Motor and cognitive relaxation in the desensitization of anger

Three procedures were assessed to determine their effectiveness in reducing anger. The procedures were: desensitization, desensitization with cognitive relaxation, and desensitization with the absence of relaxation training. Anger was aroused by exposing white males, selected for their reports of anger toward blacks, to black racial stimuli. The desensitization group reported reductions in anxiety and disgust relative to a no-treatment control group. Therapist ratings indicated reductions in anger for Ss in both the desensitization and desensitization with cognitive relaxation groups. In addition the latter group reported reductions in anger concurrently with increases in diastolic and systolic blood pressure. Post-hoc analyses indicated that Ss for whom desensitization was most effective reported less anger after the pretreatment anger arousal procedure, greater depth of relaxation during treatment, and were liked more by their therapists. These Ss also reported a greater reduction in ethnocentrism and a trend toward lower overt hostility following treatment.     

When I was born: perceived parental reactions of adolescents

A 32-item multiple choice test, When I Was Born, was designed to measure adolescents' perceptions of parental reactions at the time of their births. A total of 372 subjects, ages 11 through 20 years, were administered the test. The population included 140 physically normal subjects, 97 adolescents with acquired physical problems, and 135 subjects with congenital physical anomalies. Factor analyses of test data using 100 normal subjects as the criterion population identified four factors: Parental Emotion, Parental Apprehension, Parental Pride, and Parental Nurturance. On all four factors, normal subjects had the highest scores, and subjects with congenital anomalies had the lowest scores. The findings suggest that the test measures both adolescents' projected feelings about parental reactions at their birth and the current impact of a physical problem on the child.     

Experiential pre-group preparation and screening

This article describes an experiential approach to pre-group preparation and screening. The technique is described in some detail, as is the underlying rationale. The authors believe that such an approach to pre-group preparation and screening expands upon the more familiar cognitive approaches and allows both therapist and patient a trial run of group psychotherapy.     

Pre-group preparation model for long-term group psychotherapy in a private practice setting

In this paper the authors describe a method of pre-group preparation which has the function of establishing and maintaining a working alliance between the client and the therapist, reducing unproductive anxiety, generating hope for future productive therapeutic work, as well as providing the therapist with a screening technique for assessing the type of group composition that would be most beneficial for the client.We are grateful to our colleague, the late Walter Gruen, whose comments on this paper contributed to the final product.     

On people’s understanding of the diagnostic implications of probabilistic data

Two lines of prior research into the conditions under which people seek information are examined in light of two statistical definitions of diagnosticity. Five experiments are reported. In two, subjects selected information in order to test a hypothesis. In the remaining three, they selected information in order to convince someone else of the truth of a known hypothesis. A total of 567 university students served as subjects. The two primary conclusions were as follows: (1) When the task is highly structured by the environment, subjects select information diagnostically, and (2) when the task is less structured, so that subjects must seek relevant information not manifest, they select information pseudodiagnostically. Possible relations to other laboratory inference tasks and to clinical judgment are discussed.     

An automated exercise wheel for primates

Both adult and juvenile nonhuman primates can be unpredictable, difficult to handle, and potentially dangerous. Accordingly, in evaluating their activity level, they must be carefully confined. We have modified and redesigned an exercise system for primates. The exercise wheel was originally described by Curran, Wiegel, and Stevens (1972) and later adapted by Elizondo (1989). Our modifications and training procedures, which allowed us to bring the behavior of the monkey under stimulus control within 4 weeks, are described here.     

Illusory visual direction during and after backward head tilts

When the head is returned to upright after prolonged backward tilt, people who are asked to look straight ahead look higher than they did before the backward tilting. One explanation attributes the illusory visual direction to a change in muscle responsiveness which develops after the head is returned to upright. According to this explanation, the illusory shift should be absent, or at least reduced, if the subjects are not returned to upright before testing. In the present study, the illusion was the same whether subjects remained tilted for testing or were returned to upright.