Michael J. Dougher

Sex Differences and Personality Factors in Responsivity to Pain

This study investigated the relationship between measured levels of masculinity-femininity, social desirability, and responsivity to pain in men and women. The literature suggests that the two personality variables might provide an explanation for the common findings of higher pain thresholds and tolerances in men than in women. A significant interaction was found between masculinity-femininity and sex for pain thresholds. Analysis of this interaction indicated that for men, but not women, there was a significant correlation between masculinity-femininity and pain, where higher masculinity was associated with higher pain thresholds. However, this finding did not account for the sex difference in pain threshold. The sex of the subject remained a significant predictor of both pain thresholds and tolerances after allowing for the influence of masculinity-femininity, social desirability, and their associated interactions.

The transfer of avoidance evoking functions through stimulus equivalence classes

Recent research in the area of stimulus equivalence suggests that transfer of function via members of stimulus equivalence classes may have relevance to human emotional responding and the development and generalization of certain psychological disorders. This study investigated the transfer of avoidance evoking functions through equivalence classes. Eight subjects were trained in the necessary relations for two-four member stimulus equivalence classes to emerge. Next, using an on-baseline classical conditioning procedure, one member of one class was paired with shock while one member of the other class was presented without shock. Then, while subjects engaged a key-press task, a differential, signalled avoidance task was introduced wherein shock was avoided if a response occurred to the stimulus previously associated with shock. The remaining stimuli from both classes were then presented. The behavior of all eight subjects showed the differential transfer of the avoidance evoking function. The clinical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

A behavior-analytic account of depression and a case report using acceptance-based procedures

Although roughly 6% of the general population is affected by depression at some time during their lifetime, the disorder has been relatively neglected by behavior analysts. The preponderance of research on the etiology and treatment of depression has been conducted by cognitive behavior theorists and biological psychiatrists and psychopharmacologists interested in the biological substrates of depression. These approaches have certainly been useful, but their reliance on cognitive and biological processes and their lack of attention to environment-behavior relations render them unsatisfactory from a behavior-analytic perspective. The purpose of this paper is to provide a behavior-analytic account of depression and to derive from this account several possible treatment interventions. In addition, case material is presented to illustrate an acceptance-based approach with a depressed client.

Induced anxiety and pain

Abstract Although it is a commonly accepted notion that anxiety and pain are positively related, it is unclear whether this relation holds regardless of the source of anxiety. The present research examined the relation between source of anxiety and pain responsivity by comparing the pain thresholds and pain tolerances of male and female undergraduates exposed to laboratory induced general anxiety, laboratory induced pain specific anxiety, non-veridical exaggerated descriptions of the sensations produced by a pain stimulator, and a control procedure. The results revealed that only pain specific anxiety enhanced pain responsivity for both males and females. The non-veridical instructions increased pain tolerance only for males but lowered both pain thresholds and pain tolerances for females. The results were interpreted as suggesting that anxiety enhances pain responsivity only if the source of anxiety is related to painful stimuli.

Right hemisphere involvement in depression: Toward a neuropsychological theory of negative affective experiences

Several lines of inquiry provide converging evidence for a critical role for the right cerebral hemisphere in negative affective experiences. This research includes the assessment of affective consequences of both focal cerebral lesions and pharmacological inactivation of one or the other hemisphere, as well as experimental and physiological techniques assessing differential hemispheric activation. The specific nature of right hemispheric involvement is conceptualized as a tendency to become activated by aversive experiences, and once activated, to process stimuli in a manner consistent with the right hemispheres more negative affective tone. A theory of right hemisphere involvement in depressive affect is presented in detail and its relevance to clinical phenomena, e.g., the co-occurrence of depression and pain, and sex differences in depression, is examined, as is congruence with cognitive theories of depression.

Depression, pain, and hemispheric activation.

The present study attempts to delineate the role of hemispheric activation in depression and pain. It was hypothesized that the right hemisphere is specialized to become activated by and to process negative affective stimuli, and that this specialization may play a role in the co-occurrence of depression and pain. The relationship between depression, experimental pain, and cerebral laterality was investigated in 16 depressed and 16 nondepressed, righthanded, female students. Cerebral laterality was measured via tasks assessing visual and auditory biases, and pain was assessed via a cold pressor task. The proposition that the right hemisphere mediates the co-occurrence of pain and depression was not supported, but specific findings did suggest that the right hemisphere may play a unique role in pain perception. Data from the visual task indicated that prior exposure to pain results in increased right hemisphere activation as indicated by a left visual field bias. Pain perception was a complex function of mood, preceding tasks, and the hand tested, and it was suggested that exposure to a typical right-hemisphere task increased the left side lateralization of pain in nondepressed subjects. Implications of these findings are discussed for coexisting problems of pain and depression and for the lateralization of pain in disorders judged to involve a significant psychogenic component.

The Abused/Abuser Hypothesis of Child Sexual Abuse: A Critical Review of Theory and Research

A widespread belief among the general public and professionals alike is that “sexual abuse causes sexual abuse” (Finkelhor et al., 1986; Kempe and Kempe, 1984; Lanyon, 1986). That is, sexually abused children and adolescents who have engaged in sexual behavior with an adult (or a significantly older adolescent) are commonly thought to be at risk in later years of themselves becoming sexually involved with children and adolescents. This belief is referred to here as the “abused/abuser hypothesis of child and adolescent sexual abuse.”

Establishing operations, cognition, and emotion.

In this paper we argue that behavior analysts have tended to neglect the study of important aspects of complex human behavior, including cognition and emotion. This relative neglect has been costly in terms of mainstream psychology’s perception of the field of behavior analysis and in terms of our ability to provide a more thorough account of human behavior. Observations and findings from the clinical context are offered as examples of behavior that are not readily explained by the three-term contingency, and we argue that an adequate account of these behaviors must include principles derived from recent behavior-analytic work, in particular a better understanding of the short- and long-term effects of establishing operations. The concept of the establishing operation and its implications for understanding complex human behavior are discussed.

The dimensions of clinical behavior analysis.

In most talk therapies for outpatient adults, the therapist has no control over the client’s daily life or contingencies outside the treatment session. The fundamental theoretical issue facing the behavior analyst is, “How can the talking that goes on during the session help the client with problems that occur outside the session in the client’s daily life?” An historical analysis and the application of verbal behavior principles are used to answer the question and form the basis of clinical behavior analysis (CBA). The implications of CBA range from providing a theoretical base for psychotherapy to suggesting new forms of treatment.

A logical functional analysis of reinforcement-based disorders: alcoholism and pedophilia.

This article discusses a nomothetic functional strategy, termed logical functional analysis, as an approach to the refinement of the structural diagnostic categories of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e.g., 4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). As heterogeneous diagnostic categories are more the norm than the exception in the DSM-IV, an argument is made for the identification of homogenous subgroups within diagnostic classes based on functional principles. Outlines of a logical functional analysis for 2 reinforcement-based disorders, alcoholism and pedophilia, are presented. The outlines show how topographically similar behavior patterns can serve different functions that are important to consider when making treatment decisions. The logical functional analysis is a strategy that helps practitioners to identify motivational conditions, antecedents, consequences, and concomitant behavioral repertoires associated with a given disorder. It also provides guidance for the selection of intervention strategies.