The influence of anxiety factors upon the effectiveness of an experimental 'counseling' session

166 Pages·9.021 MB·English

by  Peck, Ruth

THE INFLUENCE OP ANXIETY FACTORS UPON
a s WFmfimmsB of ah
tm m x m x L "corasm m 8 sissioh
by
ftuth Peek
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the Department of Psychology
in the Graduate College of the State
University of Iowa
February 1981
ProQuest Number: 10598625
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
uest
ProQuest 10598625
Published by ProQuest LLC (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author.
All rights reserved.
This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346
ACOrOWLEDGMBIfS
The writer wishes to express sincere
gratitude to Dr. I. 1. F&rber for his
Invaluable guidance during the writ­
ing of this thesis, and to Dr* Edward
J. Shoben, Jr. for hi® encouragement
and help In designing and carrying out
the Investigation.
TABDE OF oorams
Pa&e
Introduction .................. 1
Statement of the Problem.......*.... 15
Procedure *«* .....•,.............. 17
Subjects ........... ........ . 17
Experimental Procedure *»#......... 17
Measures of Disturbance .............. 27
Results * .............. ..... . 29
Word Association Scores, Test 1 ...... 39
Word Association Scores, Test 2 .... 40
Word Association Difference Sourest
Test 2 Minus Test 1 ........ 47
Discussion ...................... 68
Sumraarj .........................rr* 83
References ................... 08
Appendix A ............ 91
Appendix B 93
Appendix c .. ♦............. *............ 95
Appendix D 100
Appendix E ......... *....... .... 109
Appendix f ............................. 148
ill
TABLE OF CABLES
fable Page
X Mean Reaction Time Scores (In Seconds) on
I tor
Test Three Groups at Two Anxiety
Levels ....... ................... 50
XX Mean Frequencies of Long Reaction Time on
Test 1 for Three Groups at Two Anxiety
Levels ....................... 56
XXX Mean Frequencies of Emotional Content (Ac­
cording to 5 out of 4 Judges) on Test 1
for Three Groups at Two Anxiety Levels ....... 39
IV Mean Reaction Time Scores (in Seconds) on
Test 2 for Three Groups at Two Anxiety
Levels ...................... 41
V Mean Frequencies of Long Reaction Time on
Test 2 for Three Groups at Two Anxiety
Levels . 45
¥1 Mean Frequencies of Baotlonal Content (Ac­
cording to 3 out of 4 Judges) on Test 2 for
Three Groups at Two Anxiety Levels ........... 48
VII Mean Differences (Test 2 Minus Test 1) in
Reaction Time Scores (in Seconds) for Three
Groups at Two Anxiety Levels 51
VIII Mean Differences (Test 2 Minus Test 1) In
Frequencies of Long Reaction Time for Three
Groups at Two Anxiety Levels ......... 56
IX Mean Differences (Test 2 Minus Test 1) la
Frequencies of Emotional Content for Three
Groups at Two Anxiety Levels ...... 61
X Mean Ratings by Three Judges of Interviews
for Anxious and Mon-Anxious Subjects within
Two Treatment Groups ........ 64
iv
fable Page
XI Analysis of Variance for Mean Reaction
Time Scores (Converted by Area Transfor­
mation) on Test 1 for Three Croups at
Two Anxiety Levels • *...... . . 149
XII Analysis of Variance for Frequencies of
Long Reaction Time (Converted by Area
Transformation) on Test 1 for Three
Croup® at Two Anxiety Levels ...».......... 150
XIII Analysis of Variance for Frequencies of
Emotional Content (Converted by Area
Transformation) on Test 1 for Three
Croups at Two Anxiety Levels ...... 151
XIV Analysis of Variance for Mean Reaction
Time Scores (Converted by Area Transfor­
mation) on Test 2 for Three Groups at Two
Anxiety Level® ......»",«*•«»•... 152
XV Analysis of Variance for Frequencies of
Long Reaction Tim© (Converted by Area
Transformation) on Test 2 for Three Groups
at Two Anxiety Level® «•. * ......*....... 155
XVI Analysis of Variance for Frequencies of
Emotional Content (Converted by Area
Transformation) on Test 2 for Three Groups
at Two Anxiety Levels ................. *« 154
XVII Analysis of Variance for Differences (Con­
verted by Area Transformation) in Mean Re­
action Time for Three Groups at Two Anxiety
Levels ..............................*«. • * 155
XVIII Analysis of Variance for Differences (Con­
verted by Area Transformation) in Mean Re­
action Time Separately for Ion-Anxious and
Anxious Subject® ...... * 156
v
Table
XIX Analysis of Variance for Differences (Con­
verted by Area Transformation) in Frequen­
cies of Long Reaction Time for Three Croups
at Two Anxiety Levels ..... ......... lb?
XX Analysis of Variance for Differences (Con­
verted by Area Transformation) in Frequen­
cies of Long Reaction Time Separately for
Non-Anxious and Anxious Subjects •*.»«»«,»»» 153
XXX Analysis of Variance for Differences (Con­
verted by Area Transformation) in Frequen­
cies of Emotional Content (as Agreed upon
by 3 out of 4 Judges) for Three Croups at
Two Anxiety Levels *........ •...... *...... 159
vl
1
Chapter I
IOTB0OTGTIOH
Current views of psychotherapy tend to concur
in regarding the elimination or reduction of anxiety as
an important aspect of treatment and verbalisation about
disturbing topics as important in bringing about anxiety-
reduction. The method of free association, whloh Freud
considered essential to psychoanalytic therapy, was de­
veloped as a technique for getting patients to produce
verbal cues to anxiety In the therapy situation* Doll-
ard and Miller (7) and Shoben (22) have recently also
assumed, on the basis of clinical experience, that for
every individual there are certain verbal cues which
produce anxiety. These are often words or sentences re­
lated to internal or external stimuli which have been
associated in the person* s experience with punishment*
Elimination of symptoms la accomplished by reduction of
the tendency to respond with anxiety to those cues*
In order for this decrease in anxiety response
tendencies to occur, the presence of cues to anxiety and
consequent arousal of anxiety In the therapy situation
are essential* According to Pollard and Miller, the
anxiety response is weakened by various techniques such
as permissiveness, direct assurance that there will be
no punishment, etc* i*h@ response of ceasing to b©
afraid is then reinforced, as are other non-anxiety re­
sponses which can then occur, by anxiety-reduction as
well as other rewards inherent in the therapeutic rela­
tionship* For Shoben, the process is on© of counter-
conditioning, i«e», the contiguity of non-anxiety respons­
es, evoked by the relationship to the therapist, with
cues to anxiety leads to the substitution of those re­
sponses for anxiety responses* Both theories thus con­
sider that the conditions of counseling, when verbal
cues to anxiety are present, are conducive to decreas­
ing anxiety response tendencies*
Evidence for the Effectiveness of nCounselingn
Reduction of anxiety by counseling is frequent
ly evidenced in reports of clients and by clinical obser
vatlons of decreased frequency of signs of anxiety in
the counseling situation* Experimental investigations
also provide some evidence, based on inferences from
various response measures, that verbalisation, to anoth­
er person, about anxiety-arousing situations may lead
to decreases In anxiety*
Among experimental stales of the effectiveness
of verbalisation in reducing anxiety, la an Investigation
by Pomeroy (15), who introduced stress during the learn­
ing of a stylus mass by subjecting learners to failure
and mechanical distractions* Of the subjects who under­
went stress, those who then discussed their stress ex­
perience and reactions to It in a sympathetic and per­
missive situation showed significantly more efficient re­
learning than those who did not have the opportunity to
discuss their reactions* Since this diffe^enc® between
tt counseledff and wnon-counseledfl subjects was not found
in the control group which had not been subjected to
stress, it was concluded that the discussion had weaken­
ed an emotional (i»e#, anxiety) response to the stress#
Evidence with respect to relative effective­
ness of a verbal procedure in reducing anxiety responses
as compared with the effectiveness of re-exposure to the
cues of a previously punishing situation is found In a
study by haggard (@)« He conditioned the galvanic skin
response to verbal stimuli by the use of shock, and com­
pared groups then subjected to these different proced­
ures with respect to level of galvanic skin response on