Edward S. Katkin

Factor analysis of a fear survey schedule

Abstract The responses of a sample of Ss to the Fear Survey Schedule-II (Geer. 1965) were factor analyzed separately for men and women, and the emerging factors subjected to replication on two new samples. Three factors emerged which seemed to be reasonably consistent across groups: fear of water, death-and-illness, and interpersonal events. In the original female group, the interpersonal events factor was split into two components: social competence and social interaction. In addition, a fourth factor, fear of discrete stimuli, emerged significantly in three of the four groups, appearing in all but the original female group.

Empirical assessment of visceral self-perception: Individual and sex differences in the acquisition of heartbeat discrimination.

This study had two aims: (a) to test precisely the degree to which subjects can learn to discriminate their own heartbeats and (b) to pursue preliminary data suggesting that males and females differ in their ability to learn such discriminations. A new methodology, based on the theory of signal detection, was employed to evaluate objectively and quantitatively the performance of nine male and nine female subjects. The results confirmed the validity of the new methodology for assessing heartbeat detection and also confirmed earlier observations that males are able to learn to detect their own heartbeats but females are not. The results are discussed with particular reference to implications for viscerally based theories of emotion.

Oral imagery and autonomic arousal in social isolation.

Psychoanalytic theory suggests that the presence of others reduces anxiety in those with oral-dependent needs. Electrodermal activity of male subjects high and low on Rorschach oral-dependent responses was monitored in one of three conditions while the subject was in a soundproof chamber for 40 minutes: alone with no task; alone working on a clerical task; and together with a male confederate, both working independently on the clerical task. Oral-dependent subjects placed in the chamber with the confederate showed fewer electrodermal increase over time than orals sitting alone or nonorals either alone or with the confederate (p less than .001). On the clerical task there was a strong main effect of orality, with nonorals showing more accuracy than orals (p less than .03).

Autonomic arousal, interpersonal climate, and orality.

Electrodermal responses in male subjects who gave at least four oral-dependent Rorschach responses (n = 15) or no more than two such responses (n = 19) were assessed both before and after the subjects had either a warm, friendly interaction or a cold, unfriendly interaction with a confederate. There were no group differences on initial baseline measurements. Following a 10-minute warm or cold interaction, there was significant three-way interaction (Period X Condition X Orality) in tonic conductance, p less than .003. Analysis of the three-way interaction produced one simple effect: Highly oral subjects responded differentially to warm or cold treatment by the confederate, p less than .018. Three groups--nonorals in either condition and orals in the condition--increased in physiological arousal over time. Only the highly oral subjects interacting with the warm confederate showed no such increase in arousal, presumably because the presence of a warm, interested other inhibits physiological activation.

Sex-Role Orientation and Type A Behavior

In Western society, rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) are generally lower for women than for men. CHD has been found to be related to the Type A behavior pattern in both men and women. The similarity of stereotypic masculine traits to traits exhibited by those who are Type A was noted, and it was hypothesized that masculinity would be positively associated with Type A behavior whereas femininity would not. Type A scores were compared for males and females who were either high or low in masculinity and high or low in femininity. Masculinity was the only factor significantly related to Type A scores.

THE MARLOWE-CROWNE SOCIAL DESIRABILITY SCALE: INDEPENDENT OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY?

200 Ss were administered the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale (M-C SD) and a modified form of the MMPI, in order to evaluate the contention that the M-C SD is statistically independent of MMPI indices of psychopathology. Significant negative correlations were obtained between the M-C SD and 8 of the 10 MMPI indices of psychopathology employed.

Psychophysiological Functioning, Arousal, Attention, and Learning during the First Year of Life

Publisher Summary Assessment of psychophysiological activity, even in utero, is feasible. However, detailed studies of autonomic response capabilities of the fetus have been limited by the relative inaccessibility of those systems that can be subjected to investigation. In contrast, the neonate provides a wider range of observable response systems and allows the experimenter greater control over the stimuli, which may be employed. For these reasons there has been substantially more research on neonates than on fetuses. This chapter delineates, specifically, the psychophysiological response capabilities of the neonate from immediately after birth through the first year of life. It reviews the literature linking these response capabilities to theoretical discussions of arousal, attention, and orientational behavior and explores the relationship of these constructs to conditioning and learning. Finally, the chapter reviews some of the methodological necessities of neonatal psychophysiological research, and some of the problems inherent in interpreting the results of experimentation.

Autonomic Self-Perception and Emotion

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the role of autonomic activity and its perception in the experience and expression of emotion. Although there are many cogent theoretical approaches to the study of emotion, ranging from the purely neurophysiological to the purely cognitive, the focus of this chapter will be on work that has emerged from social psychological explanations of emotional behavior.

Habituation of cardiac components of the orienting reflex to stimuli repeated at fixed and variable intervals

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of fixed-interval (FI) stimulus repetition on cardiac components of the orienting reflex (OR). It was predicted that variable stimulus repetition would lead to habituation of the OR. whereas a fixed (temporal conditioning) interval paradigm would inhibit such habituation. Thirty-six Ss were employed. The main hypothesis concerning the effects of FI stimulus repetition was confirmed. In addition, the data supported the use of Lang & Hnatiow’s (1962) peak-to-valley measure of the cardiac response, although the response appeared to be monophasically decelerative. not diphasic. The results suggest that stimuli having “signal functions” will continually elicit the OR. whereas stimuli not having such functions eventually lose their value as OR elicitors.

Galvanic skin reactions associated with nonpresentation of an accustomed valued object in humans

This study investigated Amsel’s theory of frustrative nonreward using a psychophysiological measure, the galvanic skin response (GSR), instead of an instrumental measure. Following a series of presentations of a valued object, it was found that nonpresentation produced an increase in the GSR, analogous to the frustration effect for instrumental measures. It was also found that presentation cues during nonpresentation were important for the elicitation of frustration.