Paul M. Kohn

The survey of recent life experiences a decontaminated hassles scale for adults

A new decontaminated hassles measure for adults, the Survey of Recent Life Experiences, was developed and validated. An initial pool of 92 items was administered to 100 subjects along with the Perceived Stress Scale. Fifty-one items were selected, based on significant correlations with the latter scale. The alpha reliability of the resultant final form of the Survey of Recent Life Experiences and its correlation with perceived stress were both high. In a separate cross-replication sample of 136 adults, the alpha reliability of the Survey and its correlation against the Perceived Stress Scale remained acceptably high. Moreover, separate-sex analyses supported the reliability and validity of the Survey of Recent Life Experiences across gender. Factor analysis of the Survey yielded six interpretable factors. Intercorrelations among subscales based on these factors were generally modest, suggesting that the scale is relatively free from contamination by psychological distress.

Sensation seeking, augmenting-reducing, and absolute auditory threshold: A strength-of-the-nervous-system perspective.

The following measures were obtained from 42 student volunteers: the General and the Disinhibition subscales of the Sensation Seeking Scale (Form IV), the Reducer-Augmenter Scale, and the Absolute Auditory Threshold. General sensation seeking correlated significantly with the Reducer-Augmenter Scale, r(40) = .59, p less than .001, and the Absolute Auditory Threshold, r(40) = .45, p less than .005. Both results proved general across sex. These findings, that high-sensation seekers tend to be reducers and to lack sensitivity to weak stimulation, were interpreted as supporting strength-of-the-nervous-system theory more than the formulation of Zuckerman and his associates.

Reactivity and response to pain

Male and female volunteers (N = 144) answered the Reactivity Scale (RS) and underwent testing for their perceived intensity and tolerance for finger-pressure pain. Half the Ss were randomly assigned to a low-intensity treatment (1150 g) and half to a high-intensity treatment (2300 g). Pain was rated at 30 and 60 sec., and Ss were asked to endure it as long as possible up to 5 min. The major findings were as follows: (1) women outscored men on reactivity; (2) the three pain measures intercorrelated highly; (3) high-intensity stimulation produced higher pain ratings and shorter tolerance than did low-intensity stimulation; (4) men gave lower intensity ratings than women and tolerated the pain longer; (5) reactivity related positively to judged pain at 30 and 60 sec, and negatively to pain tolerance; (6) there were no significant interaction effects among stimulus intensity, sex and reactivity for any pain measure; (7) the variance in the pain measures accounted for by stimulus intensity, sex and reactivity ranged from 26 to 32%. The implications were briefly discussed for the validity of the RS and factors explaining responses to experimentally-induced pain.

Strength of the nervous system and augmenting-reducing: Paradox lost

Abstract Two conflicting viewpoints were identified regarding the relationship between sensation seeking and subjective response to stimulation: (a) that sensory augmenters are high sensation seekers compared with sensory reducers (the view of Zuckerman and Buchsbaum); and (b) that it is the reducer rather than the augmenter who is the high sensation seeker (the view of Petrie and Vando). Proponents of the first approach measure Augmenting-Reducing through the use of the average cortical-evoked response, while advocates of the second position use Petries version of the Kinaesthetic Figural Aftereffects Test or Vandos Reducer-Augmenter Scale. It is argued that the disagreement is semantic and results from the differences in method of measurement. It is further argued that most, if not all, of the research findings may be accommodated within the framework of strength-of-the-nervous-system theory which distinguishes between two dimensions,sensitivity andfunctional endurance. The implications for future research are pointed out.

Ineffectiveness of threat appeals about drinking and driving

Four groups of high school students (total N = 441) were each exposed to one of the following films: A High-Threat, Medium-Threat, or Low-Threat appeal about impaired driving; or an irrelevant Control film. The threatening films evoked varying degrees of general upset (anxiety, depression, loss of pleasure, and disgust) rather than just fear. All three experimental groups outscored control subjects on an immediate posttest measure of knowledge about drinking and driving; however, this advantage dissipated by the delayed posttest, six months later. The high- and low-threat films actually evoked more permissive attitudes to impaired driving than the control film did on the immediate posttest; however, no attitudinal differences among treatments appeared on the delayed posttest. The experimental films also failed to affect self-reports of impaired-driving frequency over the six months between the two posttests. Possible reasons were suggested for the evident ineffectiveness of the threat appeals, and possible issues for further investigation were identified.

Hassles, coping styles, and negative well being

Abstract This article examines the moderating effects of coping styles on the adverse impact of daily hassles. In separate studies, university students ( N = 186) and high-school teachers ( N = 165) responded to measures of the following: hassles; task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping; perceived stress; psychiatric symptomatology; and minor physical ailments. The precise contributions of coping styles and hassles × coping interactions to perceived stress and psychiatric symptomatology differed somewhat across populations. Furthermore, they were modest in magnitude compared to the effects of hassles alone. In the case of minor ailments, coping styles and hassles × coping interactions made no predictive contribution over and above hassles in either sample. It was suggested that coping might be more usefully conceptualized in terms of ability rather than style.

Issues in the Measurement of Arousability

Some concept of arousability is central to several current theories of individual differences. Notable instances are the concepts of subjective augmentation versus reduction of stimulus intensities (Petrie, 1967), introversion-extraversion (Eysenck, 1967), reactivity (Strelau, 1983), and strength of the nervous system (Nebylistyn, 1972a). Several authors have noted the conceptual similarities among some or all of these theoretical constructs (e. g. Barnes, 1976; Davis, Cowles, & Kohn, 1983; Eysenck, 1981; Gray, 1967; Strelau, 1982). Accordingly, the term, arousability, will be used generically here when referring to common properties of these constructs or measures thereof.

The Beck Anxiety Inventory–Trait (BAIT): A Measure of Dispositional Anxiety Not Contaminated by Dispositional Depression

We describe development of the Beck Anxiety Inventory–Trait (BAIT), a measure of trait anxiety. In Study 1 with 191 undergraduates, the BAIT correlated higher with another trait-anxiety measure than with state anxiety and trait depressiveness and lower with depressiveness than the other trait-anxiety measure did. In Study 2 (Ns of 149 undergraduates initially and 107 at 3 weeks later), the BAIT demonstrated convergent validity against the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) and self-rated trait anxiety plus discriminant validity against abstract curiosity. In Study 3 (Ns of 161 undergraduates initially and 121 at 3 weeks later), the BAIT correlated more highly with another anxiety measure than with depression, stress, positive affect, and negative affect. It also showed good internal consistency across studies and high stability in Studies 2 and 3, higher than the BAIs in Study 2. Factor analyses across studies all supported 2 factors, 1 Somatic and 1 Subjective.

Hassles, anxiety, and negative well-being

Abstract Adult volunteers (N = 234) responded to a “decontaminated” hassles scale plus measures of trait anxiety, perceived stress, psychiatric symptomatology, and minor physical ailments. All but the anxiety scale were time-referenced to the past month. Major findings were as follows: (1) Hassles and trait anxiety contributed positively to perceived stress, both individually and interactively, accounting altogether for 55% of the variance; highly anxious subjects showed lower increments in perceived stress with increasing hassles-exposure than did low anxious subjects. (2) Hassles and trait anxiety had a positive synergistic effect on psychiatric symptomatology which, along with the nonsignificant marginal main effects, accounted for 64% of the variance. (3) Hassles and trait anxiety had a positive synergistic effect on minor physical ailments in men; however, highly anxious women, who showed very high levels of illness under even low hassles-exposure, responded less to incremental stress than did low-an...

Relationships between psychometric and experimental measures of arousability

Abstract Subjects (N = 53) responded to the Extraversion Scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the Reducer-Augmenter Scale, the Reactivity Scale, and the Strength of Excitation Scale of the Strelau Temperament Inventory. They then performed visual and auditory magnitude-estimation tasks plus visual and auditory reaction-time tasks. Finally, they set the volume of a stereo tape-recorder to their preferred level while listening to popular music. These procedures enabled us to intercorrelate four psychometric tests and nine experimental indices, all presumably relevant to arousability or ‘strength of the nervous system’. Although the tests intercorrelated highly while the experimental indices were somewhat less univocal, there were few significant cross-correlations between psychometric and experimental measures, all but one quite low (under 0.30). The highest single cross-correlation, that between the Reducer-Augmenter Scale and stereo volume, r(51) = 0.40, P