The purpose of this study was to delineate those variables which are indicative of the patient whose health may be adversely affected by sensitivity to chemicals. In stage One analysis, the files of 10 chemically sensitive and 10 non-chemically sensitive patients were used to establish criterion variables as previously defined by legal proceedings prior to the study. Chemically sensitive and non-chemically sensitive patients were compared on all variables included in the study to empirically determine those variables which demonstrated significant differences by chi square analysis.

To investigate the impact of helplessness-induction on cognitive performance in the aged, 66 community-residing elderly persons (X=72.5 years) were administered a word association task, disguised as a test of onterpersonal empathy, under a) response independent (RI), b) response dependent (RD) reinforcement, o c) control conditions. The subjects were categorized as either depressed or non-depressed. Three (treatments) by two (levels of depression) by two measurements (pre- vs. post-treatment) ANOVA's were performed on scores from both short term memory and intelligence measures. These suggested that the more depressed elderly demonstrated greater helplessness-induced short term memory deficits, and to a lesser extent, fluid intellectual deficits.

The purpose of the present study is to compare a "traditional" behavioral therapy approach (based on selfcontrol techniques) with a previously unresearched "contextual therapy" for the treatment of overweight. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to a discussion of a variety of relevant behavioral techniques, an evaluation of them, and a discussion of a contextual model for the treatment of overweight.

Periodic fluctuations in women's emotions during the menstrual cycle have been a continuing topic of research and discussion. The current study was designed to determine if premenstrual syndrome conditions in female teachers have any effect on reported classroom misbehavior and infractions. Subjects were twenty-one faculty members presently employed in the capacity of teachers in a public middle school. By utilizing a teacher's daily behavioral checklist, along with student misconduct reports, the changes in teachers' moods and behavioral symptoms over the menstrual cycle were studied in relation to reported student infractions. Based on the results of this study, it appears that menstrual cycle fluctuations have no recognizable impact upon a female's classroom demeanor and her ability to discipline in a professional manner.

A number of authors have suggested recently that the behavioral characteristics and self-perceptions of learning disabled and emotionally disturbed children are so similar as to negate the fruitfulness of trying to differentiate between these two groups. These characteristics are quite similar for the two special education groups when they have been compared independently of each other to regular education students. In order to provide support for these prior studies, the self-concepts and locus of control of 36 learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, and regular education students were compared. A significant difference was found between the LD and RE students in terms of self-concept only. No significant differences were noted between the ED and RE students. These results are discussed in relation to the somewhat conflicting results of prior studies with implications for future research.

This study investigated the level of trust of whites and self-esteem as a function of reported exposure to racial discrimination. It was hypothesized that participants reporting high levels of racial discrimination would be less trusting of whites and have lower self concepts than those reporting low levels of exposure to racism. A total of 84 undergraduates were administered three measures designed to assess the amount of exposure to racial discrimination, self-esteem and cultural mistrust. No relationship was found between extent of exposure to racial discrimination and level of self concept. However, mistrust of whites among blacks was found to be related to frequency of exposure to racial discrimination.

Dependency is defined as authentic or pathological and is seen as a component important to the treatment of patients with chronic illness. It is hypothesized that a significant portion of ecology patients will meet the criteria for pathological dependence and differ on psychological and physiological parameters from those who do not. This study strongly supports the first two hypotheses but does not find that the two groups differ physiologically. One hundred eleven variables are surveyed. Fifty-two show significant differences between the groups and 29 are significant at greater than the .0001 level. A discriminant analysis was used to determine the least number of orthogonal variables that best discriminate between the groups. These are MMPI Scales 8, 3, subscale Ma2, employment status, and early childhood illness.

The present study examined the impact of gender and sex-role orientation on therapy effectiveness. Previous research suggested that same-sex pairings and androgynous therapists would be most desirable. Interviewers (therapists) were 25 male and 15 female third-year doctoral psychology students, each interviewing a male and a female undergraduate student (client). Results did not support the hypothesis that gender and sex role were powerful predictors of therapy effectiveness. However, this study did find that therapist self-rated interpersonal competency and accurate self-perception predicted therapy effectiveness for female clients. Therapists' consistency in using various parameters (techniques) of therapy was related to client perceived effectiveness. Opposite-sex pairings were less likely to result in momentary feelings of discomfort during initial interviews.

The Aronson Shopping List is a short-term memory test which integrates current knowledge of brain-behavior relationships in assessment. The test was designed to detect deficiency in fluid intelligence. The goal of this study was to standardize the test on an elderly population. The sample was composed of 67 males and females whose ages ranged from 62 to 89 years. It was found that recent stressful events did not account for variation of performance on the ASL. The reliability of the test, established by means of a test and alternate form retest procedure, was found to be .70 after an average of eleven months. Percentiles are presented indicating performance comparisons. Further experimentation would be needed to establish whether the test would be useful to designate organic brain pathology.

Only circumscribed aspects of highway aggression have been investigated. The upsurge of abuse and violence transpiring between motorists necessitated a more definitive depiction of the actual events, participants, and relevant contextual features. A questionnaire administered to 120 motorists, aged 18 to 68, solicited a recountal of incidents occurring within 12 months and a description of their most recent encounter. Based on severity of experience, subjects were relegated to distal threat, direct threat, and nonvictim groups. Although most events involved unreported distal threats lasting less than three minutes, men and non-college graduates were more often directly threatened, while non-victims were predominantly women and college graduates. Perpetrators were primarily unknown Caucasian males who generally aggressed in populated areas during afternoon hours.

To determine if learned helplessness treatment debilitates human working memory and fluid intelligence, 60 university students, classified as high or low self-monitors, were assigned to one of three treatments: intermittent (50%) controllable positive feedback, uncontrollable (yoked) negative feedback, and no treatment. Test tasks included backward digit and backward spatial span (representing working memory), matrices (representing fluid intelligence), vocabulary (representing crystallized intelligence), and forward digit and forward spatial span (representing immediate span of apprehension). Results generally were not significant and were discussed as possibly due to ineffective treatment procedure. Further research on this topic is needed.

In an attempt to find meaningful predictors of the ability to interpret Rorschach protocols by clinicians, a paradigm change (Kuhn, 1962) was instigated by using as predictors the scores of the perceptual organizational abilities of 30 subjects, and their ratings of favorableness toward the Rorschach in terms of its usefulness as a clinical tool. The subjects were first year, graduate psychology students, and the Haptic Visual Discrimination Test (HVDT) was the instrument used to measure perceptual organization. A multiple linear regression analysis was computed, and the data supported the hypothesis that perceptual organization and favorableness are of significant predictive value (R = .54, F(2, 27) = 5.43, p = .01). The standardized beta for usefulness was .47 (p = .008) and the HVDT beta was .33, (p = .05). The results were interpreted as applying to Rorschach validity research methodology and pedagogy.

This study investigated the effect of cost-of-escape on helping among children. Forty-four children between the approximate ages of six and twelve served as subjects. The experiment was performed in a natural setting using an ice cream truck. The driver (experimenter) manipulated the cost-of-escape and then had an "accident." The easy-to-escape group received their ice cream before the driver spilled 300 spoons on the ground. The difficult-to-escape group had paid for their ice cream but had not received it before the "accident" occurred. The number of spoons picked up by each condition and the lapse time before a member of each group began to help was recorded. No differences were found between the groups (all ps > .05). Implications for cost-of-escape were discussed.

Much research has studied cohesiveness within client groups in terms of making therapeutic gains. These studies have defined cohesiveness in terms of a) attraction of the group as perceived by a group member, b) how clearly each member sees his/her role within the group, and c) the effectiveness of one's skills in attaining group goals. Little research has dealt with the role of staff cohesiveness in developing an effective treatment program. Effectiveness, in this study, is defined as the degree to which clients are willing to disclose personal information to the staff. The results show a positive correlation between staff's perceived effectiveness with clients and the clients' willingness to self-disclose. On-hand experience with clients seems important in involving clients in therapy.

This study examined the effects of volunteer counselor training (empathy training versus information only) and age of volunteer (senior citizens versus adolescents) upon depression level of nursing home residents. Results showed that residents who received a volunteer counselor significantly improved (p < .01) in level of depression compared to the no volunteer control group. The empathy trained counselors were not significantly more effective than the information only group. The age of the. volunteer counselor was found not to be a significant variable.

Although the Rorschach is one of the most widely used psychological assessment techniques, its empirical support has been equivocal. One possible explanation for this lack of empirical support is the tendency for researchers to study only the assessment tool with little regard for the clinician using it. In order to examine the relationship between accurate Rorschach interpretation and attributes of the clinicians employing the technique, 46 psychology graduate students were tested in terms of cognitive flexibility. Torrance's Thinking Creatively with Pictures and Cattell's 16-Personality Factor Questionnaire were used to derive various measures of cognitive flexibility. A two-stage multiple linear regression analysis was done. The most statistically reliable result was that flexibility of thought was found to be the single best mediator of accuracy of Rorschach interpretation. Other individual findings were noted and interpreted.

This study was designed to assess the reliability of "The Psychiatric Rating Scale for Diagnostic Classification of Children and Adolescents" as an instrument for determining diagnoses congruent with DSM-III criteria. In Phase I graduate students from a University doctoral program in psychology independently rated case vignettes and completed the 64-item rating scale to arrive at Axis I or II diagnoses consistent with DSM-III classifications for Disorders Usually First Evident in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence. Subsequent correlations to determine individual scale reliability yielded significantly positive correlations. Clinicians practicing in three diverse metropolitan mental health settings acted as raters in Phase II of the study. Paired raters jointly interviewed a total of 54 child or adolescent patients and independently completed the rating scale to arrive at Axis I or II diagnoses. These diagnoses were subsequently correlated with diagnoses previously obtained by traditional psychometric methods. Phase II interrater agreement was 92 percent for Axis I and II combined, with a .96 correlation. Rating scale diagnoses when correlated with traditional psychometic diagnoses yielded an overall rate of agreement on Axis I of 95 percent for Rater 1 and 90 percent for Rater 2 and correlations of .96 and .95 respectively. Clinicians were asked to …

A total of 60 male and female subjects scoring between 0-5 and 8-12 on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A underwent hypnosis procedures, hypnosis and age regression procedures to age 10, or were read an article about hypnosis. All subjects then listened to 20 minutes of directed imagery for warming and cooling the hands. Skin temperature was monitored on both index fingers. Dependent measures were the difference between each subject's highest temperature and baseline temperature, the difference between each subject's baseline temperature and lowest temperature, and the latency of change from baseline to highest temperature, and the latency of change from the beginning of cooling imagery to lowest temperature. Results indicated that the age regression group achieved significantly warmer temperatures than the control group and that the age regression group remained significantly warmer than the two other groups during the cooling imagery. Results also indicated that these skin temperature responses generalized to the nondominant hand. The data were interpreted as suggesting that those subjects exposed to the age regression procedures may have been more relaxed than the other groups. Another interpretation suggested the cooling imagery may not have been accessing common or pleasant experiences of the subjects.

Male (8) and female (22) Essential Hypertensives (130/85 mm Hg or above) were randomized into a nonspecific treatment or an experimental treatment utilizing eight relaxation strategies. Both groups had eight training sessions which consisted of baseline blood pressures (BP), 15 minute relaxation tapes, and post-relaxation BP's. Subjects were instructed to use their tapes three times between sessions. Five BP readings were taken at the one and two month follow-ups. It was hypothesized that the experimentals would have greater within and across session decreases in BP, and that the differences would be maintained during a no treatment follow-up. Eleven experimentals and 8 controls were on medication. Mean medication compliance percentages were 99.9 and 99.6 while mean relaxation compliance percentages were 95.2 and 115.2 for experimentals and controls respectively. Efficacy was checked at each training session on a seven-point scale and group means were 6.5 and 5.4 for experimentals verses controls. Within session decreases in BP were compared with t tests and no significant differences (p < .05) were present for the eight training sessions with systolic (SBP) or diastolic (DBP). Across session changes were compared with ANCOVA and no significant differences (p < .05) were present for the eight training or …

The development of measures of masculinity/femininity in psychology has reflected historical interest in categorizing gender differences. Recent measures have characterized masculinity as instrumental/agentic behavior. In this study, a traditional measure (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Masculinity/femininity scale) was pitted against a more recent measure (the Personal Attributes Questionnaire) in predicting instrumental behavior of mixed sex dyads in laboratory sex stereotyped tasks. Neither measure effectively predicted instrumental behavior. Rather, females performed better on the more complex but feminine stereotyped task, and males performed better on the masculine stereotyped task. The outcome of this study supports the need to view gender differences as dynamic phenomena influenced by individual choice, situational pressures, and interactional characteristics.

This study compared the relative efficacy of two different theoretically-derived strategies in the hypnotic treatment for cigarette smoking. The use of counterconditioning suggestions (present or absent) was compared to the use of role-playing suggestions (present or absent) in a two-way factorial design. Also investigated was whether there were any pretreatment variables which could predict successful long-term smoking control. Fifty adult chronic smokers were matched on the dimensions of baseline smoking rate, number of years smoking and number of previous attempts to quit smoking, then assigned to one of four treatment groups. All subjects were offered four sixty-minute group hypnotherapy treatment sessions over a three week period, with smoking rate assessed at the second, third and fourth sessions, and at one-month, three-months and six-months post-treatment. The two dependent measures of percentage reduction from baseline smoking rate and percentage of subjects in each treatment group remaining abstinent from smoking showed similar results. ANOVA procedures found a significant Time of assessment X Counterconditioning interaction, indicating that the use of counterconditioning suggestions facilitates the long-term maintanence of smoking control more than the use of role-playing suggestions or a "hypnotic relaxation" treatment using no specific suggestions. The demographic variables of increased age, having a smoking-related …

Whether an individual's state of mind can influence the body's immune system has been studied for several decades. Historical notions of a homeostatic, self-contained, and self-monitored system have been discarded. Studies have explored conditioning effects and cognitive behavioral methods to affect the immune response. This study is based on the assumption that relaxation imagery can be used as an endogenous means to produce specific physiological change in the immune function. Subjects were instructed to make a directional change in the absolute number of peripheral lymphocytes using relaxation imagery.

This study was designed to investigate risk factors for resumption of alcohol use during the early period following treatment. Specifically, the influence of cognitions, stressful life events, subjective appraisal of stress, expectancies about alcohol use, and personal coping responses was explored.

Although the Rorschach is one of the most widely used psychological assessment techniques, its empirical support has been equivocal. One possible explanation for this lack of empirical support is the tendency for researchers to study only the assessment tool with little regard for the clinician using it. The current study examined one clinician variable (empathy) and its relationship to accuracy of interpretation of the Rorschach. The literature regarding Rorschach theory and research and empathy theory and research was reviewed in an attempt to clarify the similarities between empathy as an important factor in psychotherapy and its importance in the assessment process. The present study measured empathy by using the Davis Empathy Questionnaire and a Taped Excerpt Response Measure.