Anxiety management and applied relaxation in reducing general anxiety

Sixty-three generally anxious subjects were assigned to anxiety management training, applied relaxation training, relaxation-only, placebo and untreated control conditions. After 6 weeks of treatment, anxiety management training led to reductions on a variety of self-report measures of state and trait anxiety and decreases in maladaptive cognitions during a laboratory stress procedure. On several measures, subjects in anxiety management training differed from relaxation-only and placebo subjects as well as untreated controls. However, treatment effects did not extend to performance and physiological measures of anxiety. Applied relaxation training, which in contrast to anxiety management training lacks structured rehearsal involving the recognition and reduction of tension cues during the treatment sessions, resulted in less consistent decreases in measures of general anxiety.     

Commitment and satisfaction in romantic associations: A test of the investment model

Two experiments were designed to test the adequacy of the investment model of developing relationships in predicting satisfaction with and commitment to ongoing associations. According to the investment model, attraction to and satisfaction with a relationship is a function of a comparison of the relationship outcome value (both rewards and costs) to the individual's expectations, or comparison level. Commitment to a relationship is said to be a function not only of the relationship outcome value, but also the quality of the best available alternative and the magnitude of the individual's investment in the relationship. The intrinsic or extrinsic investment of resources serves to increase commitment by increasing the costs of leaving the relationship. Thus, increases in investment size, decreases in alternative value, and increases in relationship value should increase commitment to an ongoing relationship. In Experiment 1, a role-playing study, commitment to relationships increased with intrinsic and extrinsic investment size and decreased with the value of alternatives, but was not appreciably affected by relationship costs. Satisfaction/attraction significantly increased as relationship costs decreased. In Experiment 2, a survey of ongoing romantic associations, satisfaction/attraction was predicted by relationship reward value and relationship cost value. Commitment to relationships increased as relationship reward value and investment size increased and as alternative value and relationship cost value decreased, although the effects of cost value were weak.     

Stimulus specificity in avoidance learning

The present experiments address the issue of stimulus specificity in fear and avoidance learning. First, it was established that light stimuli are effective warning signals (WS) in shuttle avoidance. Then light stimuli were shown to produce conditioned suppression in the conditioned emotional response situation comparable to that produced by noise conditioned stimuli. Finally, the effectiveness of noise onset and noise offset as feedback signals was tested. This was assessed under conditions of immediate and delayed termination of a light WS. Delayed termination of a light WS interfered with avoidance learning and the introduction of noise offset as a feedback signal enhanced it. The only demonstration of stimulus specificity was the failure of noise onset to function as a feedback signal.     

Rhesus plasma cortisol response at four dominance positions

Adrenocortical function and social behaviors were measured in 48 laboratory-born juvenile monkeys in stable (original) groupings at rest, in the same groupings in competition for drinking water, in newly formed groupings each composed of animals from the same original dominance position, and upon return to the original groupings, always in groups of four. In newly formed groupings, plasma cortisol measured higher with each step down in the new dominance hierarchy, the effect attenuating by day 8. Although the partial correlation between frequencies of hostility behavior and plasma cortisol level was low (r = 0.05) when holding fear constant, the partial correlation between cortisol and fear behaviors, holding hostility behavior constant, was 0.86. The data provide evidence that corticosteroid elevations during social stress are related to behavior suggestive of fear and not aggression and are dependent upon dominance rank, the level of dominance competition, and previous dominance history.     

Shareability: The social psychology of epistemology

Psychologists and cognitive scientists interested in the nature of internal representations of human knowledge often use observable regularities or structures to infer what the innate constraints on those representations must be like. It is possible, however, that certain structures might come about only when a group of people share a knowledge domain. Furthermore, it is possible that there are analyzable constraints on knowledge structures that emerge when knowledge is being shared. Such constraints are referred to in this paper as “shareability” constraints. A number of examples of observable structures in human knowledge are discussed in terms of shareability constraints. An attempt is made to determine which sorts of structures are most shareable, and how those structures may differ from the sorts of structures that are easily represented by the individual mind but not easily shared between minds.     

Contextuality in the Theology of Douglas John Hall

The theology of Douglas John Hall has much to offer us in a time of wanton warfare and social injustices. Hall contends that the modern paradigm, supported by an "eternal, universal theology of glory" proves inadequate for addressing the problems of the world in which we live, and offers us a "contextual theology of the cross." This theology, unlike theologies of glory, is not afraid to "walk" into the darkness; in fact, Hall contends that is the only place where the light of God is revealed.     

The role of need level and/or need salience as moderators of the relationship between need satisfaction and work alienation-involvement

Contrary to previous findings documenting the importance of higher-order need satisfaction, a recent study by G. J. Gorn and R. N. Kanungo (Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1980, 26, 265–277) has indicated that satisfaction of lower-order needs may lead to job involvement if such needs are salient. Data from a heterogeneous sample of 632 employees from six organizations were used to test six hypotheses concerning the effects of need level (higher vs lower order) and need salience as moderators of the relationship between need satisfaction and alienation-involvement. Three different ways of operationalizing need saliency were used, including a replication of Gorn and Kanungo's procedure. Higherorder need satisfaction was correlated with alienation-involvement scores to a significantly greater degree than was lower-order need satisfaction, even for those for whom lower-order needs were most salient. Need saliency was not found to moderate the need satisfaction-involvement relationship when need level was controlled. Issues regarding the operationalization of “need salience” were discussed and a new measure of alienation-involvement (the A-I Scale) was introduced. Implications for further empirical investigations of the need saliency issue were noted, as was the universal application of job enrichment programs aimed at promoting higher-order need satisfaction.     

Performance of an unpleasant task: Effects of over- vs under-payment on perception of adequacy of rewards and task attractiveness

Subjects who came to an experiment expecting to receive a moderate amount of money for performing a task were then told, either before or after performing it, that their pay would be higher than, equal to, or less than they had expected. When the actual payment was announced after the task was performed, subjects' evaluations of the task increased with the amount they were paid; however, they estimated a higher rate of pay to be appropriate if they received either more or less than they expected than if they received what they expected. When the actual payment was announced before the task was performed (and before subjects made their decision to perform it), a different pattern emerged. Subjects rated the task more attractive when they were offered either more or less than the expected amount, while their judgments of the appropriateness of the pay offered increased with the amount of the offer. Implications of the results for incentive and dissonance theories as well as self-perception and equity theories are discussed.     

Behavioral treatment of thunder and lightning phobias.

The use of four different behavioral techniques in the treatment of six female clients with thunder and lightning phobia is described. The techniques (Systematic desensitization. Covert reinforcement. Stress inoculation training, and Self administered desensitization with tape recorder) were evaluated in single-case experimental designs, using both self-report, behavioral, and physiological data.The immediate and follow-up results showed that five of the clients were completely recovered and the sixth markedly improved after their respective treatment (10–14 session). These results and the questions concerning continuous assessment in single-case design and external validity of laboratory assessment in phobic conditions are discussed.