TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of expectancy on the outcome of systematic desensitization and implosive treatments for analogue anxiety
AU - Borkovec, Thomas D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Outcome research has typically employed a placebo group to control for expectancy effects. While there are exceptions (Zeisset, 1968; Lick & Bootzin, 1970), most studies have indicated significant improvement under such positive expectancy conditions (e.g., Lang, Lazovik, & Reynolds, 1965; Paul, 1966; Efran & Marcia, 1967; Marcia, Rubin, & Efran, 1969). A recent, and perhaps methodologically superior, control for the expectancy variable involves the use of both neutral and positive 1 This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Illinois and was supported in part by United States Public Health Mtt 07346, by a University Research Board Grant awarded to Douglas A. Bernstein, and by the Psychology Department of the University of Illinois. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the assistance of Mary Borkovec and Douglas A. Bernstein.
PY - 1972/1
Y1 - 1972/1
N2 - Fifty college female subjects, selected on the basis of their pretest, avoidance of a snake, were randomly assigned to four conditions; (a) desensitization, (b) implosion, (c) avoidance response, and (d) no-therapy. Half of the subjects received therapeutic instructions to establish a positive expectancy of improvement while, the other half received instructions designed to avoid establishing expectancy of improvement. After four sessions, the posttest was administered. It was found that desensitization and implosion both resulted in decreased pulse rate. The expectancy manipulation strongly affected overt, behavioral measures of fear. Implosion was most influenced by the expectancy effects, while positive expectancy implosion showed the most improvement over the traditional no-therapy group.
AB - Fifty college female subjects, selected on the basis of their pretest, avoidance of a snake, were randomly assigned to four conditions; (a) desensitization, (b) implosion, (c) avoidance response, and (d) no-therapy. Half of the subjects received therapeutic instructions to establish a positive expectancy of improvement while, the other half received instructions designed to avoid establishing expectancy of improvement. After four sessions, the posttest was administered. It was found that desensitization and implosion both resulted in decreased pulse rate. The expectancy manipulation strongly affected overt, behavioral measures of fear. Implosion was most influenced by the expectancy effects, while positive expectancy implosion showed the most improvement over the traditional no-therapy group.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0005-7894(72)80049-2
DO - 10.1016/S0005-7894(72)80049-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0010666805
SN - 0005-7894
VL - 3
SP - 29
EP - 40
JO - Behavior Therapy
JF - Behavior Therapy
IS - 1
ER -