Search Results

open access

Learned Helplessness and Internal-External Locus of Control in the Elderly

Description: The present research has focused on an often-neglected segment of society—the aged. A number of phenomena which appear relevant to a study of aging have been discussed and the pertinent literature reviewed. Specifically, learned helplessness, depression, internal-external locus of control, and disengagement versus activity have been examined. The present research was divided into two studies. Study Number 1 has investigated internal-external locus of control in an elderly sample and related it … more
Date: December 1976
Creator: Hamrick, Narecia D.
open access

Assassin Syndrome: Threateners Compared to Other Psychiatric/General-Inmate Groups

Description: Thirty-seven male prisoners who had been convicted or indicted on a charge of threatening the President or national political figure were compared to state inmates, federal inmates, and normative samples on psychometric and demographic variables. Results indicated that assassin/threateners were significantly more paranoid, schizophrenic, and socially alienated than comparison samples. Their heterosexual adjustment and work record tended to be poorer than comparison inmates. Data suggested that … more
Date: August 1978
Creator: Kinney, Delane Raye
open access

Life History and Psychometric Personality Factors Differentiating Prisoners Convicted of Violent and Nonviolent Crimes

Description: In this study violent and nonviolent prisoners were differentiated on the basis of life history and psychometric variables. Life history data were collected from institutional files and from a biographical questionnaire. Psychometric procedures consisted of the Mini-Mult Prisoner Questionnaire and the Bender-Gestalt. In summary, the variables included in the discriminant function suggest that the violent subjects were more psychopathological than the nonviolent subjects. The violent subjects ev… more
Date: December 1979
Creator: Reuterfors, David Lawrence
open access

Relationship of MMPI Profile Clusters to Pain Behaviors

Description: The purpose of this study is to replicate and extend earlier work involving cluster analysis of MMPI profiles among persons with chronic low back pain. There are two specific goals. The first goal is to demonstrate the existence in a new sample of four distinct and homogenous profile clusters that have been found in previous research. The second goal is to investigate the relationship of the four profiles to the subjects, self-reported pain history and response to treatment. This study conclude… more
Date: December 1979
Creator: McGill, Jerry C.
open access

Treatment of Insomnia in Cancer Patients Using Muscle Relaxation Training

Description: Previous research suggested that sleep onset insomnia was significantly reduced with the use of relaxation techniques; however, the majority of these studies used college student populations with mild to moderate insomnia. The objective of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of using muscle relaxation training in a clinical population known to have sleeping difficulties—cancer patients. Results of this study suggest that muscle relaxation training is an effective technique to redu… more
Date: December 1979
Creator: Cannici, James Paul
open access

Effects of Videotape Playback on Causal Attribution in Distressed Couples

Description: A videotape playback treatment was investigated in the present study with regard to its effects on acceptance of responsibility for conflict in distressed couples. Three major hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis that subjects given videotape playback of their pretherapy sessions would show a significant increase in self-attribution was supported.The second hypothesis that subjects who received videotape playback of their pretherapy sessions would show a significant increase in the freq… more
Date: May 1980
Creator: Thompson, Ron Allan
open access

Premarital Contraceptive Behavior: Attitude Among Adolescents

Description: This study investigated attitudes toward personal use of premarital contraception among sexually active adolescent males and females. All students within the selected classrooms were asked to complete questionnaires assessing attitudes toward contraception, contraceptive knowledge, and sociodemographic and sex-related life history variables. Subjects were rated with regard to their effectiveness of contraception (high, moderate, or low). Separate univariate analyses indicated the following: The… more
Date: May 1980
Creator: Nelson-Wernick, Eleanor
open access

Cognitive Congruence and Interactional Behavior of Cotherapists

Description: Proponents of the use of cotherapists have stressed the importance of compatibility for effective cotherapy teams; however, the nature of compatibility has received little attention in experimental literature. This study investigated the nature of an effective cotherapy relationship through use of concepts espoused by George Kelly in his personal construct theory. Based on the results of the study, it was recommended that cotherapists be paired on the basis of their cognitive congruence. It was… more
Date: August 1980
Creator: Achterberg, Gloria Jeanne
open access

The Effect of Two Variations of Role-Taking Training and Affect on Changes in Juvenile Delinquents' Role-Taking and Moral Judgment Development

Description: The present investigation was designed to increase the moral judgment and simultaneous role-taking skills of institutionalized male juvenile delinquents and investigated possible effects of affect on the subjects' responses to treatment.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Ferguson, John Benson
open access

Imagery as a Skills Training Technique for Alcoholics

Description: Alcoholism is a major health problem, and current methods of treatment have been only partially successful. One treatment approach is to teach coping skills for dealing with problematic situations. This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of imagery techniques in teaching coping skills. There were two major objectives of this study. The first objective was to determine whether covert skills training would produce positive changes in alcoholics in terms of their effectiveness in … more
Date: December 1980
Creator: Chadwell, Carrell Morgan
open access

Phantom Breast Concomitants Among Mastectomy Patients

Description: Thirty-eight mastectomy patients who reported phantom breasts were compared to 23 women who did not experience these sensations for the purpose of developing a predictive psychological profile of the phantom breast patient. The Adjective Check List, WAIS—short form, Fundamental Interpersonal Relationship Orientation Scale—Behavior, a social-medical questionnaire, and a Body Image Scale were administered. The Body Image Scale was also given to 25 women who had not had breast cancer. Hemispheric … more
Date: December 1980
Creator: Cofer, Jeanne Brady
open access

Prisoners' Self-Help Packets for Positive Behavioral Change

Description: This study investigated the efficacy of bibiliotherapy in a correctional setting. Bibliotherapy (the utilization of books, pamphlets, or other literature) has been recommended as an adjunct to psychotherapy when professional time was at a premium or when the motivational level of the clientele was marginal. The experimental problem of this present study was to assess the usefulness of bibliotherapy in coping with psychological problems found within the correctional setting. This investigation w… more
Date: December 1980
Creator: Kohutek, Kenneth James
open access

Effects of Monitoring Positive and Negative Events on Measures of Depression

Description: 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… more
Date: May 1981
Creator: Ellis, Janet Koch
open access

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

Description: 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 behav… more
Date: May 1981
Creator: Brown, Barry W.
open access

Biofeedback Training During Stress Stimulation

Description: 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… more
Date: August 1981
Creator: Spurgin, Raymon David
open access

Cognitive Complexity, Perspective Taking, and Moral Reasoning in Depression

Description: 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 a… more
Date: August 1981
Creator: Jackson, Daniel Wayne
open access

Hypnotic Susceptibility as a Function of Information Processing

Description: 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 responsiven… more
Date: December 1981
Creator: Magnavito, Frederick J. (Frederick James)
open access

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

Description: 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 … more
Date: December 1981
Creator: Zervopoulos, John Anthony
open access

Internal vs. External Imagery as a Mental Preparation When Applied by Intermediate League Bowlers

Description: Mental preparation is an important component in athletic performance. Mental preparation often involves imagery of the actual execution of the physical act. Imagery may be either "external" or "internal." External imagery occurs when people view themselves performing an act from the perspective of an external observer. Internal imagery requires that the person feel those sensations that are involved while participating in a physical act. The assumption that internal imagery will be more likely … more
Date: May 1982
Creator: Barnes, Patrick Richard
open access

Assessment of Posttreatment Follow-Up Evaluation Procedures with Alcohol-Abuse Patients: A Methodological Study

Description: The purpose of this project was to clarify the methodological considerations involved in the posttreatment follow-up evaluation of alcohol-abuse patients. A two-part project was undertaken in an attempt to answer the follow-up questions of how and when to measure treatment effects with discharged alcoholics. In Part I, a large-scale survey was utilized to examine return rates across various program evaluation methods and time frames. In Part II, the predictive validity of scores received at sho… more
Date: August 1982
Creator: Till, Steven Michael
open access

Counseling Outcomes and Perceived Counselor Social Influence: Validity of the Counselor Rating Form Extended

Description: This study investigated predictor variables of the Counselor Rating Form dimensions of expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness using the predicted variable of therapy outcome, measured by Goal Attainment Scaling and postcounseling scores on the Counselor Rating Form. One hundred-fifteen mental health center outpatients agreed to participate. Forty subjects (25 females and 15 males) met all criteria and were labeled "completors." An additional 30 subjects, labeled "dropouts," enrolled bu… more
Date: August 1982
Creator: Rucker, Iris Elaine Votaw
open access

Effects of Nondirective and Paradoxical Therapist Communication on Core Therapeutic Conditions and Perceived Client Influence

Description: The purpose of this study was first to determine whether or not paradoxical communication could be designed to contain therapeutic levels of the core therapeutic conditions, and, second, to determine how paradoxical counselor communication compared to nondirective communication on the social influence dimensions of attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness. For the first phase, four judges rated audiotapes on the level of the core therapeutic conditions on one of four counseling condition… more
Date: August 1982
Creator: Beard, Myron Joseph
open access

Effects of Reflection, Probing and Paradoxical Therapist Responses on Client Self-Acceptance

Description: Client self-acceptance is a crucial element of mental health and a goal of psychotherapy. It has been demonstrated that client self-disclosure in psychotherapy is instrumental in the promotion of self-acceptance. Reflection, probing, and paradoxical therapist responses frequently are used to elicit self-disclosure. Cognitive dissonance theory was used to provide a theoretical understanding of these techniques and their use in the promotion of self-acceptance. Reflection, probing, and paradoxica… more
Date: August 1982
Creator: Robertson, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Anne)
open access

Expertness and Similarity as Factors of Influence in the Preferences of Deaf College Students for Therapists

Description: This study utilized Strong's (1963) theory of counseling as a social influence process to investigate the effect of therapist's training, experience, and similarity on hearingimpaired subjects' perceptions of the therapist's expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness and their willingness to see the therapist. Increasing levels of therapists' training and work experience was hypothesized to increase subjects' perception of expertness and their willingness to see the therapist. Increasing l… more
Date: August 1982
Creator: Thigpen, Sally Elizabeth
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