The findings of this study are interpreted as providing a preliminary indication that self-reward strategies are superior to self-punitive and self-recording strategies in the modification of at least some habit patterns. (Author)

Within an experimental paradigm that simulated systematic desensitization, the effects of manipulated cognitive expectancy on avoidance behavior were evaluated. The results indicated that both overt avoidance behavior and two verbal indexes were differentially affected by expectancy and that no relationship between avoidance behavior and autonomic…

Five groups of 15 female subjects reporting fear of snakes participated in two behavioral avoidance tests employing a snake as the target object. Results are discussed both in terms of implications for psychotherapy outcome research design and possible usefulness of situational variables in the development of more effective anxiety-reduction…

Nurses (N=29) participated as either control or treatment subjects in a nicotine fading and abstinence training worksite smoking cessation program. Treatment subjects had a superior abstinence rate at 6, 9, and 12 months follow-up. Negative affect, availability of cigarettes, and the presence of others played prominent roles in relapses.…

Clients in a smoking cessation program rated their confidence in their ability to resist smoking at the end of treatment and throughout a 6-month follow-up period. Posttreatment scores significantly predicted subsequent smoking status. Results suggest that efficacy ratings can be useful predictors of relapse, particularly when assessed during the…

An attempt to determine which subgroups of schizophrenics tend to engage in manipulatory behavior proved unproductive. (Author)

Results support the hypothesized relationship between meaning and phobia. Semantic desensitization techniques based on counter conditioning of meaning were significantly effective in altering the semantic value of the word from unpleasantness to neutrality. (Author)

Ex-smokers (N = 61) who had stopped smoking as part of a televised "clinic" were assigned to either a tape-reinforcement or nonreinforcement condition and were followed up a month later. A self-regulated reward system can be an extremely cost-effective tool in preventing short-term recidivism among neophyte ex-smokers. (Author)

Administered a questionnaire on expected effects of alcohol to 150 college students. Results showed that subjects expected alcohol to affect other people more than themselves for both positive and negative effects. Moderate and heavy drinkers expected as much pleasure from alcohol as they expected others to receive. (Author/LLL)

Process and outcome of a smoking cessation program using behavior therapy along (BT) or behavior therapy plus the nicotine patch (BTP) was studied in 64 participants. Abstinence was significantly higher for the BTP group from the end of behavioral treatment (79% vs. 63%) through the three-month follow-up, with the effects weakening at the six- and…

Forty habitual smokers were assigned to one of four treatment groups: warm, smoky air plus rapid smoking; warm, smoky air only; rapid smoking only; an attention-placebo control group. The three aversion groups were quite similar and, taken together, were smoking less at the six-month follow-up than the controls. (Author)

Undergraduates, trained to discriminate understanding from nonunderstanding statements, verbally reinforced each statement they felt to be understanding during counselor interviews. Ratings indicated that beginning counselors had increased their understanding statements, suggesting that such statements can be a function of the number of…

This study investigated the therapeutic feasibility of self-administered punishment of imagined behavior. With heavy-smoking males, the imagined-smoking treatment was the only highly effective therapy. It was significantly more effective than the placebo or actual-smoking treatments, and it replicated. (Author)

The reactive effect of self-monitoring was examined in three experiments. Some results indicated that self-monitoring was reactive, providing a performance goal or feedback augmented the reactive effects of self-monitoring, and the act of self-recording led to behavior change. (Author)