Twelve months after a 24-hour period in a socially isolated, monotonous environment, subjects had reduced their rate of cigarette smoking by an average of 48 percent, compared with 16 percent for control subjects. A smaller sample reported similar results at the end of 24 months. (Author)

The influence of two of the variables in Leitenberg's graduated exposure technique for treating phobias, graduated exposure and subject control of the exposure time, was investigated using 15 snake-phobic subjects. Subjective fear significantly decreased from pretesting to posttesting. (Author)

Meditation and relaxation were compared for ability to reduce stress reactions in a laboratory threat situation. Meditation can produce a psychophysiological configuration in stress situations opposite to that seen in stress-related syndromes. Research is indicated on clinical applications and on the process whereby meditation state effects may…

The effect of stereotypes can be diluted by the presentation of additional facts about the target person. This dilution can be accomplished by the presentation of facts about the target person and by presenting no facts but simply inducing the subject to imagine or make guesses about the target person. A feature matching model is used to interpret…

Snake- or spider-phobic subjects (N=32) were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Subjects receiving semantic desensitization therapy showed less posttest anxiety on the semantic differential than control subjects regardless of testing condition. (Author)

The subject-controlled graduated exposure of a snake with feedback of exposure times resulted in significantly less avoidance behaviors for snake-phobic subjects than for control snake-phobic subjects who did not receive therapy. (Author)

This study investigated the process of fear change during a course of systematic desensitization therapy. Behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures of fear were taken following each of eight therapy sessions. Changes in one fear system did not appear to be primary in initiating changes in the other fear systems. (Author)

The type of helper from which help is sought and the causal locus to which the help seeker's problem is attributed have been suggested as factors that affect the way help seekers are perceived. The present study investigated the social rejection of help seekers as a function of these two variables. (Author)

Male college students were first angered by a confederate's critical evaluation of their autobiographical letters. They were then given one of three procedures designed to reduce hostile aggression: an expression of their feelings; a reinterpretation of the criticism; and a combination of expression and reinterpretation. (Author)

This article examines the idea that social norms are not permanently incorporated into a person's personality. The author presents the argument that in a group situation subjects are conditioned toward similarity while afterward, the individual's behavior gradually returns to an "operant level". Tests show this argument to be essentially true.…

The experimental group in this study received four weeks of study in rational-emotive education. The control group showed no significant declines in irrational thinking and anxiety, but the experimental group showed significant declines in irrational thinking and anxiety. The rational-emotive educational process, increased rational thinking and…

Flooding and systematic desensitization procedures were investigated for possible interactions with subject arousal level on reduction in phobic reactions. No such interaction was found. Behaviorally and on GSR response, both flooding and systematic desensitization were effective, but only the latter was effective on subjective reports. (NG)

Desensitization therapy was offered to Israeli soldiers suffering from fears developed as a result of their participation in the Yom Kippur War. Two kinds of in vivo desensitization procedures used were: (a) an individual self-administered in vivo desensitization and (b) in vivo desensitization in dyads. Advantages of these procedures discussed.…

The fear of speaking before a group affects a high percentage of American adults. The effectiveness of an audiotape desensitization program was compared to conventional therapist-led group desensitization and no treatment for the modification of speech and communication anxiety behaviors. All desensitization treated subjects demonstrated…

A group of children (N=60) about to undergo elective surgery for hernias, tonsillectomies, or urinary-genital tract difficulties were shown on hospital admission either a relevant peer modeling film of a child being hospitalized and receiving surgery or an unrelated control film. (Author)