Anxiety and Behavior

409 Pages·1966·5.26 MB·English

by  Charles D. Spielberger (Eds.)

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME
RAYMOND B. CATTELL
CHARLES W. ERIKSEN
ROY R. GRINKER, SR.
CARROLL E. IZARD
RICHARD S. LAZARUS
ROBERT B. MALMO
GEORGE MANDLER
O. HOBART MOWRER
EDWARD M. OPTON, JR.
SEYMOUR B. SARASON
STANLEY SCHACHTER
JANET TAYLOR SPENCE
KENNETH W. SPENCE
CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER
SILVAN S. TOMKINS
DAVID L. WATSON
JOSEPH WOLPE
Anxiety and Behavior
Edited by CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
1966
ACADEMIC PRESS New York and London
COPYRIGHT © 1966, BY ACADEMIC PRESS INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM,
BY PHOTOSTAT, MICROFILM, OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT
WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHERS.
ACADEMIC PRESS INC.
Ill Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003
United Kingdom Edition published by
ACADEMIC PRESS INC. (LONDON) LTD.
Berkeley Square House, London W.l
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 66-14893
list of Contributors
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
RAYMOND B. CATTELL, Research Professor of Psychology and Director,
Laboratory of Personality Analysis, University of Illinois, Urbana,
Illinois (23)
CHARLES W. ERIKSEN, Research Professor of Psychology, University of
Illinois, Urbana, Illinois (327)
ROY R. GRINKER, SR., Director, Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiat-
ric Research and Training, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical
Center, Chicago, Illinois (129)
CARROLL E. IZARD, Professor of Psychology and Director, Clinical Train-
ing Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (81)
RICHARD S. LAZARUS, Professor of Psychology, University of California,
Berkeley, California (225)
ROBERT B. MALMO, Professor of Psychology and Director, Laboratory of
Psychology, Allan Memorial Institute, McGill University, Montreal,
Canada (157)
GEORGE MANDLER, Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychology,
University of California, San Diego, California (263)
O. HOBART MOWRER, Research Professor of Psychology, University of
Illinois, Urbana, Illinois (143)
EDWARD M. OPTON, JR., Assistant Research Psychologist, University of
California, Berkeley, California (225)
SEYMOUR B. SARASON, Professor of Psychology and Director, Psycho-
Educational Clinic, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (63)
v
vi LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
STANLEY SCHACHTER, Professor of Social Psychology, Columbia Uni-
versity, New York, New York (193)
JANET TAYLOR SPENCE, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology,
University of Texas, Austin, Texas (291)
KENNETH W. SPENCE, Professor of Psychology, University of Texas,
Austin, Texas (291)
CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER, Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt Univer-
sity, Nashville, Tennessee (3, 361)
SILVAN S. TOMKINS, Professor of Psychology and Director, Center for
Research in Cognition and Affect, City University of New York, New
York, New York (81)
DAVID L. WATSON, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of
Toronto, Toronto, Canada (263)
JOSEPH WOLPE, Research Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Beha-
vioral Science, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania (179)
Preface
The wide gap that separates contemporary personality theory from the
empirical foundation upon which it must ultimately rest is painfully
evident to the serious student of personality phenomena. Consequently,
those who teach courses on personality are confronted with the uncom-
fortable alternatives of discoursing on unsupported theoretical formulations
or fragmentary research findings. During the past two decades, however,
a middle ground has emerged and with it a new field—the experimental
investigation of personality. This development has been fostered, on the
one hand, by the increasing sophistication of personality psychologists
with respect to experimental procedures and psychometric methods and,
on the other, by the greater readiness of experimental psychologists to
include personality variables in their laboratory investigations.
Experimental personality research has also been stimulated by the
appearance of limited domain theories that emphasize a particular per-
sonality construct. Research guided by such theories typically focuses
upon the measurement of a single personality variable and seeks to deter-
mine its antecedents, correlates, and behavioral consequences. Need-
achievement, authoritarianism, rigidity, and hostility have been subjected
to intensive empirical scrutiny, but anxiety has undoubtedly received
greater attention than any other personality variable. While the intimate
relationship between anxiety and psychopathology has spurred the research
endeavors of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, the pervasiveness of
anxiety in our culture and its ubiquitous influence on human behavior
have generated comparable empirical efforts among learning theorists and
social psychologists.
This book seeks to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of
anxiety and its effects on behavior by bringing together the current views
of psychologists and psychiatrists whose previous work and thought on
this subject have contributed significantly to our present knowledge. Since
the professional training and experience of the contributors varies widely,
vii
viii PREFACE
a number of different theoretical perspectives are represented, and these
are brought to bear on a broad range of anxiety phenomena. Chapters 1-4
are centrally concerned with the nature of anxiety and its measurement.
Chapters 5-8 inquire about the relationship between anxiety and psycho-
pathology, taking special note of the physiological mechanisms involved
in anxiety reactions. Chapters 9-11 evaluate cognitive, social, and behav-
ioral antecedent factors that determine the evocation of anxiety responses.
Chapters 12-14 examine the motivational aspects of anxiety and its
effects on cognition, learning, and behavior.
While intended primarily for psychologists and students of psychology,
the contents of this volume should be of interest to all who are concerned
with personality and psychopathology. The present volume grew out of a
series of colloquia presented to the Departments of Psychology of Vander-
bilt University and George Peabody College between January and October,
1965. Anxiety was selected as a topic to be covered in depth that could be
addressed from a number of different points of view and that would appeal
to graduate students, faculty, and colleagues whose interests ranged over
the entire field of psychology. We invited as our colloquium speakers
scientists whose work on anxiety was well known, and requested that each
spend two days with us. In addition to a formal colloquium presentation,
we asked each speaker to meet with the editor's graduate seminar on
Experimental Approaches to Personality and be available to discuss in-
formally his views on anxiety with students and faculty. Of the contributors
to this volume, Charles W. Eriksen, Roy R. Grinker, Sr., Richard S.
Lazarus, Robert B. Malmo, O. Hobart Mowrer, Kenneth W. Spence, and
Joseph Wolpe presented colloquia at one of the sponsoring institutions. In
addition, Ivan H. Scheier gave a colloquium on Professor Cattell's ap-
proach to anxiety, and David L. Watson discussed recent work on which
he has collaborated with Professor Mandler. Professors Tomkins and
Cattell had presented colloquia on related subjects during the previous
year. Although other commitments prevented Professors Sarason and
Schachter from participating in the colloquium series, both agreed to
contribute chapters describing their recent work. Thus, the present volume
is based essentially upon papers presented in the Vanderbilt-Peabody
Joint Colloquium Series as these were revised for publication by the
authors and invited papers from those who were unable to participate in
person.
In the organization of the colloquium series, I am indebted to Pro-
fessor James Terwilliger, Peabody College Colloquium Coordinator, and
Professor Nicholas Hobbs, Chairman of the Division of Human Relations
of Peabody College, for their willingness to cooperate in the pooling of
PREFACE ix
institutional resources and their assistance in working out a mutually
beneficial colloquium schedule. I am also grateful for the support and
encouragement of Professors Jum C. Nunnally and Donald L. Thistle-
thwaite who served, respectively, as Chairman of the Vanderbilt Depart-
ment of Psychology during the planning of the colloquium series and at
the time it was carried out. Thanks are also due to Professors Julius See-
man and Carroll E. Izard, Directors of the Clinical Training Programs at
Peabody College and Vanderbilt University, and to the National Institute
of Mental Health whose support of these programs provided funds which
helped to defray the costs of the colloquium series.
For their invaluable assistance in arranging and coordinating the
colloquium series, I express my gratitude to William F. Hodges, Larry D.
Southard, and Mrs. Patricia Harris. I am also indebted to the graduate
students and members of the faculties of Vanderbilt University and
Peabody College who attended the colloquia and the informal sessions
with our speakers for making them exciting learning experiences for all
who participated. Finally, I am especially grateful to my wife, Adele, for
her encouragement, generous assistance, and forbearance throughout this
endeavor.
Permission to reprint materials from books or journals was kindly
granted by the following publishers: American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science; American Psychological Association; American
Psychosomatic Society; Duke University Press; Harcourt, Brace & World,
Inc.; Harper & Row, Publishers; Liverwright Publishing Corporation;
McGraw-Hill, Inc.; Ronald Press; and Springer Publishing Company.
Bethesda, Maryland CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER
March, 1966
CHAPTER 1
Theory and Research on Anxiety1
Charles D. Spielberger
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY,
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY,
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
The importance of anxiety as a powerful influence in contemporary
life is increasingly recognized, and manifestations of current concern with
anxiety phenomena are ubiquitously reflected in literature, the arts, science,
and religion as well as in many other facets of our culture. Consider, for
example, the following passage from a popular periodical2: "Anxiety
seems to be the dominant fact—and is threatening to become the dominant
cliche—of modern life. It shouts in the headlines, laughs nervously at cock-
tail parties, nags from advertisements, speaks suavely in the board room,
whines from the stage, clatters from the Wall Street ticker, jokes with fake
youthfulness on the golf course and whispers in privacy each day before
the shaving mirror and the dressing table. Not merely the black statistics
of murder, suicide, alcoholism and divorce betray anxiety (or that special
form of anxiety which is guilt), but almost any innocent, everyday act:
1 Work on this chapter was facilitated by a grant (HD 947) from the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, United States Public Health
Service. I am indebted to students and colleagues at Duke University and Vander-
bilt University for their critical comments and helpful suggestions concerning a
number of the ideas that are expressed herein, and particularly to Drs. L. Douglas
DeNike, J. Peter Denny, Richard L. Gorsuch, Dale T. Johnson, and Edward S.
Katkin, and to William F. Hodges, Kay Howard, Opal Purdue, Lou Hicks Smith, and
Larry D. Southard.
2 Time, March 31, 1961, p. 44.
3
4 CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER
the limp or overhearty handshake, the second pack of cigarettes or the
third martini, the forgotten appointment, the stammer in mid-sentence,
the wasted hour before the TV set, the spanked child, the new car unpaid
for."
In the behavioral and medical sciences, theoretical and empirical
interest in anxiety parallels the popular concern. Anxiety is found as a
central explanatory concept in almost all contemporary theories of per-
sonality, and it is regarded as a principal causative agent for such diverse
behavioral consequences as insomnia, immoral and sinful acts, instances
of creative self-expression, debilitating psychological and psychosomatic
symptoms, and idiosyncratic mannerisms of endless variety. Empirical
research on anxiety has increased dramatically in the past 2 decades, as
will be documented below. Much of this research has centered around in-
vestigations of learning and perception, indicating that anxiety phenomena
have become more than just the concern of the clinician and the personality
theorist.
While fear and covert anxiety have perhaps always been a part of
man's lot, apparently not until the twentieth century did anxiety emerge
as an explicit and pervasive problem. May (1950), in his book The
Meaning of Anxiety, presents a penetrating analysis of basic historical
and cultural trends in Western civilization that have contributed to making
overt anxiety a salient characteristic of our times. The cold war with its
persistent threat of total destruction in an atomic age, the pressure for
social change attendant upon rapid scientific and technological advances,
the social estrangement and alienation of individuals in an urban, com-
petitive society are but a few examples of the sorts of stresses that serve
to induce feelings of helplessness and impotence in modern man. To the
extent that social and cultural factors undermine personal security and
create problems for the individual in establishing his psychological identity,
there will be heightened vulnerability to and increased manifestations of—
anxiety.
In 1950, Hoch and Zubin introduced a symposium sponsored by the
American Psychopathological Association with the following statement:
"Although it is widely recognized that anxiety is the most pervasive psycho-
logical phenomenon of our time and that it is the chief symptom in the
neuroses and in the functional psychoses, there has been little or no agree-
ment on its definition, and very little, if any, progress in its measurement"
(1950, p. v). In the past 15 years, theory and research on anxiety have
proliferated but this has not led to a consistent body of empirical findings,
or to convergence among theoretical interpretations. The present volume