The effect of brief restricted environmental stimulation therapy in the treatment of essential hypertension

This pilot project investigated the effects of controlled frequent brief REST relaxation sessions on the blood pressure of three subjects with borderline essential hypertension. A flotation REST system was used, and subjects had 2 or 3 sessions weekly for 2 months. All three subjects had blood-pressure reductions of a clinically significant magnitude across the treatment and follow-up periods.     

Initial response to rape: The impact of factors within the rape situation

The relationship between specific aspects of the rape situation and immediate post-rape measures of depression, fear, anxiety, and social and interpersonal functioning in 50 recent victims of sexual assault was examined. The data failed to reveal any significant relationships between rape situation variables (e.g., stranger vs. known assailant, weapon vs. no weapon) and the nature or severity of the victims' psychological response. It is emphasized that this negative finding contradicts previous and current clinical lore, and has a number of implications for the assessment and treatment of rape victims.This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH#29692) to the first two authors.     

Marital therapy outcome measured by therapist, client, and behavior change

The present research examined marital therapy outcome, in a sample of 88 couples and 22 therapists, through the use of multidimensional criteria from multiple perspectives. Three paper-and-pencil patient self-report instruments were used to measure different aspects of the couple relationship. In addition, therapist post-therapy ratings and objective observer ratings of the couple behavior during therapy were obtained. Past debates about what the "right" criteria might be for measuring therapeutic change prompted our strategy. Special attention was focused on those criteria that could be classified as "inside" or "outside" of the couple relationship. Data analysis revealed a significant relationship between the couples' and therapists' ratings of improvement in therapy. Additionally, husband and wife negative acts (behaviors) in therapy were also significantly correlated with therapists' ratings of improvement. Both statistically significant and clinically significant criteria were employed to evaluate the therapy outcome. Improvement due to therapy as measured by the three self-report instruments varied from 38% to 58%. These differences appeared to stem from the different kinds of information yielded by the specific tests.     

Differential reinforcement of low rates of responding (DRL) to reduce dysfunctional social behaviors of a head injured man

Differential reinforcement of low rates of responding (DRL) is a technique in which a positive reinforcer is delivered at the end of a specific interval if a target behavior has occurred at a criterion rate. Traditionally, it has been used in educational settings to manage classroom behaviors. Recently, therapists have begun to use DRL to reduce the rates of a variety of behaviors in non-educational settings. In this study, DRL was part of a behavioral intervention to reduce dysfunctional verbal and physical behaviors of a head-injured young man. The complete intervention program included DRL, changing criteria, and token reinforcement. Over a period of 15 weeks, the intervention resulted in reductions in behaviors in both categories from high rates to near-zero rates.     

Three theories of nominalized predicates

By the term nominalization I mean any process which transforms a predicate or predicate phrase into a noun or noun phrase, e.g. feminine is transformed into feminity. I call these derivative nouns abstract singular terms. Our aim is to provide a model-theoretic interpretation for a formal language which admits the occurrence of such abstract singular terms.     

The stimulating and inhibiting effects of weapons on Aggressive behavior

Evidence is presented suggesting that firearms violence is an important social problem. Research strongly suggests that the effectiveness of firearms as a cause of death and injury may be due to their widespread availability, their lethality, and the impulsivity of their use. The investigation of a possible causal link between firearms and impulsive aggression led to Berkowitz and LePage's (1967) weapons effect experiment. The results suggested that weapons can increase the instigation to aggression in aroused an uninhibited individuals. The researchers reasoned that weapons might stimulate aggression by classical conditioning processes resulting from learned associations between aggressive acts and weapons. Although a few studies have failed to reproduce an aggression-enhancing effect of weapons, the original finding has been replicated in several countries with diverse subject groups both in field and laboratory settings. However, these studies also indicate that many individuals may react with anxiety or fear in the presence of weapons and inhibit aggressive reactions. Manipulations of evaluation apprehension, subject suspiciousness, and/or hypothesis awareness about the purpose of the weapons in the experiments all seem to lead to reduced levels of aggressive response in the presence of weapons. These findings offer a possible explanation for the few failures to replicate the original weapons effect; if researchers used apprehensive subjects or subjects who were aware of possible experimental deceptions, they were more likely to observe an inhibitory reaction rather than an aggression-enhancing effect of weapons.     

Acting prosocially reduces retaliation: Effects of prosocial video games on aggressive behavior

Past research has provided abundant evidence that exposure to violent video games increases aggression and aggression‐related variables. In contrast, little is known whether and why video game exposure may also decrease aggressive behavior. In fact, two experiments revealed that playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game reduces aggressive behavior. Mediational analyses showed that differences in both aggressive cognition and aggressive affect underlie the effect of type of video game on aggressive behavior. These findings are in line with assumptions of the General Learning Model and point to the importance of the cognitive and affective routes in predicting how aggressive behavior is affected by exposure to video games. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.