The purpose of this investigation was to separate the effects, and determine the optimal and most feasible methods, of promoting skin temperature increase in a clinical prison population. There were no significant differences among the instructional sets with respect to skin temperature increase. Skin Temperature feedback significantly delayed the time of maximum temperature increase. However, the average delay of 3.5 minutes was not considered to be clinically significant. No other significant effects were evidenced from feedback training. It was suggested that the lack of differential effects among the instructional sets and feedback training may be a characteristic of the early stages of training and that significant differences might emerge if training were continued over a greater number of sessions.The question was raised as to whether skin-temperature training had taken place during the two training sessions. The subjects may have been displaying a nonspecific "relaxation response" or habituation to the experimental situation. It may take more than two sessions before significant conditioning of the skin-temperature response occurs. Recommendations for future research were specified, including an increase in the number of training sessions and the addition of new control procedures.

The present research explored the role of RES manipulation on ongoing Sidman avoidance behavior. Results of the first phase revealed that both experimental drugs significantly altered RES levels in predicted directions after the first measure; however, only stimulated subjects maintained significant differences after 5 days. No activity-level differences were noted in any subjects due to drugs across time. Sidman avoidance data indicated that RES-stimulated subjects showed significant deterioration in avoidance performance as compared to other groups for the first session. Stimulated subjects were also poorer on the second and third sessions, but statistical significance was not obtained because some saline subjects also showed poorer performance. A rank order correlation revealed that a significant negative correlation existed between RES stimulation and avoidance performance, based on changes in RES levels from baseline to the end of the shock program. These data suggest that increased stress resistance due to RES stimulation may reduce the aversive properties of the shock program, thus decreasing motivation for responding. It was concluded that artificial methods of inducing stress resistance by RES stimulation may be a useful therapeutic technique for patients experiencing psychological stress.