Self-observation versus flooding in the treatment of agoraphobia

The effects on agoraphobia of (1) self-observation with a minimum of therapeutic intervention. (2) flooding, (3) a combination of flooding and self-observation, and (4) no-treatment control were compared. Assessments were made at the beginning of treatment, during and at the end of treatment and at the follow-up three months later. They were carried out by the therapist (in vivo) measurement; phobic anxiety and phobic avoidance scale) by an independent observer (phobic anxiety scale and phobic avoidance scale) and by the client (phobic anxiety scale; phobic avoidance scale: FSS; social anxiety scale; SDS and I-E scale).Self-observation, flooding and flooding/self-observation resulted in significant improvement on several variables, whereas the no-treatment control group did not improve. No difference in effectiveness was found between the self-observation and flooding treatments. In addition, the results suggest that a combined flooding/self-observation treatment is more effective than each of the individual treatments.     

A comparison of the work needs,attitudes, and preferences of professional accountants at different career stages

Although the concept of career stages has played an increasingly important role in vocational psychology, little research exists on career stage differences among professionals. In the present study, a sample of male professional accountants (N = 764) at different career stages were compared with respect to their work needs, work attitudes (intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, organizational and professional commitment), and vocational preferences. Accountants at different stages were found to differ significantly in their needs, work attitudes, and the extent to which they fit the Conventional type in Holland's model. In particular, accountants over the age of 60, in the preretirement stage of their career, when compared to their younger counterparts, reported significantly lower levels of job satisfaction but higher levels of organizational and professional commitment, and they demonstrate weaker higher-order needs but stronger security needs.     

Dimensional structure and psychopathology correlates of the fear survey schedule (FSS-III) in a phobic population: A factorial definition of agoraphobia

The responses of 703 non-institutionalized phobics to the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS-III) were factor-analyzed utilizing a principal components procedure. Factors previously identified in student, adolescent and ‘non-phobic patient’ populations—(I) Social Anxiety, (III) Fears related to Bodily Injury, Death and Illness. (IV) Fear of Display to Sexual and Aggressive Scenes, (V) Small Animal Fears—were replicated. Additionally, an Agoraphobia (II) factor, corroborating recent findings by Hallam and Hafner (1978), and pointing to the specificity of this fear, emerged. Due to substantially high intercorrelations found, the Social Inadequacy dimension of the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) and the Social Anxiety scale (I), on the one hand, and the Agoraphobic dimension of the SCL-90 and the Agoraphobia scale (II), on the other, could be used interchangeably with phobic populations. A higher-order factor analysis run on psychopathology scales employed, including factored FSS scales, yielded three components, (1) Neuroticism, (2) Phobia and (3) Agoraphobia. Opportunity was taken to define the Agoraphobic Syndrome empirically. A specific Somatization dimension was as highly related to Neuroticism, as to the higher-order Agoraphobic cluster, clearly supporting clinical observations with regard to the Agoraphobic syndrome. Some interesting findings are focused upon and discussed.     

Augmentation of in vivo exposure treatment for agoraphobia by the formation of neighbourhood self-help groups

The advantages of selecting agoraphobic patients for treatment by group exposure according to their residential geographic neighbourhood were evaluated in terms of facilitation of ‘homework’ practice and increased social contact. Both ‘zoned’ and ‘unzoned’ groups showed gains in ability to perform hierarchy items after 11 sessions of exposure, relative to a no-treatment control group. However only zoned subjects showed significant reductions in experienced anxiety when executing such items. Self-ratings of overall phobic severity also suggested a zoned group was superior to unzoned while assessors' ratings indicated both groups as equally improved. Only zoned subjects showed a significant increase in social range. Improvements were maintained at 3-months follow-up. No effect of treatment was found on either the Zung measure of anxious mood or on social integration.These results suggest that, where practical, zoning might offer the means for desirable continuation of intensive clinic-based group treatment as well as the benefit of extending treatment into the patients' environment as in home-based treatments. Crucial levels of group cohesion might also be increased although therapists should be prepared to negotiate resistance to a socially demanding programme from patients with significant additional social phobias.     

Evaluation of outcome in school consultation

To further understanding regarding how content of change, degree of change, and initial level of functioning influence consultants' evaluation of consulation outcome, 14 mental health consultants completed a questionnaire. For each of the 18 prepost consultation ratings on the questionnaire (2 context × 3 degrees of change × 3 initial levels = 18), consultants rated the success of consultation and the degree to which they would like to have been the consultant. Analysis of variance results for both dependent measures indicate main effects for degree of change and initial level. Neither main effects for content nor interaction effects are indicated. It appears that consultants perceive consultation as more successful with and prefer working with consultees who improve the most and who function at a higher initial level.     

Exposure and response prevention in the natural environment: A comparison with obsessive-compulsive patients

Thirteen obsessive-compulsive clients were treated with different methods of response prevention. Four experimental conditions were obtained through a 2 × 2 factorial design, in which the two main variables were varied: (1) gradual treatment vs flooding; and (2) modeling vs no-modeling. Clients were treated at their homes, three times weekly. Each session lasted 2 hr. Results at the post-test revealed, that modeling was superior to no-modeling (p < 0.05) on avoidance-other compulsions, therapist-rating only. On anxiety-main compulsions, clients rating the gradual method of treatment had been superior to flooding (p < 0.05). No other significant differences were found.     

Polarizing effects of social comparison

Does exposure to others' judgments merely elicit conformity to what is observed? Two experiments are reported in which people who were merely exposed to others' responses tended not to conform to the average observed response but to exceed it in the socially preferred direction. These experiments complement social psychology's historic emphasis on conformity by suggesting that not only do people avoid being markedly deviant from others; they also act to differentiate themselves from others toward the extreme that reflects the group ideal.     

Facilitating cognitive performance in children: A comparison of strategy modeling and strategy modeling with overt self-verbalization

Children, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 years old, were randomly divided into three training conditions—a strategy modeling condition, a strategy modeling with overt self-verbalization condition, and a control condition. The subjects in the two modeling conditions were given training on four cognitive tasks, a signal task, a match-to-standard task, a paired-associates task, and a twenty-questions task. A 6 (age) × 2 (sex) × 3 (treatment) × 2 (trial) analysis of variance was performed on each of the dependent variables associated with each of the four tasks. The results of these analyses indicate that both modeling conditions facilitated performance on the signal and match-to-standard tasks for all six age groups. However, the two modeling procedures facilitated performance on the paired-associates and twenty-questions tasks only in the three older age groups. Since the two modeling procedures did not differ in effectiveness, it was suggested that strategy modeling without overt self-verbalization is the more practical and efficient procedure for facilitating cognitive performance in normal children.     

Predictability,controllability, and inoculation against learned helplessness

Nondepressed human subjects were divided into seven groups. On a series of discrimination problems, a helplessness group received insoluble problems, a solvable group received contingent feedback, and a no treatment control group received no feedback. For two other groups insoluble problems were preceded by success feedback on a different task presented according to a fixed ratio (FR) or variable ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement. Two control groups received either FR or VR schedules of success but were not examined on the discrimination problems. All groups were tested for escape/avoidance performance on a human shuttle box. Both FR and VR schedules produced an inoculation against learned helplessness; escape performance by the helplessness group was significantly worse than that of FR and VR inoculation groups. These latter groups performed similar to the solvable and three control groups. Significantly worse than that of FR and VR inoculation groups. These latter groups performed similar to the solvable and three control groups. Significantly fewer subjects in the VR inoculation group exhibited avoidance responses than their counterparts in the FR inoculation group. despite similar escape performance. The findings indicate that learned helplessness can be prevented in humans and suggest different sources of interference produced by unpredictable and uncontrollable events.     

A psychoanalytic reinterpretation of the effectiveness of systematic desensitization: Fact or fiction?

Silverman, Frank and Dachinger (1974) found support for their hypothesis that the effectiveness of systematic desensitization (SD) resides in its activation of unconscious, merging fantasies. Their subjects were subjected to a variant of SD. in which a procedure aimed at stimulating a fantasy of ‘merging with mother’ was substituted for muscle relaxation. This pro- cedure consisted of the tachistoscopic subliminal exposure of the symbiotic gratification stimulus mommy and i are one(experimental) or neutral stimulus people walking (control). The aim of the present study was to replicate their work with special reference to demand characteristics. using as subjects snake phobics. SD with a symbiotic gratification stimulus was not more effective than SD with a neutral stimulus, which may be explained by the fact that the neutral stimulus in the present study snake and I are one was more relevant than the neutral stimulus in the Silverman et al. study. Moreover, subjects with a therapy-set improved significantly more than subjects with a research-set.     

Relationships between vocational development and self-concept in sixth grade students

Super, in his self-concept theory of vocational development, indicates the existence of a strong relationship between vocational development and the development of self-concept in adolescent and adult subjects. This study was designed to test for this relationship in preadolescent subjects. The study investigated the relationships among a measure of career maturity, self-concept, socioeconomic status, race, sex, place of residence, and age. The research sample included 300 randomly selected sixth grade students enrolled in 22 public schools in the state of Georgia during the fall quarter of 1978. Data were obtained by the administration of two instruments, the Career Maturity Inventory-Attitude Scale (CMI-AS) and the Piers-Harris (P-H) Children's Self-Concept Scale. A multiple regression analysis was utilized to analyze the data. Results of this study indicate a positive but low correlation between the total scores on the CMI-AS and the P-H Scale. All six of the self-concept factors on the P-H Scale were found to be significantly correlated to the CMI-AS score. Socioeconomic status was found to be significantly correlated to the CMI-AS score. Although race was not found to be a significant source of variance on the CMI-AS, the interaction of race and socioeconomic status was found to be significant. Sex, place of residence (urban and rural), and age were not found to be significant sources of variance on the CMI-AS.     

Reading skill and the minimum distance principle: A comparison of listening and reading comprehension

Experiment I compared the listening and reading comprehension of sentences which follow the Minimum Distance Principle, e.g., John tells Bill to bake the cake, and of those which do not, e.g., John promises Bill to bake the cake. Third, fourth, and fifth graders were tested. Support for Chomsky's Stage analysis of mastery of the Minimum Distance Principle was found for the listening but not for the reading task. Reading skill level was found to be positively correlated with Stage and a significantly better predictor of promise performance than was age or IQ. Experiment II investigated the effect of the composition of the experimental presentation list on performance by comparing comprehension when the list contained only promise or tell sentences with that obtained when the list contained both types of sentences. For half the subjects, performance differed as a function of the list composition: Implications of these findings for the assessment of the development of language competence are discussed.     

Patterns of desynchrony in agoraphobia: A preliminary report

Changes in heart rate in three moderate to severe agoraphobic women were monitored by a Holter Recorder, used for obtaining portable EKGs. These data were collected before, half-way through, and at the end of a 12 session, group therapy program consisting of exposure and cognitive restructuring while subjects walked, or in one case, were driven along a standard 1.2 km course leading away from the treatment setting. Self-reports of anxiety were collected simultaneously. Despite substantial behavioral improvement in all cases, markedly different patterns of synchrony or desynchrony were noted between heart rate and self-reports of anxiety and substantial increases in heart rate were noted in one subject.     

Age-related differences in clustering: A new approach

The present study attempted to determine why children under 8 years of age show categorical clustering in free recall above chance expectations, but such organization does not correlate with recall. Six-year-old children and adults were tested for their memory for 24 pictures of categorizable items. Several new measures of organization such as the proportion of items recalled in category strings and number of strings of each length were evaluated. It was found that children's output is characterized by strings of only two intracategory items and many isolates which does not contribute to recall. Adults produced longer strings from more categories which enhanced recall. In addition, different characteristics of output organization predicted recall for adults and children.     

Prediction outcome and choice reaction time: Inhibition versus facilitation effects

In two-choice RT tasks Ss verbally predicted all stimulus presentations, two-thirds of the presentations, or none of the presentations. Effects of stimulus probability were similar for each type of prediction trial: Correct Prediction Outcome (PO), Incorrect PO, and No-Prediction (NP). When comparisons between Prediction and NP trials were between Ss, reactions on NP trials were significantly faster than reactions POs, but were not slower than reactions to Correct POs. However, when Prediction and NP trials occurred within Ss, reactions on NP trials were not faster than reactions to Incorrect POs, but were significantly slower than reactions to Correct POs. Speculations about Ss' implicit stimulus predictions are offered to interpret differential implications of inhibition and facilitation.