Psychophysiological effects of noxious imagery: Prevalence and prediction

Research suggests that people who generate psychophysiological arousal in emotive imagery therapies are likely to show the largest therapeutic gains. This study investigated the frequency of occurrence and methods of predicting this imagery skill. The effects of five fearful imagery themes on 95 undergraduate volunteers were evaluated in individual sessions by psychophysiological (SRL, EKG and EMG), self-report (anxiety and clarity ratings) and behavioral (motoric expression) measures. Additionally, four questionnaires (Betts, Gordon, APQ and STAI) were administered in a group session. EKG arousal occurred in 66% of our subjects, SRL arousal in 38% and EMG arousal in 16%. Only 9% of our subjects experienced arousal in all three psychophysiological responses and 24% experienced arousal in neither. Motoric expression (overt behavioral emoting) best predicted psychophysiological arousal, self-report ratings were a distant second, and the questionnaires were worthless in this regard. Imagery-induced psychophysiological arousal appears to be a fairly common phenomena, though it eludes convenient prediction. Some training strategies were discussed, (response proposition instructions, biofeedback and motoric coaching), which could be employed with persons deficient in psychophysiological imagery skills prior to their commencing an emotive imagery therapy.     

Choice,consciousness and ideological language

Because psychotherapists are not moral teachers, they ought not to advise their clients about evaluative questions. This means that their advice must be limited to a concern with the client's view of reality. It happens that in our times, there are prefabricated views of reality on offer from a variety of ideologies-Marxism and feminism being currently the most influential. Ideologists not only offer prefabricated realities-called consciousness- but also present a set of arguments to show that because choice is unreal, consciousness is all that matters. Adopting the ideological concept of consciousness thus becomes a backdoor variant of the ultimate sin against scientific method: namely smuggling unsubstantiated, indeed undiscussed, values into therapy.     

The role of imagery in the representation of linear orderings

Two experiments were carried out to investigate whether visual imagery was used in representing transitive linear ordering relationships. Subjects were presented with passages describing either a linear ordering or a set inclusion relationship, while being subjected to either visual or verbal interference. Performance was tested by asking subjects to judge the truth or falsity of statements concerning both the information presented in the passages and inferences that could be drawn from this information. In neither experiment was there any evidence for the linear ordering material being selectively disrupted by the visual interference task, as would have been predicted by the imagery theory. Thus it is concluded that linear orderings are probably not represented as visual images.     

Reactance,Attribution, Equity,and the Help Recipient1

The relevance of social psychological theory for understanding the helping relationship from the recipient's perspective and for designing efficient and humane helping systems is examined. Negative feelings associated with seeking or receiving help may occur when recipients feel threatened with loss of freedom (reactance), interpret their help-seeking as a sign of inadequacy (attribution), or feel uncomfortably indebted (equity). Studies supporting each of these theories, and a program of research which contrasts helper vs. recipient-initiated assistance, are reviewed. Findings suggest that helper-initiated aid leads to higher utilization of services and better recipient feelings. These results are interpreted as supporting attribution in contrast to reactance theory concepts. A field study in a welfare setting extends laboratory findings, and shows that current practice which requires welfare recipients to initiate requests for service may effect savings via lowered requests for service at the expense of recipients who really need help but are inhibited from requesting it.     

The role of dissimulation and social desirability in the measurement of moral reasoning

A series of studies investigating the psychometric and conceptual properties of the Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA), a paper-and-pencil measure of moral reasoning, is reported. The results of these studies indicate that the scale is clearly susceptible to the influence of response dissimulation in the form of both role-playing and impression management, and is also confounded with sources of stylistic variance in the form of social desirability. Previous proposals concerning the relationships among moral development, moral reasoning, and personality structure are reviewed in light of these findings, and an alternative conceptualization of the measure in terms of political and social attitudes is offered.     

The effects of alcohol and extreme provocation on the use of a highly noxious electric shock

Intoxicated and nonintoxicated subjects were given the opportunity to administer a potentially injurious level of shock to an opponent who behaved in either a provocative or an extremely provocative manner. The provocative opponent attempted to administer high-intensity shocks to the subject. The extremely provocative opponent attempted to administer high-intensity shocks and the potentially injurious level of shock. The intoxicated subjects in the extreme provocation condition evidenced the greatest increase in the use of the potentially injurious shock. It was concluded that aggression is a function of the interaction of alcohol consumption and level of provocation.     

Book Reviews

F ordham M ichael , The self and autism.
M oreno , M ario . Vend argomenti per un seminario di psicoterapia.
K raemer , W illiam ( ed. ); G ordon , R osemary ; W illiams , M ary ; L ambert , K enneth , The forbidden love.
M ahler , M argaret S.; P ine , F. and B ergman , The psychological birth of the infant.
H olbrook , D avid , Gustav Mahler and the courage to be
R oazen , P aul , Freud and his followers
L ayard , J ohn . A Celtic quest
V on D er H eydt , V era , Prospects for the soul
S hapiro , K enneth J oel , and I rving , E. A lexander , The experience of introversion
V an der P ost , L. Jung and the story of our time
K ahn , J. H., Job's illness. Loss, grief and integration.
F romm , E., S uzuki , D. T. and de M artino , R. Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis     

Perceived objectivity and the effects of evaluative reinforcement upon compliance and self-evaluation in blacks

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of positive and negative reinforcements upon black college students. In the first experiment subjects received either positive or negative reinforcement from a black or a white Evaluator. Behavioral change (compliance) was greater in response to negative reinforcement from a black Evaluator than in response to negative reinforcement from a white Evaluator, while there were no divergent effects of Evaluator's Race upon compliance with positive reinforcement. The same pattern obtained in subjects' self-evaluations. The second experiment offered a test of the hypothesis that the objectivity of black Evaluators was perceived as greater than that of white Evaluators, and that a manipulation aimed at equating the Evaluators on objectivity would attenuate the effects of Evaluator's Race upon compliance and self-evaluation in response to negative reinforcement. These hypotheses were generally supported by the results.