Second year treatment outcome of alcoholics treated by individualized behavior therapy: Results

Second year treatment outcome results are reported for 69 of 70 male alcoholics who, while hospitalized at Patton State Hospital, served as subjects in an experiment evaluating ‘Individualized Behavior Therapy (IBT)’ techniques. Subjects were initially assigned to either a controlled drinking or non-drinking (abstinence) treatment goal. and were then randomly assigned to either an experimental group receiving IBT or a control group receiving conventional state hospital treatment oriented towards abstinence. Previously reported results found that IBT subjects functioned significantly better than control subjects throughout the first year of follow-up. Second year follow-up results found that IBT subjects treated with a controlled drinking goal functioned significantly better than their respective control subjects on a variety of measures, including drinking behavior. Differences between IBT subjects treated with a non-drinking goal and their control subjects did not retain statistical significance during the second year of follow-up. Individual drinking profiles are presented for all subjects. Only subjects treated by IBT with a goal of controlled drinking engaged in a substantial amount of limited, non-problem drinking during the second year interval, and those subjects also had more abstinent days than subjects in any other group. The nature of adequate follow-up procedures and measures is discussed. Implications of these findings for alcoholism treatment are considered.     

Assertive training versus rehearsal and the importance of making an assertive response

This study dealt with whether mere practice would enhance assertion, and whether assertive training would reduce negative effect in simulated target situations, even when subjects (Ss) made no overt response. Males reporting difficulty with authority figures received either rehearsal alone or the complete assertive training package; in a subsequent behavioral test half in each group were told to make a response, with the remainder instructed to remain silent. Objective ratings revealed marked improvement following assertive training, while the effects of practice alone were negligible. For Ss receiving assertive training, reduction in selfreported negative affect in the target situations appeared to be independent of whether or not they engaged in overt verbalization, suggesting that assertive training, per se may enhance feelings of well-being.     

Where is the facilitation of media violence: The effects of nonexposure and placement of anger arousal

The present study examined the conditions under which media violence would “facilitate” aggression in angered individuals. It was noted that previous research has lacked support for facilitation due to improper control groups. It was predicted, based upon evidence that aggressive and neutral films are capable of both arousing a subject and shifting his attention away from previous anger instigation (attentional shift), that only under a condition where an aggressive film is viewed prior to anger arousal will increased aggression occur if compared to a no-film control. It was found that when subjects were angered prior to film exposure, netural films reduced aggression, with aggressive films not differing from a no-film control. Under subsequent anger arousal, however, there was a facilitation for aggressive film exposure. The implication of this, and other recent media violence studies, for past and future research in the area of media violence and aggression is discussed.     

The perceived informational value and affective consequences of choice behavior and intermediate difficulty task selection

Four experiments were conducted that examine the affective and informational determinants of risk-preference behavior. In the initial two experiments, subjects classified according to their level of achievement needs expressed a preference among tasks varying in difficulty. In two of the experimental conditions, instructions, respectively, conveyed that performance at the task chosen should either maximize satisfaction or the information gained about one's ability and effort expenditure. It was found that the majority of all subjects preferred to undertake tasks of intermediate difficulty and that both positive affect and information gain were perceived to be optimal at or near the level of intermediate difficulty. Experiments III and IV investigated at what level of task difficulty individuals most desire information about their performance. Police trainees and high school students with disparate self-concepts of respective target shooting and high-jumping ability were able to receive limited but self-selected performance feedback at a series of achievement tasks that varied in difficulty. The data revealed that the tasks selected for feedback became objectively less difficult as the self-perception of ability decreased. In addition, the tasks chosen for feedback were near the intermediate subjective certainty of success level for all subjects. It was contended that the data contradict Atkinson's model of choice but support an attributional conception. The general issue of affective versus informational models of motivation was discussed.     

The effect of frustrative nonreward on the attractiveness of the omitted reward

Two experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that omission of a previously received reward is followed by greater motivation to obtain that specific reward, as compared with the case where the reward had been present. In Experiment 1, experimental rats regularly received food rewards (R_a) at one goal, followed by a choice between food and milk (R_b). Control animals received the same choice without food preceding it. Reward magnitudes were manipulated so as to produce a preference for R_b, and additional forced trials were given each day to equalise experience of the two rewards. In the test phase both groups received trials with R_a present (R) or absent (N) at the first goal. The experimental Ss shifted their choice towards R_a on N trials; the controls did not behave differently after R and N. Experiment 2 was similar, except that R_a was milk and R_b food. The same effect of N on experimental animals was obtained. It is argued that the results are relevant to the double-runway ‘frustration effect’, and cannot be explained by existing theories of frustration.     

The effects of aversive conditioned stimuli on the timing of unsignalled avoidance responding in rats

Rats received unsignalled avoidance training in a shuttlebox. After acquisition, classical conditioning sessions were administered. The Excitatory Group received signals paired with shock, the Inhibitory Group received signals explicitly unpaired with shock, while the Random Control Group received signals and shocks randomly in time. When subsequently superimposed on the avoidance baseline, the excitatory signal increased response rate, the inhibitory signal decreased rate and the random signal had no effect compared to signal-only control data. Unsignalled avoidance generates temporal gradients of responding; the major purpose of this study was to determine how these rate changes were reflected in the baseline temporal behavior. Very clear and simple summation rules emerged: In the presence of the excitatory signal, rats acted as if they were ahead of their actual location in the response-shock interval regardless of where the signal occurred; the inhibitory signal had the opposite effect while the random signal did not change the temporal behavior relative to signal-only control data. These results were interpreted within a motivational framework.