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Effects of Monitoring Positive and Negative Events on Measures of Depression (open access)

Effects of Monitoring Positive and Negative Events on Measures of Depression

This study examined psychoanalytic, physiological, and social learning models of depression in terms of etiology and symptomatology. Emphasis was placed on social learning theories of depression. First, Beck's cognitive approach stated that the root of depression was a negative cognitive set. Depressive episodes might be externally precipitated, but it was the individual's perception and appraisal of the event that rendered it depression inducing. Secondly, Seligman's learned helplessness model explained reactive depression in terms of a belief in one's own helplessness. Specifically, Seligman stated belief in the uncontrollability of outcomes resulted in depression, irrespective of the correspondence of such beliefs to objective circumstances. Additionally, depression resulted from noncontingent aversive stimulation and noncontingent positive reinforcement. Thirdly, Lewinsohn's model was based on these assumptions: a low rate of response-contingent positive reinforcement which acted as an eliciting stimulus for depressive behaviors. This low rate of response-contingent positive reinforcement constituted an explanation for the low rate of behaviors observed in the depressive. Total amount of response—contingent positive reinforcement is a function of a number of events reinforcing for the individual, availability of reinforcement in the environment, and social skills of the individual that are necessary to elicit reinforcement.
Date: May 1981
Creator: Ellis, Janet Koch
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biofeedback Training During Stress Stimulation (open access)

Biofeedback Training During Stress Stimulation

The assumption that EMG biofeedback cultivates an antistress response was tested under stress conditions while investigating the comparative efficacy of low versus high arousal treatment strategies. Biofeedback-assisted, cue-controlled relaxation training was used as the low arousal treatment strategy for half of the 20 normal subjects used in the study. The other half received a high arousal treatment strategy which used the same training in combination with an avoidance conditioning procedure. In this procedure mild electric shock was used as contingent aversive stimulation designed to reinforce relaxation responses. Both groups received four in-lab training sessions with a 4-day interim of home practice of cuecontrolled relaxation prior to the last in-lab training session. Pretraining assessment consisted of four 10-minute periods of alternating no-stress and stress conditions. Mild electric shock and loud tones were used as stressors. Posttraining assessment was identical to pre training except subjects employed self-directed, cue-controlled relaxation rather than self-directed relaxation based on instructions without training. Frontal EMG, subjective mental and muscle tension ratings, and behavioral observations of relaxation behavior served as dependent measures during pre- and posttraining assessment. EMG readings were used during in-lab training and the two subjective rating scales were used during home practice.
Date: August 1981
Creator: Spurgin, Raymon David
System: The UNT Digital Library
Treatment of Acne Vulgaris by Biofeedback-Assisted Cue-Controlled Relaxation and Guided Cognitive Imagery (open access)

Treatment of Acne Vulgaris by Biofeedback-Assisted Cue-Controlled Relaxation and Guided Cognitive Imagery

The primary purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that acne vulgaris can be reduced by psychological treatment. A cognitive-behavioral adjunctive intervention involving biofeedback-assisted relaxation and cognitive imagery procedures for the treatment of acne vulgaris was investigated in this study with 30 patients, already receiving traditional dermatological treatment, as participants. A three-group design was used which consisted of a treatment (relaxation-imagery), a rational behavior group therapy attention-comparison, and a medical intervention control (medication and lesion extraction) group.
Date: May 1981
Creator: Brown, Barry W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hypnotic Susceptibility as a Function of Information Processing (open access)

Hypnotic Susceptibility as a Function of Information Processing

Hypnotic susceptibility, often regarded as a relatively stable individual characteristic, has been found to be related to the personality dimension of absorption. To test the hypothesis that this relationship is a function of the nature of the sensory response to stimulus events and the development of cognitive models pursuant to the processing of that information, a group of hospitalized, chronic pain patients were assessed on the following dimensions: absorption, clinical hypnotic responsiveness, cognitive resistance to interference, and visual automatization.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Magnavito, Frederick J. (Frederick James)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Orgasm Consistency, Causal Attribution, and Inhibitory Control (open access)

Orgasm Consistency, Causal Attribution, and Inhibitory Control

A group of 44 high-orgasm-consistency and 34 low-orgasmconsistency women were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, a Sexual Behavior Questionnaire, and the Fall Back Task. Excitatory and inhibitory controlling attitudes as manifested in hypnotic susceptibility, reported control of thinking and movement during coitus, causal attributions, and attitude toward alcoholic beverages were related to orgasm consistency. Women experiencing expectancy disconfirmation for coital outcomes attributed outcomes to unstable factors, supporting the application of Weiner's achievement model to the domain of coital orgasm. High and low consistency women showed different patterns of causal attribution for coital outcomes. High consistency women's attributions fit their reported sexual experiences, while low consistency women's attributions suggested the presence of self-esteem enhancing cognitive distortions.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Bridges, Charles Frederick
System: The UNT Digital Library
Personal and Supplied Constructs: A Study of Meaningfulness, Cognitive Organization, Neuroticism, and Sex Roles (open access)

Personal and Supplied Constructs: A Study of Meaningfulness, Cognitive Organization, Neuroticism, and Sex Roles

George Kelly has stated that persons place interpretations, or constructs, on what they perceive. Past research has indicated that subjects more meaningfully apply their own personal constructs to persons and situations than constructs supplied from other sources. This study attempted to confirm previous findings. Sixty-three university students used their own personal constructs, elicited from the Role Construct Repertory Test, and supplied instrumental-expressive role constructs to interpret and rate 12 actors portraying instrumental and expressive behaviors in six videotaped scenes. The purpose of this study is to compare the meaningfulness to subjects of stereotypic terms in a sex-role inventory to the meaningfulness of the subjects' own personal constructs when interpreting typical masculine- and feminine-typed behavior.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Zervopoulos, John Anthony
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cognitive Complexity, Perspective Taking, and Moral Reasoning in Depression (open access)

Cognitive Complexity, Perspective Taking, and Moral Reasoning in Depression

The relationships of cognitive complexity, social perspective taking, and moral reasoning have been primarily examined in children or juveniles. Little work has been done to study their relationships in the late adolescent and young adult college student population. Additionally, the research to date has only examined relationships among pairs of these constructs. There has been no attempt to assess the combined relationship of cognitive complexity and role-taking skills to moral reasoning at any developmental level. Therefore, there are two purposes in this study. First, to test the theory of ego function regression in depression on cognitive developmental concepts related to interpersonal functioning. Second, the study will determine the individual as well as combined relationships of cognitive complexity and social perspective taking to moral judgment in a late adolescent to young adult college student population.
Date: August 1981
Creator: Jackson, Daniel Wayne
System: The UNT Digital Library