Two groups of college students participated in test-anxiety reduction programs at a Learning Resource Center. One group (six students) participated in systematic desensitization procedures and the other group (17 students) was exposed to study skills methods of reducing test anxiety. Students in both groups were pretested and posttested with the…

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)

Relaxation as self-control and desensitization were compared to a wait-list control in reduction of rest and other anxieties. Active treatments differed significantly from the control treatment. Subjects in both treatments reported less debilitating test anxiety, whereas desensitization subjects showed greater facilitating test anxiety. (Author)

Test-anxious students were assigned to four treatment groups, a placebo group, or an untreated control group. Four treatment groups resulted from combinations of two treatment rationales (active coping and passive reciprocal inhibition) and two treatment procedures (self-control and standard). Treatment groups were equally effective in reducing…

Expectancy instructions were introduced six times during the four-week treatment, and effectiveness of these instructions was demonstrated with independent nonreactive measures of subjects' expectancies. An analysis of self-report, behavioral, and unobtrusive measures of snake anxiety revealed significant main effects for instructions, with…

Compares the effectiveness of systematic desensitization (SD), rational emotive therapy (RET), and visualization (VIS) in reducing communication apprehension (CA). Concludes that, while all treatment modes reduce CA, no significant differences were found in their effectiveness. Emphasizes that VIS is a relatively simple technique that can be used…

Provides detailed information on systematic desensitization, describing in detail the procedures of imaginal desensitization. Briefly describes variants of group, in vivo, massed, and self-administered desensitization. Outlines guidelines for appropriate selection and use of desensitization and presents sampling of research findings with diversity…

Indicate that male college students viewing five R-rated movies depicting violence against women came to have fewer negative emotional reactions to the movies, to perceive them as significantly less violent, and to consider them significantly less degrading to women. (PD)

Questioned the statistical analyses of the Moleski and Tosi investigation of rational-emotive therapy versus systematic desensitization. Suggested means for lowering the error rate through a more efficient experimental design. Recommended a reanalysis of the original data. (LLL)

Expectancy, relaxation, and hierarchy content were manipulated. Findings did not support the hypothesis that expectancy was the only factor in desensitization, but did clarify the role of expectancy vis-a-vis the counterconditioning elements typically discussed in the literature. (Author)

The relationship between three behavior therapies and the experimental behavioral sciences is examined. It is concluded that behavior therapy is one of the few media within which the relevance of the experimental behavioral sciences to clinical medicine can be demonstrated. (Author)

Effects of systematic desensitization and anxiety management training in reducing test anxiety and generalizing to other anxieties were compared. Both desensitization and anxiety management training produced significant reduction of text anxiety, but by follow-up, anxiety management training produced significantly more test-anxiety reduction on…

Anxious students were randomly assigned to a wait-list control group; to three groups aided by experienced behavior therapists; or to three groups led by paraprofessionals. Results show paraprofessionals can achieve outcome and maintenance effects equivalent to more rigorously trained professionals. Paraprofessionals can conduct desensitization in…

Compared live and taped progressive relaxation (LR, TR), self-relaxation (SR), and electromyogram biofeedback (BF) on measures of autonomic and somatic arousal and subjective tension. LR was superior to RE on reductions in physiological arousal; SR and BR were equivalent except for the superiority of SR on reductions in autonomic arousal.…