time perspectives in alcoholics and social drinkers.

Abstract: The differences in future time perspective between alcoholics and social drinkers were investigated. 33 alcoholics and 33 social drinkers matched for age, sex, occupation, and marital status were compared using Wallace's method of measuring future time perspective. It was found that the alcoholics had substantially less extensive and less coherent perspectives. A correlation between age and extension for the alcoholics indicates that the deficiency may develop as a response to problem drinking rather than being a selective factor in its development.

Sex role, instrumental-expressive behavior, and psychopathology in females.

Abstract: The previously equivocal relationship between sex-role identity (masculinityfemininity) in late-adolescent females and adjustment was investigated. Peer ratings of 30 college Ss, obtained after a period of small-group interaction, indicated that masculine girls tended to be both goal oriented (instrumental) and socially sensitive (expressive), whereas feminine girls tended to be socially sensitive but to lack a goal orientation. Comparison of the personality attributes of these masculine and feminine girls with their maladjusted counterparts found little difference between the feminine groups. However, comparison of the masculine groups identified more extended differences, primarily indicating a lack of instrumental behavior in the maladjusted group. Masculinity in the maladjusted group may appear as social independence which may actually mask social alienation and social approach-avoidance conflicts.

Personality and time attitudes.

Abstract: Sets of personality and time-attitude items were administered to psychiatric hospital patients (»= 100), psychiatric patients in a mental hygiene clinic (»=100), and college male (» = 116) and female (»=192) students. The sets were separately factor analyzed in the total sample, and the data factor scored. Substantial relationships were found between personality and timeattitude factor scores within samples, and moderate relationships of both kinds with diagnostic and demographic variables. The results bring empirical support to the long-held conjecture that attitudes toward time reflect basic features of the individual personality.

Treatment of insomnia by relaxation training.

Abstract: 16 students with chronic insomnia were given 2-wk. training in a relaxation technique called Autogenic Training, in an attempt to determine whether this alone would help the insomnia. The study was based on the hypothesis that tension in large skeletal muscles is the necessary and sufficient condition for insomnia, whatever its origin. 13 5s were available for the posttreatment interview. Of these, 11 reported improvement. 2 follow-ups, covering a period of almost 1 yr., showed approximately the same results. With 1 discussed exception, no symptom substitution could be found.

Experimental and subject factors determining responses to sensory deprivation, social isolation, and confinement.

Abstract: This study attempted to analyze different factors involved in sensory deprivation (SD) experiments: sensory restriction, social isolation, confinement, prior knowledge of SD effects, and the sex and \"sensation-seeking\" personality characteristics of Ss. 36 male and 36 female Ss were confined in 1 of 3 experimental conditions on 1 occasion and were tested again on another day spent outside the laboratory. Confinement without social or sensory isolation produced generalized psychological and endocrine arousal. SD produced an increase in anxiety and related increases in primary-process activity and feelings of unreality. Women showed these effects more than men.

Desensitization with minimal therapist contact.

Abstract: BRUCE BAKERHarvard UniversityPhobic Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups: (1) a "conven-tional desensitization" group, which was treated by a therapist in the labora-tory, or (2) a "do-it-yourself" group, which carried out the desensitizationprocess at home. For the latter, the only therapist contact was an initialinterview and a weekly progress-check phone call. According to Ss' reportsof success, both groups did equally well. These results are discussed withrespect to the relative importance of relationship and content in the therapeuticprocess.

Depression as a symptom of alcoholism: search for a phenomenon.

Abstract: A review of the existing literature relative to the symptom of depression in alcoholism indicated that this symptom apparently had not come under direct investigation. Accordingly, 73 consecutively admitted alcoholics were given the Zung scale, a 20-item self-report depression scale, at the beginning and end of a 21-day treatment period. A descriptive analysis of the data indicated that 70% of all the alcoholic patients exhibited mild to deep depression. An ANCOVA indicated that depression as a symptom decreases over time and the rate of decrease is not affected by the type of drug regimen employed. A further analysis of depression by levels (low, mild, high) indicated that amount of change is proportional to the initial level of depression. These findings were discussed in regards to traditional treatment and research strategies.

Two-year follow-up of systematic desensitization in therapy groups.

Abstract: The long-term effects of treatment for social-evaluative anxiety by modified systematic deserialization in time-limited intensive therapy groups were evaluated in a matched-groups design. 10 chronically anxious college males, treated by the group method, were reassessed on personality and anxiety scales that had previously shown significant improvement against an \"own-control\" period, and compared to 4 equated groups that had received individual programs of systematic desensitization, insight-oriented psychotherapy, attention-placebo treatment, or no-treatment. 10 no-treatment controls who were matched on all important variables provided a base line for evaluating extratreatment effects on academic performance as an objective, public criterion. 100% return rates were obtained for all treated Ss, revealing maintenance of improvement found earlier for group desensitization, with additional improvement over the long-term follow-up period. No evidence of relapse or symptom substitution was obtained, although specifically sought. Group desensitization appears to provide an efficient and effective treatment for anxiety and is not limited to specific phobias.

Sex-role alienation in schizophrenia.

Abstract: Sex-typed reactions are contrasted in male and female normals and chronic schizophrenics. In general, the schizophrenics show sex-role alienation on tests which contain a self-image reference (a Role Playing Test, a Body Parts Acceptance Test, and a Figure Preference Test), Female schizophrenics tend to react in a more assertive manner like normal males, and male schizophrenics in a more sensitive manner like normal females. In a direct test of assertive vs. yielding story sequences on the TAT, the sex-difference reversal is significant only if housewives are used as normal female controls. The inclination of female schizophrenics toward assertive story sequences is matched by a similar inclination in career women, suggesting this role reversal is not as critical to the schizophrenic condition as the self-image disturbance. In conscious sex-typed interests and attitudes, schizophrenics do not differ from normals. A theory is proposed relating schizophrenia to sex-identity alienation in the early years of life.

Relationship between repression-sensitization and physical illness.

Abstract: It was hypothesized that both sensitizers and repressers exceed those individuals falling in the middle of the distribution with respect to frequency and severity of illnesses. The 1st investigation utilized 2 independent samples of undergraduates (N= 173 and 319) who were given the Repression-Sensitization (R-S) Scale and a health survey. Though there was no support for the curvilinearity hypothesis, on 12 of the health items in both samples sensitizers indicated greater frequency and/or severity of illness than did repressers. In the 2nd investigation, a subsample of 85 extreme scorers on the R-S Scale from a pool of 319 students were compared with respect to the number of visits made to the University Health Center during 1 academic yr. Analysis of variance indicated that male sensitizers do in fact seek medical help significantly more frequently than male repressers; for females, Health Center visits were unrelated to R-S scores.

Expectancy of success and the probability learning of middle-class lower-class, and retarded children.

Abstract: This study tested the hypothesis that retarded and normal children of the same MA differ in their performance on a partially reinforced 3-choice learning task because they have differing expectancies of success. The performance of 60 normal lower-class (low expectancy) and 60 normal middleclass (high expectancy) Ss were compared with that of 60 noninstitutionalized retardates. J of the Ss in each group were assigned to a success, failure, or control condition which they experienced prior to performing on the criterion task, i of the Ss in each group were penalized for making errors on the criterion task while the other i were not. Normal lower-class Ss showed the most maximizing (correct responses) and the least left, middle, right patterning of their responses, while normal middle-class Ss showed the least maximizing and most patterning. Retarded Ss fell between these 2 groups on both measures.

Visual recognition, developmental lag, and strephosymbolia in reading retardation.

Abstract: 3 sets of tachistoscopically projected stimuli (letters of alphabet, lines, and word shapes) were each presented under 3 conditions of visual recognition (immediate, delayed, and sequential) to a group of retarded readers and a control group of adequate readers. Controls and experimental Ss were screened for visual and auditory acuity, matched for grade placement, and were within the average range of intelligence. Experimental Ss performed less well than controls on all 9 tasks, with differences in perceptual speed suggested as a reason. Differences were greater at the younger age levels, supporting the developmental lag theory. The data were also analyzed for reversal errors.

Role of physical abnormalities in interpersonal perception and behavior.

Abstract: The present study explores the impact of physical abnormalities on interpersonal relationships and investigates 1 technique available to the stigmatized to influence that impact. This technique is to indicate that the abnormality may be freely discussed or that it is a forbidden topic. The 60 male undergraduate 5s were introduced to an ostensibly naive student who was in reality a confederate and appeared either as an amputee in a wheelchair or as only slightly crippled. The shocks they were induced to administer the confederate were less painful when he was severely than when he was slightly crippled. It was concluded that all stigmata do not have the same interpersonal consequences and that the most marked effects occur for behaviors of which Ss have little awareness.