Virtual reality exposure has recently emerged as an important tool for exposure therapy in the treatment of fear of flying. There have been numerous empirical studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of virtual reality exposure as compared to other treatments including in vivo exposure, progressive muscle relaxation, cognitive therapy,…

Three reliably different levels of anxiety produced in Ss during cognitive rehearsals of approaching feared objects did not lead to differential decreases of avoidance or fear in the presence of the feared object. Ss designated as Repressors on the Byrne R-S scale improved least. The amount of fear reported by Repressors during visualization was…

Systematic desensitization was compared with two attention-placebo control treatments--one taken from Paul and one currently devised as an elaborate, highly impressive therapeutic'' experience--and no treatment. It was hypothesized that (a) fear reductions following desensitization would be no greater than those associated with an equally…

The author relates his experiences in using a modified form of systematic desensitization in a public school setting with counselees whose success and development are hampered by test anxiety and fear of public speaking. (Author)

It was predicted that phobic Ss receiving systematic desensitization would show greater reductions on both fear-related behavior measures and simulated fear measures than Ss receiving relaxation treatment or no treatment at all. The prediction was confirmed. (Author)

Appraises two basic classifications of desensitization procedures as applied to the treatment of childhood disorders. (MP)

This study compared counterconditioning, expectancy and cognitive coping variables in reducing fear and anxiety of snake-phobic college students. The outcome measures of the high-expectancy placebo group and the two cognitive-coping groups were significantly superior to those of the counter-conditioning and no-treatment groups, thus supporting the…

Both Desensitization and implosive therapy resulted in significant decreases in scores on Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale. However, the desensitization group also demonstrated a significant reduction in state anxiety assessed during simulated testing sessions and a significant increase in grade point average, while the implosive therapy group showed…

Reports the result of an attempt at applying the standardized schedule for the treatment of snake phobia in groups. (Author)

This research constitutes a preliminary attempt to study the procedural variable of differential spacing of desensitization sessions. (Author)

The use of in vivo and imaginal desensitization procedures for treatment of a fear of flying in airplanes is described. The direct benefits of the program, along with the positive effects it had upon progress on a series of other, equally troublesome presenting problems is discussed. (Author)

Finds that exposure to graphic photographs of worms taken from a horror film increased children's enjoyment of the horror movie segment and reduced fear reactions to the scene. Shows that exposure to a live earthworm was effective in reducing fear reactions to the movie only among boys but did alter children's affective reactions to and judgments…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of positive attentional cues as cognitive factors in the modification of fear responses in a desensitization-like treatment procedure. Positive attentional cues are defined as positively-valenced descriptors of the feared stimulus. Two groups of two subjects each were assessed as to the…

An overview of the behaviorally-oriented fear reduction methods for children is presented. Systematic desensitization and related procedures, flooding-related therapies, contingency management approaches, modeling procedures, and self-control methods are discussed after reviewing normative and prevalence data regarding children's fears. Research…

The data on approach to snakes provides srong support for the contention that the behavorial avoidance test is not immune to bias introduced by the operation of situational variables that have usually been allowed to vary in uncontrolled fashion in psychotherapy analogue research. Behavior of test subjects can be influenced not only in terms of…