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AND SVMPTG?r€,51T§C REEHGNS

Thesis for the Degree of M. A.
WCHIGAN STATE UNWERSHY
DAWD L. HAYES
1977

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ABSTRACT

DRIVE INTENSIFICATION, INSUFFICIENCY,
AND SYMPTOMATIC REACTIONS

BY

David L. Hayes

This research was designed to determine if drive
intensification and the experience of personal inSuffic-
iency are significant factors in the laboratory production
of symptomatic reactions. Four paramnesias (false memories)
were constructed which presented two levels of drive inten-
sification and two levels of insufficiency in a 2 x 2 con-
figuration, resulting in l) a neutral condition, 2) a drive
intensification condition, 3) an insufficiency condition,
and 4) a drive intensification - insufficiency condition.

It was hypothesized that the incidence of psychopathology
increases as drive intensification increases and also as
insufficiency increases. It was further hypothesized that
the joint effect of the two factors is greater than their
individual effects.

Forty-eight male undergraduate introductory psychology
students at MSU volunteered to serve as subjects. Both ex-
perimenters and subjects were randomly assigned to the

treatment conditions. The student listened with eyes closed

David L. Hayes

to a tape recording of one of the paramnesias. He was

then asked to revisualize the story and describe it to

the experimenter as he revisualized it. Finally, with

his eyes still closed, each subject was asked to report

any images or pictures that came into his mind's eye,

as well as any feelings or bodily sensations which he

might notice. The five minute imagery period was scored
for the presence of symptoms by two advanced graduate
students in clinical psychology using Reyher's (1975d)
Symptomatic Reaction Scale. The transcriptions were

scored for l) the total number of symptomatic reactions,

2) the number of types of symptomatic reactions, and 3) the
number of symptomatic reactions per word spoken. An inter—
scorer reliability of .98 was obtained using the rank-order
correlation, Egg.

Analyses of variance showed no differences between
experimenters and no differences between the four treatment
conditions on any of the independent measures. This sur-
prising finding was considered in light of Subject differ-
ences, possible ineffectiveness of the paramnesias, and
possible confounding of intrapsychic and interpersonal
factors. These results were not interpreted as refuting
the hypotheses but as not having provided an adequate test.

Modifications of the design were suggested to take
into account individual differences in subjects and to en-
able assessment of the effects of intrapsychic and inter-
personal factors, including any interacting which might

occur 0

DRIVE INTENSIFICATION, INSUFFICIENCY,

AND SYMPTOMATIC REACTIONS

BY

. G”
David L? Hayes

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Psychology

1977

to Mom and Dad

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

During the course of this project I have incurred
many debts of gratitude. First of all, I want to thank
my capable experimenters, Adrian Breting, Richard Budd,
RobertMartin, and Art Myers for their help in collecting
the data. I also wish to thank my friends and fellow stu-
dents Stuart Doneson and Sam LeBaron for their encourage-
ment and for their expert job as scorers. My thanks go
to my committee as well, to Dr. Albert Aniskiewicz for
his interest in my research, to Dr. Ralph Levine for his
ability to see my research from a different perspective,
and to Dr. Joseph Reyher for getting me interested in the
first place. I particularly want to thank Dr. Reyher for
filling the several roles of advisor, research chairman,
psychotherapy supervisor, and teacher, and in the process
helping me to define myself as a professional.

My special appreciation goes to my wife, Peggy, with-

out whose help and support I would not have come this far.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vi
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l
HYPOTHESES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Hypothesis 3

METHOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ll
Experimenters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Treatment Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . ll

1. Treatment #1 (neutral condition) . . . 12
2. Treatment #2 (drive intensification
condition) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3. Treatment #3 (insufficiency condition) 15
4. Treatment #4 (drive intensification -
insufficiency condition) . . . . . . . 16

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Paramnesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Revisualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Free Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l9
Post-experimental Questionnaire . . . . . 20

Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Inter-rater Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Experimenters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Total Symptom Expressions . . . . . . . . . . 22
Symptom Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Expressions per Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Questionnaire Rating Scales . . . . . . . . . 24

DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

iv

 

ll [{(l

APPENDICES

A. POST-EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

B. SYMPTOMATIC REACTION SCALE

C. SUMMARY OF RAW DATA .

LIST OF REFERENCES

Page
35
39
47
50

LIST OF TABLES
Table Page

1 Means, Variances, and Analyses of Variance
by Experimenters O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O 23

2 2x2 Analysis of Variance for Total Symptoms . 23
3 2x2 Analysis of Variance for Symptom Types . . 24

4 2x2 Analysis of Variance for Expressions per
word 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O C O O O O 25

5 Means and Variances by Treatment Condition . . 25

vi

INTRODUCTION

In a study designed to examine the effect of hyp-
notically induced conflict on perceptual vigilance and
defense, Reyher (1958, 1961) serendipitously discovered
a reliable method for producing symptOms in the labora-
tory. Using a hypnotic technique developed by Luria
(1932), Reyher implanted in his subjects a paramnesia
(false memory) designed to stimulate aggressive affect.
He then associated a socially unacceptable act to cues:
from the paramnesia. Following a posthypnotic suggestion
that recognition of the cues would again arouse the aggres-
sive feelings and a desire to conunit the socially unaccept-
able act, he presented the cues fromtflmaparamnesia in an
ascending tachistoscopic series. Reyher found that this
procedure reSulted in subjects spontaneously repressing
the suggested aggressive impulses and producing a large
number and variety of psychosomatic and hysterical symp-
toms.

These surprising results prompted several attempts
to replicate Reyher's results. In a study using the same
anger-aggression paramnesia used in Reyher's study and a
slight variation of Reyher's hypnotic procedure, Perkins

and Reyher (1971) successfully replicated Reyher's results.

In a subsequent study including some physiological measures,
Reyher (1967) once again found that the posthypnotic stim-
ulation of an induced conflict caused repression and non-
suggested symptoms to occur spontaneously. In another
variation of the paradigm, Sommerschield and Reyher (1973)
introduced a paramnesia designed to stimulate sexual feel-
ings besides using the original anger-aggression paramnesia.
They found both paramnesias effective in producing sympto—
matology, with the sexual paramnesia producing a signifi-
cantly greater proportion of symptoms.

In the wake of these initial studies, Veenstra (1969)
attempted to identify those variables that caused a post-
hypnotically activated drive to be anxiety producing or
pathogenic.1 In his study, Veenstra used an anger-aggres-
sion paramnesia which was different than that used by
Reyher (1958, 1961, 1967), Perkins and Reyher (1971), and
Sommerschield and Reyher (1973), in that it did not contain
a socially unacceptable or reprehensible act. Also, from
among the factors he identified, Veenstra did not include
age regression, hypnotic arousal of conflicting emotion,

anger directed toward en1 authority figure in the

 

lVeenstra's analysis of the paradigm identified the
following factors: 1) hypnosis, 2) age regression, 3) par-
amnesia, 4) hypnotic arousal of anger, 5) hypnotic arousal
of conflicting emotion, 6) anger associated under hypnosis
with C-words (cues from paramnesia), 7) anger directed to-
ward an authority figure in the experimental situation, 8)
suggested loss of control on presentation of conflict words,
9) posthypnotic arousal of anger, 10) posthypnotic suggestion
of a destructive impulse, ll) induced amnesia, 12) tachisto-
scopic presentation of words, and 13) accepting nondirective
experimenter attitude.

experimental situation, or posthypnotic suggestion of a
destructive impulse. This procedure was unsuccessful in
producing symptomatology.

Karnilow (1971) and Wolfe (1971) thought that it
was not unreasonable to suspect that the critical factor
or factors in rendering the procedure pathogenic were
among those excluded by Veenstra. They tested the hypoth-
esis that the posthypnotic suggestion of a destructive
impulse, alone, or in conjunction with an induced amnesia,
was responsible for the pathogenicity of Reyher's paradigm.
The procedure used by Karnilow (1971) and Wolfe (1971) in-
cluded Veenstra's anger-aggression paramnesia and was un-
successful in producing symptomatology. In a similar study
also using the Veenstra paramnesia, Larison (1973) found
that inquiring about subjects' feelings after each word
presentation produced a few mild symptoms. However, the
frequency, diversity, and intensity of these symptoms was
markedly less than that produced by earlier studies (Reyher,
1958, 1961, 1967; Perkins and Reyher, 1971; Sommerschield
and Reyher, 1973).

Following their unsuccessful attempt to identify the
critical variables, Karnilow (1971) and Wolfe (1971) noted
that the paramnesia developed by Veenstra, which they all
had employed (Veenstra, 1969; Karnilow, 1971; Wolfe, 1971;
Larison, 1973), did not include reprehensible behavior.
Whereupon, Karnilow (1973) decided to use a paramnesia that

previously had been shown to be pathogenic. He elected

to use the Oepidal-sex paramnesia developed by Sommer-
schield (Sommerschield and Reyher, 1973) and a peer-sex
version of that paramnesia. In contradistinction to his
earlier study (1971), Karnilow (1973) found both param—~
nesias effective in producing symptoms. He found that
directing the sexual drive toward an oedipal object was
significantly more pathogenic than directing the sexual
drive toward a peer female. These findings suggested
that the effects of experimenter differences were relae
tively unimportant as a determinant of symptom production
within this particular paradigm; instead it implicated
variables within the paramnesia itself as being critical.
The foregoing investigations are all consistent
with the conclusion of the original investigation (Reyher,
1958, 1961), namely, that a relationship obtains between
the degree of spontaneous repression of the suggested
affect and the type of symptoms that were produced. The
nature of this relationship is such that when there is
no repression, or when there is complete repression, no
symptoms occur. However, when the repression is incom-
plete, that is, inadequate to bind all of the anxiety asso-
ciated with the stimulated drive, symptoms are produced.
Further, this line of research shows that the type of
symptom produced varies with the degree to which repres-
sion has been successful (Karnilow, 1973; Perkins and
Reyher, 1971; Reyher, 1958, 1961, 1967; and Sommerschield

and Reyher, 1973). Reyher (1958) first demonstrated this

relationship by calculating a repression score for each
subject, based on the number of instances of verbalized
awareness of the suggested drive or associated affect.

By separating symptoms empirically into categories, cor-
relating the degree of repression with each category of
symptoms, and ranking the categories in terms of the mag-
nitude of their correlations, a sequence of symptoms was
generated which occurs as repression weakens and repressed
ideas approach conscious awareness. Reyher called this
sequence the Symptomatic Reaction Scale (SRS).

Several attempts were then made to determine the
adequacy of the SRS as an explanatory concept. Reyher
(1967), Perkins and Reyher (1971), and Sommerschield and
Reyher (1973) activated the suggested drive at three dif—
ferent intensities via posthypnotic cues. They found
that their results correlated significantly with the SRS
for subjects who achieved progressively increasing aware-
ness of the suggested drive.‘ In a somewhat different
approach, Burns and Reyher (1976) used the psychothera-
peutic technique of emergent uncovering, known to be
effective in gradually lifting repression (Reyher, 1963,
1969, 1975a, in press). After implanting the paramnesia
as in earlier studies, Burns asked his subjects to sit
back, close their eyes, and report any images that came
to mind. He gave them a posthypnotic suggestion that
they would experience the suggested sexual drive and re-

lated affect in overwhelming intensity whenever the

experimenter gave the cue "How are you feeling?". He

also presented them.with images taken from key points of
the paramnesia, which he described in hopes of prodding
them into greater awareness of the suggested drive. These
procedures were used in an attempt to observe the con-
tinuum of repression in greater detail and allow further
clarification of the relationship between repression and
symptom type. Their findings once again supported the
previous conclusion that there is a specific sequence of
symptoms which occurs as repression gradually weakens.

In 1974, Moses performed yet another study aimed at
verifying the relationship between repression and the SRS.
Without using hypnosis, he read the Sommerschield and Reyher
(1973) sexual paramnesia to his subjects, asked them to
sit back, close their eyes, and report any images which
spontaneously came to mind, making note of any feelings
or phySical sensations which they had. This technique is
called free imagery (Reyher, 1963). Use of this procedure
provided the unexpected result that most of the subjects
produced a large number of spontaneous symptoms. This
marked the first nonhypnotic production of symptoms in this
line of research. A recent comparison of free imagery and
the technique used by Burns and Reyher (1976) using both
hypnotized and simulating subjects (LeBaron, 1976) showed
free imagery to be significantly more pathogenic.

Karnilow's (1973) study, along with the research by

Burns and Reyher (1976) and Moses (1974), pointed out the

existence of important aspects of the procedures used in
this line of work which were not considered in Veenstra's
(1969) analysis. Reyher (1975b) has subsequently reana-
lyzedtfluaresearch procedures and reports 32 possible in-

fluencing variables.2

 

2Reyher analyzed the paradigm as follows: The sub-
ject is told under hypnosis (l, hypnosis) that a true in-
cident from his past or childhood (2, age regression) is
going to be recounted and reexperienced. A story (3, par-
iamnesia) made up by the experimenter is then related to
the subject. Strong drive-related affect is aroused
(4, intensification of drive-related affect) and is di-
rectedtx>an authority figure (5, authority figure or Pa-
rentalsurroqate). This drive-related affect cannot be
expressed (6, inhibition) because of phychic pain or men-
tal distress (7, psychic pain). guilt (8, guilt), or feel-
ing of insufficiency (9, insufficiency) and is pushed into
the back of the subject's mind (10, supression) and for-
gotten (11, amnesia for paramnesia). An impulse (12,
affect-related impulse) to gratify the affect is then
associated with a series of words (13, affect and impulse
tied to posthypnotic cues), and is directed to a substitute
(14, derivative) for the authority figure. The subject
is told that both the affect (15, affect, loss of control)
and impulse (16, impulse, loss of control) will be over-
whelming, and he will experience the affect (17, experi-
ence affect posthypnotically) and act upon the impulse
(l8, motility) whenever one of the critical or conflict
words comes to mind (19, sudden activation). A posthyp-
notic suggestion is given that he will completely reveal
what he feels whenever the experimenter says, "How are you
doing?" (20, pump priming). After the subject is awakened,
conflict and neutral words are presented which he pronounces
(21, verbalization of conflict words). The experimenter
trained the subjects in hypnosis (22, experimenter trains
subject) and did the initial induction, all to promote a
warm trusting relationship (23, positive transference) to~
reduce defensiveness. The subject must engage the target
of his affect-related impulse in a structured interpersonal
relationship (24, interpersonal relationship with target),
and report verbal associations to critical cues (25, con-
trolled verbal association), describe visual images in re-
sponse to posthypnotic activation of affect and impulse
(26, controlled visual imagery), report spontaneous verbal
associations (27, free association), or describe spontaneous
visual imagery (28, free imagery). The salient intent of
the paramnesia is the activation of the Oedipus complex
(29, oedipal sex), anger (30, anger), peer sex (31, peer
sex), or guilt (32, guilt).

After his more exhaustive analysis of the research
procedures which had proved effective in stimulating psy-
chopathology, Reyher (1975c) compared the results of some
25 studies which conformed in most respects to the para-
digm which he had analyzed. His comparison showed that
the studies which had succeeded in producing substantial
numbers of symptoms had included paramnesias which provided
for intensification of some drive and drive-related affect,
and which encouraged psychic pain, guilt, feelings of in-
sufficiency, or some combination of the three. This con-
clusion suggests that it is necessary for a paramnesia
1) to intensify drive and 2) to stimulate psychic pain,
guilt, or feelings of insufficiency in order for it to be
pathogenic within the hypnotic paradigm delineated above
(see footnote 2). There is some question, however, whether
the free imagery paradigm issufficiently similar to the
hypnotic paradigm to allow generalization of Reyher's
(1975c) conclusion.

A line of research has shown that there are aspects
of the free imagery task which are anxiety producing in and
of themselves. Free imagery requires that the subject's
eyes be closed, interruptingsecurity operations and caus-
ing anxiety (Stern and Reyher, in press). Free imagery
causes anxiety in an experimental setting because no cri-
teria, or, at best, ambiguous criteria, are available for
success in the task (Stern, 1975). Clinical experience

with free imagery in emergent uncovering psychotherapy

9

has shown that repressed material is stimulated, thereby
weakening repression and producing anxiety for some
clients (Reyher, 1963, 1969, 1975a, in press). Given the
intrinsic anxiety-producing nature of free imagery, it
seems reasonable that symptoms could be produced during
free imagery in response to a paramnesia which was not
anxiety-producing in the earlier posthypnotic conflict
paradigm. That is, perhaps the presence of either one of
the two suggested critical factors, 1) intensification of
drive and 2) stimulation of insufficiency, would be suf-
ficient to cause at least some symptoms, without the use
of hypnosis in any way. The following hypotheses were

formulated:

HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

 

The incidence of psychopathology in young males
increases as a direct function of the intensification of

the sexual drive.

Hypothesis 2

 

The incidence of psychopathology in young males
increases as a direct function of the degree of stimula-

tion of feelings of personal insufficiency.

Hypothesis 3

 

The joint effect of sexual drive intensification
and stimulation of feelings of personal insufficiency on
the incidence of psychopathology is greater than their in-

dividual effects.

10

METHOD

Subjects

Forty-eight volunteer male undergraudates at Mich-
itan State University were used as subjects. Volunteers
were solicited from introductory psychology courses and

received additional course credit for their participation.

Experimenters

 

Four male students were selected from an under-
graduate clinical psychology class at M.S.U. to assist
the principal investigator. The assistants received approx-
imately six hours of training and supervision in the exper-
imental procedure, conducted by the principal investigator.
These experimenters administered the experimental procedure

and were unaware of the hypotheses being tested.

Design

This study used a 2x2 factorial design to assess the
effect of two levels of two variables, drive intensity and
feelings of personal adequacy, on the laboratory production

of symptoms.

Treatment Conditions

 

Each subject was randomly assigned to one of four

treatment conditions: 1) a neutral condition, 2) a drive

11

12

intensification condition, 3) an insufficiency condition,
and 4) a drive intensification - insufficiency condition.
In condition 1 no deliberate attempt was made to stimu-
late either the sexual drive or feelings of personal in-
adequacy. Condition 2 included an attempt to stimulate

the sexual drive but no attempt to encourage insufficiency.
Condition 3 was designed to stimulate the subjective exper-
ience of personal insufficiency but not to deliberately
intensify sexual feelings. Condition 4 was a deliberate
attempt to stimulate both the sexual drive and feelings of

inadequacy. The following paramnesias were used:

1. Treatment #1 (neutral condition) Each subject

 

in the neutral conditon listened to the following par-
amnesia:

It was a warm summer evening, and you were out
for a leisurely walk. You decided to walk the few
blocks downtown and pick up an album that you had
been wanting. As you walked, you noticed a girl
about your own age in front of you walking pretty
slowly and'looking around on the ground as though
she had lost something. She seemed rather dejected,
and when you caught up with her she turned and asked
you if you had seen a wallet as you walked. She ex-
plained that she had come down this street earlier
in the day, and when she got home she discovered
she had lost her wallet. She was now retracing her
steps, hoping to find it. You told her that you
had been walking behind her and hadn't noticed a
wallet, but you were walking downtown and you would
be glad to walk with her and help her look. Her
plain but not unattractive face brightened as she
thanked you and accepted your offer.

The two of you walked together in silence for a
few steps. Then she bagan to describe the wallet you
were searching for, a brown handmade leather wallet,
and before long the two of you found yourselves in-
volved in a casual conversation. She soon told you‘
about the summer the year before when she had gotten

13

the wallet, and you spent some time talking about
the classes you had enjoyed during the school year.
The conversation didn't need any urging; it just
drifted along as the two of you walked down the side-
walk together.

By now you were coming to a few stores and you
began to stray a little from the center of the side-
walk and peer into some of the store windows. The
two of you would look and she would point out things
that she liked, such as a sweater and slacks in the
window of a women's clothes store, and you would
point out clothes that you would like to have.

It was during this windowshopping that you came
to the record shop and you told the girl that this
was your destination. As you were saying goodbye,
she asked what album you were going to buy, and when
you told her, she informed you that she had it al-
ready. She said that it was really great, one of
her favorites, and that she was sure you would enjoy
it. Then she thanked you for walking with her and
helping her look for her wallet. You said you hoped
she found it. Without another word the girl turned
and walked down the street, and you opened the door
to the record shop and went in. You found the album
you wanted and bought it, then stepped out into the
street and made your way home.

2. Treatment #2 (drive intensification condition)
Each subject in the drive intensification condition listened
to the following paramnesia:

It was a warm summer evening, and you were out
for a leisurely walk. You decided to walk the few
blocks downtown and pick up an album that you had
been wanting. As you walked, you noticed a girl
about your own age in front of You walking pretty
slowly and looking around on the ground as though
she had lost something. She seemed rather dejected,
and when you caught up with her she turned and asked
you if you had seen a wallet as you walked. She
explained that she had come down this street earlier
in the day, and when she got home she discovered
she had lost her wallet. She was now retracing her
steps, hoping to find it. You told her that you
had been walking behind her and hadn't noticed a
wallet, but you were walking downtown and you would
be glad to walk with her and help her look. Her
plain but not unattractive face brightened as she
thanked you and accepted your offer.

The two of you walked together in silence for a

14

few steps. Then she began to describe the wallet

you were searching for, a brown handmade leather
wallet, and before long the two of you found your-
selves involved in a casual conversation. She soon
told you about the summer the year before when she
had gotten the wallet, and you spent some time talk-
ing about the classes you had enjoyed during the
school year. The conversation didn't need any urging;
it just drifted along as the two of you walked down
the sidewalk together.

By now you were coming to a few stores and you
began to stray a little from the center of the side-
walk and peer into some of the store windows. The
two of you would look and she would point out things
that she liked, such as a sweater and slacks in the
window of a women's clothes store, and you would
point out clothes that you would like to have.

It was during this windowshoppong that you came
to the record shop, and you told the girl that this
was your destination. As you were saying goodbye,
she asked what album you were going to buy, and when
you told her, she informed you that she had it al—
ready. She said that it was really great, one of
her favorites, and that she was sure you would enjoy
it. You asked her to tell you a little more about
it because you weren't sure whether or not to buy
it and she said, "Listen, I only live about another
block from here. I'm afraid I'm not going to find
my wallet anyway, so why don't you come over to my
apartment. We can have a coke or something and
listen to the album on my stereo." You thought her
idea sounded like a good one so you agreed.

It was a short walk to where she lived and in no
time at all you found yourself sitting on a couch
with her in her upstairs apartment, listening to
the album on her stereo and talking. When the album
was over, she put on some more music, this time softer
and slower, and asked you if you'd like to dance. You
said you would, and you put your arms around her and
began to dance with her. She was a good dancer; you
could feel her body moving with yours almost as if
you were one. As you danced, she rested her head
on your shoulder and you let your cheek brush against
her hair. Soon you began to feel turned on by this
girl. She seemed to be silently inviting you to hold
her closer, and you felt her warm breath as she
reached up and kissed your ear. Her closeness,
glances, words, and breathing suggested to you that
she was becoming sexually aroused, and you were be-
coming excited too. You began having thoughts about
how it would feel to be in bed with this girl who
was getting you so worked up. You began to think
of making love to her. As you danced, you found “

15

yourself becoming increasingly excited and aroused.
You wanted to make love to her right there when
suddenly the telephone rang. She groaned and sep-
arated herself from you. She whispered, "Don't go
away, I'll be right back." You sat down and settled
back into the couch, anxiously awaiting her return.

3. Treatment #3 (insufficiency condition) Each
subject in the insufficiency condition listened to the
following paramnesia:

It was a warm summer evening, and you were out
for a leisurely walk. You decided to walk the few
blocks downtown and pick up an album that you had
been wanting. As you walked, you noticed a very
attractive girl about your own age in front of you
walking pretty slowly and looking around on the
ground as though she had lost something. She seemed
rather dejected, and when you caught up with her she
turned and asked you if you had seen a wallet as you
walked. She explained that she had come down this
street earlier in the day, and when she got home she
discovered she had lost her wallet. She was now
retracing her steps, hoping to find it. You told
her that you had been walking behind her and hadn't
noticed a wallet, but you were walking downtown and
you would be glad to walk with her and help her look.
Her elegant features golwed as she thanked you and
accepted your offer.

The two of you walked together in silence for a
few steps, and you noticed her smashing good looks.
She had a graceful, athletic looking body, and was
quite fashionably dressed. Her clothes looked very
expensive to you and her hair was beautiful and styl-
ishly cut. You realized that you had never really
talked with a girl like this before. It wasn't
long before she struck up a casual conversation with
you. First she told you about what kind of wallet
you were looking for. She said it was a handmade
alligator skin wallet, but soon she was describing
the summer in Europe the year before when she had
gotten the wallet. She said she usually spent some
time in Europe each year and that she had bought
this wallet while she was in Italy. You said it
must be nice to go to Europe on your own every
year. Then, not really knowing what to talk about,
you spent some time talking about the classes you
had enjoyed during the school year. As you talked,
you wondered what this girl thought of you.

By now you were coming to a few stores and you
began to stray a little from the center of the

 

 

[II-I'll!!! 'Ill [It { (lilf‘lll

16

sidewalk and peer into some of the store windows.

The two of you would look and she would point out
things that she liked with comments such as, "I

have a ring almost like that, but with some little
diamonds on it too," or, "That reminds me of a
sweater I almost bought in France." Feeling a little
uncertain of what to do, you would point out clothes
that you would like to have.

It was during this windowshopping that you came
to the record shop and you told the girl that this
was your destination. As you were saying goodbye,
she asked what album you were going to buy, and when
you told her, she informed you that she had it already.
She said that it was really great, one of her favor-
ites and that she was sure you would enjoy it. Then
she thanked you for walking with her and helping her
look for her wallet. You said you hoped she found
it. Without another word the girl turned and walked
down the street, and you opened the door to the record
shop and went in. You found the album you wanted and
bought it, then stepped out into the street and made
your way home.

4. Treatment #4 (drive intensification - insuffic-
iency condition) Each subject in the drive intensifica-
tion - insufficiency condition listened to the following

paramnesia:

It was a warm summer evening, and you were out
for a leisurely walk. You decided to walk the few
blocks downtown and pick up an album that you had
been wanting. As you walked, you noticed a very
attractive girl about your own age in front of you
walking pretty slowly and looking around on the
ground as though she had lost something. She seemed
rather dejected, and when you caught up with her she
turned and asked you if you had seen a wallet as you
walked. She explained that she had come down this
street earlier in the day, and when she got home
she discovered she had lost her wallet. She was
now retracing her steps, hoping to find it. You
told her that you had been walking behind her and
hadn't noticed a wallet, but you were walking down-
town and you would be glad to walk with her and
help her look. Her elegant features glowed as she
thanked you and accepted your offer.

The two of you walked together in silence for a
few steps, and you noticed her smashing good looks.
She had a graceful, athletic looking body, and was
quite fashionably dressed. Her clothes looked very

 

 

17

expensive to you and her hair was beautiful and
stylishly cut. You realized that you had never
really talked with a girl like this before. It
wasn't long before she struck upya casual conver-
sation with you. First she told you about what kind
of wallet you were looking for. She said it was a
handmade alligator skin wallet, but soon she was
describing the summer in Europe the year before when
she had gotten the wallet. She said she usually
spent some time in Europe each year and that she

had bought this wallet while she was in Italy. You
said it must be nice to go to Europe on your own
every year. Then not really Eknowing what to talk
about, you spent some time talking about the classes
you had enjoyed during the school year. As you
talked, you wondered what this girl thought of you.

By now you were coming to a few stores and you
began to stray a little from the center of the side-
walk and peer into some of the store windows. The
two of you would look and she would point out things
that she liked with comments such as, "I have a ring
almost like that, but with some little diamonds on
it too," or, "That reminds me of a sweater I almost
bought in France." Feeling a little uncertain of
what to do, you would point out clothes that you
would like to have.

It was during this windowshopping that you came
to the record shop and you told the girl that this
was your destination. As you were saying goodbye,
she asked what album you were going to buy, and when
you told her, she informed you that she had it al-
ready. She said that it was really great, one of
her favorites, and that she was sure you would enjoy
it. You asked her to tell you a little more about
it because you weren't sure whether or not to buy
it and she said, "Listen, I only live about another
block from here. I'm afraid I'm not going to find
my wallet anyway, so why don't you come over to my
apartment. We can have a coke or something and
listen to the album on my stereo." You thOught her
idea sounded like a good one so you agreed.

It was a short walk to where she lived and in
no time at all you found yourself sitting on a vel-
vet couch with her in her luxurious upstairs apart-
ment, listening to the album on her expensive quad-
rophonic sound system, and talking. When the album
was over, she put on some more music, this time softer
and slower and asked you if you'd like to dance. You
said you would, and you put your arms around her and
began to dance with her. She was a superb dancer;
you could feel her body moving with yours almost as
if you were one. As you danced, she rested her head
on your shoulder and you let your cheek brush against

18

her hair. Soon you began to feel turned on by this
girl. She seemed to be silently inviting you to hold
her closer, and you felt her warm breath as she
reached up and kissed your ear. Her closeness,
glances, words, and breathing suggested to you that
she was becoming sexually aroused, and you were be-
coming excited too. You began having thoughts about
how it would feel to be in bed with this girl who

was getting you so worked up. You began to think

of making love to her when suddenly more thoughts
crossed your mind. You knew that this lovely crea-
ture had been around;undoubtedly she was very ex-
perienced. You wondered if you would be able to
satisfy her. How traumatic it would be if she
laughed at your advances. In spite of these thoughts,
as you danced, you found yourself becoming increas-
ingly excited and aroused. You wanted to make love
to her right there when suddenly the telephone rang.
She groaned and separated herself from you. She
whispered, "Don't go away, I'll be right back."

You sat down and settled back into the couch, anxious-
ly awaiting her return.

The paramnesias were tape recorded by the principal
investigator and were presented by means of a cassette

tape player.

 

Procedure

The procedure was similar to that used by Moses (1974).
Each subject was contacted by telephone to schedule an ex-
perimental session during which he was seen individually by
one of the four experimenters, selected at random. Each
of the four experimenters ran 12 subjects, 3 from each treat-
ment condition.

The experimental sessions were conducted in a sound
proofed room containing a small table, a cassette tape
recorder, two chairs, one of which was a recliner, a cot,
and a polygraph which was in storage. Each subject was

met by the experimenter who conducted him to the room where

19

the session was to occur. During this time the exper-
imenter avoided incidental conversation which might fa-
cilitate rapport or reduce anxiety. Each subject was
seated in the recliner opposite the experimenter and given
the appropriate consent forms to read and sign. Follow-
ing this, or if the subject asked a question, the exper-
imenter, in a matter of fact voice, said, "I know you may
have a lot of questions and I'll be glad to answer any

that I can after the experiment."

Paramnesia. At this point the following instructions

 

were read to the subject:
Please close your eyes. I am going to play a tape
recording of a story to you. I want you to visual-
ize this story as I play it to you.

At this time a tape recording of one of the four paramnes-

ias was played. Also at this time, a stopwatch was

started, in order to desensitize the subject to its tick-

ing.

Revisualization. At the conclusion of the paramnesia,

 

the following instructionswere given to the subject:
Keeping your eyes closed, I'd like you to revisual-

ize the story that I have just played to you and
describe it to me as you revisualize it.

Free Imagery. When the subject had finished his

 

description of the paramnesia, he was given the following

further instructions:

20

Keeping your eyes closed, I'd like you now to de-
scribe whatever images come to your mind's eye,
making note of any feelings or bodily sensations
that you may have.

After giving these instructions, at sixty second
intervals the experimenter made the following standard
inquiry:

1. How are you feeling?

2. Do you have any bodily sensations?

3. (If subject answered yes to #2) In what part

of your body?
Free imagery continued in this way for five minutes and
was tape recorded.

In addition, during the free imagery period the ex-
perimenter was allowed to:

1. Repeat the free imagery instructions once, if
necessary, at the beginning of the free imagery
period.

2. Say, "What's happening?", if the subject was
silent for one minute.

3. Say, "What was that?", if the subject spoke too

softly or indistinctly.

Post-experimental Questionnaire. Following the five

 

minute free imagery period each subject was asked to com-
plete a post-experimental questionnaire dealing with his
feelings about the experiment. (See Appendix A for a

copy of the questionnaire.) Imbedded in the questionnaire

were seven-point Likert scales asking the subject to rate

 

llillil

21

the extent to which he thought the man in the paramnesia
felt a) confident, b) adequate, c) comfortable, and d).

sexually aroused when he was with the girl.

Scoring

The tape recordings of the subjects' verbalizations
during the free imagery periods were transcribed for scor-
ing. These transcriptions were scored for the following
attributes:

1. Total number of symptom expressions.

2. Total number of different symptom types.

3. Proportion of symptom expressions to total number

of words spoken during free imagery.
The scoring was done independently by two cliniCal psychol-
ogy graduate students who were unaware of the treatment
conditions to which the subjects had been assigned. The
data were scored according to a revision of the Symptomatic
Reaction Scale (Reyher, 1958, 1961, 1967; Stern, 1975) a
nominal scale prepared by Reyher. The scoring categories

are presented in Appendix B.

RESULTS

Inter-rater Reliability

 

Agreement of the two scorers in judging the occur-
rence of symptoms was assessed by computing Spearman's
rank-order correlation coefficient rho for the number
of symptoms judged to have occurred for each subject.
The obtained value was rho = .98, indicating a high de-

gree of reliability in scoring the presence of symptoms.

Experimenters

 

As an initial step in the analysis of the data,
analysis of variance methods were used to determine the
contribution, if any, of the differences between indiv-
idual experimenters to the 3 dependent measures. Three
one-way analyses were done, one for each dependent mea-
sure, using the experimenters as independent groups. No
significant differences were found between experimenters
for any of the 3 dependent measures. These analyses are
summarized in Table l. The mean values and variances are

also reported in Table 1.

Total Symptom Expressions

 

For this dependent measure the effect of the two

independent variables was examined with a 2x2 analysis of

22

23

variance. No significant main effects or interactions

were found. This analysis is summarized in Table 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 1. Means, Variances, and Analyses of Variance by
Experimenters
Total Total Expressions/
Experi- Expressions Types Worda
menter .
i 02 F i' 02 F i 02 F
A 7.75 25.66 4.58 5.54 5.02 7.93
B 5.41 6.62 ‘ 4.08 4.27 5.48 29.99
C 7.50 25.36 4.58 6.63 3.63 5.81
D 6.58 13.90 3.58 2.08 4.06 5.19
Total 6.51 .75 4.20 .59 4.55 .71

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a .
2 Expre531ons per word are expressed as products of
10 for convenience of presentation.

 

 

Table 2. 2x2 Analysis of Variance for Total Symptoms

Expressions Source 33 df ms F p

Total 827.31 47 - - -
Drive .52 l .52 .03 n.s.
Insufficiency .52 l .52 .03 n.s.
Interaction 25.52 1 25.52 1.40 n.s.
Error 800.75 44 18.20 - -

 

 

 

 

 

 

24

Symptom Types

A 2x2 analysis of variance was also used for this
dependent variable. No significant main effects or inter-
actions were found. A summary of this analysis is in

Table 3.

Table 3. 2x2 Analysis of Variance for Symptom Types

 

 

Source ss df ms F p
Total 211.92 47 - - -
Drive .08 l .08 .02 n.s.
Insufficiency 1.33 l 1.33 .29 n.s.
Interaction 8.33 l 8.33 1.81 n.s.
Error 202.17 44 4.59 - -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressions per Word

 

The effects of the independent variables on this
dependent measure were again examined with a 2x2 analysis
of variance. No significant main effects or interactions
were found. These results are summarized in Table 4. The
means and variances for the three dependent variables are

reported by treatment condition in Table 5.

Questionnaire Rating Scales

 

The eight rating scales included in question 1 of
the post-experimental questionnaire were analyzed by

treatment condition using 2x2 analyses of variance. In

 

[I Ill 1' iii

25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4. 2x2 Analysis of Variance for Expressions per
Word
Source 58 df ms F p
Total 564.11 47 - - -
Drive 28.14 1 28.14 2.39 n.s.
Insufficiency .10 1 .10 .01 n.s.
Interaction 17.53 1 17.53 1.49 n.s.
Error 518.34 44 518.34 - -
Table 5. Means and Variances by Treatment Condition
Total Symptom Expressions
Symptoms Types per Worda
Condition
3(— 02 3f 02 3? 02
Neutral 7.33 30.97 4.50 7.36 3.22 2.20
Drive 6.08 10.81 3.58 2.63 5.96 27.58
Insufficiency 6.08 5.36 4.00 2.18 4.34 3.60
Drive-insufficiency 7.57 25.66 4.75 6.20 4.66 13.75

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

102

a O
Expressxons per word are expressed as products of
for convenience of presentation.

answer to question la, the subjects in the high insuffic-

iency conditions (3 and 4) rated the woman in the story as

more attractive than did subjects in the other two condi-

tions (1 and 2), mean ratings of 5.96 and 4.93 respectively

26

(p < .01). This is in keeping with the actual paramnes-
ias, wherein the woman in paramnesias 3 and 4 is described
as more attractive than the woman in conditions 1 and 2.
Also, in answer to question lg, subjects in the two drive
intensification conditions (2 and 4) rated the woman in
the story as more sexually aroused by them than did sub-
jects in the two low drive conditions (1 and 3), with the
means of 5.54 and 3.59 respectively (p < .001). Again,
this accords with the actual paramnesias, as the woman in
paramnesias 2 and 4 is in fact described as being more
sexually aroused than the one in the two low drive condi-
tions. No other significant main effects or interactions

were present.

DISCUSSION

The finding that there were no significant differ-
ences between the four treatment conditions is surprising.
However, although these results were unexpected, they can
not be considered to have provided a clear cut refutation
of the hypotheses which were proposed. In fact, the occur-
rence of considerable symptomatology in all four condi-
tions requires an explanation of some sort.

One such explanation is that the experimental manip-
ulation may not have been effective in producing suffic-
iently different levels of drive stimulation. This
argument becomes clearer when one considers the process
presumed to underlie the formation of symptoms. The par-
amnesias are thought to be pathogenic, at least in part,
because they represent derivatives of Oedipal strivings
which are unacceptable to the ego and as such have been
repressed. Although the four paramnesias are different,
they all represent the situation of a young man alone with
a woman; thus they may all have sufficiently stimulated
repressed strivings to have caused signal anxiety, activa-
tion of unconscious defenses by the ego, and symptoms.

It is therefore possible that the similarities between

the paramnesias overrodeauurdifferences which existed,

27

28

and that this process accounted for the majority of the
variance in each treatment condition.

A rival explanation is that the anxiety responsible
for the symptoms comes from an interpersonal rather than
an intrapsychic source. In fact, consideration of the sub-
jective experience of personal insufficiency shows that
anxiety results from the anticipation of humiliation or
failure in the eyes of another, that is, anticipation of
a reduction in self esteem. It is possible that both of
the women in the paramnesias were sufficiently threatening
interpersonally, or that the situations described in the
paramnesias aroused sufficient interpersonal anxiety, to
cause symptoms in male college freshmen and sophomores.

It should be noted at this point that these first two
explanations are not mutually exclusive, that both would
have the effect of minimizing differences between the
treatment conditions, and that both may have, in fact,
occurred.

The interpersonal argument admits of a further exten-
sion. If the anxiety causing the symptoms comes not from
the paramnesias but from the interpersonal aspects of the
experimental situation itself, all treatment conditions
were essentially the same. Recent research by Stern
(1975) suggests that this may be an appropriate explana-
tion. He argued that the tasks themselves of free associ-
ation and free imagery are anxiety producing in part be-

cause there are insufficient criteria for success and

29

failure at the task and that the ambiguous situation
creates anxiety in the subjects, since their self-esteem
is threatened. It seems possible, therefore, that the
paramnesias were not the major source of anxiety in this
study.

Clinical experience indicates the important con-
tribution of an intrapsychic component in creating anxiety
during free imagery. However, drive representation via
imagery which is blatant enough to cause anxiety generally
only occurs after the interpersonal aspects of the thera-
peutic relationship have been directly dealt with and
clarified (Reyher, in press). Until this clarification
has occurred, description of blatant drive-related imagery
is sometimes consciously withheld or such imagery does not
occur at all. The novelty of the interpersonal relation-
ship in this study probably militates against the exper-
ience and expression of such drive-related imagery.

Once again, a recent piece of research supports
this contention. Moses (1976), in examining the imaging
capabilities of his subjects, found that a great majority
were unable to image scenes which blatantly depicted ag-
gressive drive expression when these scenes were described
to them and the imagery was requested. They were able to
image other less blatant scenes, however, including some
nonveridical "nonsense" situations. Moses' finding sug-
gests that subjects in the present study may have been un-

able to have the appropriate directed imagery, vitiating

30

the effects of the manipulation. Notice that this is
strictly an intrapsychic explanation relying on the con-
cepts of derivatives of objects of gratification and the
attendent anxiety associated with those strivings.

There is an additional possible impediment to the
effectiveness of the paramnesias in stimulating intra-
psychic anxiety and defensive processes. Freud (1924,
1938a, l938b),in discussing dream interpretation, repeat-
edly cautions against assuming universal or general sig-
nificance of particular kinds of images or symbols,
stating instead that dreams need to be interpreted in con-
junction with the free associations of the dreamer. This
suggests that one's own imagery is tailor made to express
one's own conflicts. If this is true, the paramnesias
may have caused anxiety only when sufficiently similar to
conflicts already active in subjects, or may have caused
no anxiety at all, being inaccurate depictions of current
conflicts for the subjects. This suggests that the par-
amnesias may well have been completely superfluous parts
of the study, with any intrapsychic anxiety coming as
subjects' own constellations of drives, defenses, and un-
conscious strivings took hold of the imagery once the free
imagery period began.

In addition to the possible confounding of intra-
psychic and interpersonal sources of anxiety, there is
another alternative explanation of the failure to find

differences between the four treatment groups. Different

 

.III‘ll'lfnl- 1

1’. 1“! [1 'III

31

types of personality structures and the attendant differ-
ent styles of coping with and defending against both intra-
psychic and interpersonal anxiety may have obscured any
real differences which existed between conditions as a re-
sult of excessive variability. Thus subject variables may
also have played a role in smoothing over any differences
between treatments.

By recognizing the apparently central role of anxiety
in the above explanations, it is possible to include them
all under one rubric. This broader explanation relies
on the systems theory concept of a negative feedback loop.
Reyher and Basch (1970) have suggested elsewhere that re-
pression can be so conceptualized, perhaps at the neuro-
physiological level. However, the classical conception
of unconscious defenses holds that they are activated by
the ego in response to a small amount of (signal) anxiety
which is not consciously experienced if the defense is a
successful one. Hence ego defenses in general seem to
function as a part of a system designed to avoid the ex-
perience of psychic pain. Corrective actions undertaken
by the ego to avoid intense unpleasurable feelings are
triggered by anxiety. It seems that this explanation can
also be extended to interpersonal.situationswhere loss of
self esteem is threatened (Reyher, in press). In this
case, negative cues from others, or anticipation of such
feedback, causes anxiety which results in the self system's

instituting some means of avoiding the unpleasurable

32

feelings, a security operation. Again, this is a feed-
back system designed to avoid experience of unpleasant
feelings.

Given the concept of unconscious ego defenses and
security operations as negative feedback loops activated
by anxiety, the occurrence of symptoms in the present study
becomes a function of any or all of the following features:
1) the intrapsychic anxiety stimulated by the paramnesias,
2) the interpersonal anxiety and feelings of personal in-
sufficiency stimulated by the paramnesias, 3) the inad-
equate criteria available regarding performance on the
free imagery task, 4) the interpersonal anxiety engendered
by the experimenters' not having engaged the subjects in
the usual social amenities, and 5) any additional inciden-
tal but essentially random sources of anxiety such as a
chemistry test the next hour or having one's car parked
illegally. When a sufficient amount of anxiety is pumped
into the system, from.whatever source, symptoms of anxiety
occur. It should be noted, however, that while factors
1 and 2 could be expected to be present in differing
amounts in the four treatment conditions, the remaining-
factors are essentially random ones which can be expected
to appear in approximately equal amounts across conditions.
Thus factors 3, 4, and 5 essentially contribute noise to
the system, tending to obscure any effects which factors
1 and 2 may have produced.

At this point a consideration of the appropriateness

33

of the word "symptom" is in order. In the case of anxiety
which is associated with the expression or representation
of a repressed striving or a derivative of a repressed
striving, it would seem appropriate to employ concepts

such as signal anxiety, unconscious defense, and symptoms
as compromise formations or somatic equivalents of anxiety.
However, when the source of the anxiety is the anticipa-
tion of a reduction in self-esteem, the reactions do not

as clearly fit the concept of symptom. Somaticized anxiety
equivalents still occur. Indeed, because the anxiety is
not necessarily drive related but instead interpersonal,
there is no particular reason to expect drive represen-
tation to be present. It is because of this second group
of phenomena that the phrase "symptomatic reactions"

seems to be better suited to describing what happens as

a result of the type of experimental manipulation described
here, as well as in other situations dealing with inter-
personal rather than intrapsychic aspects of anxiety a-
rousing situations.

In order to evaluate the foregoing explanations, the
following modifications of the experimental procedure seem
necessary: 1) Subject variables such as personality struc-
ture, typical defense mechanisms, and cognitive style
need to be recognized and considered in the design. This
could be accomplished perhaps by including the Rorschach
Test or some other personality inventory as a pretest.

2) The contribution of the paramnesia to the intrapsychic

34

aspects of the paradigm needs to be carefully assessed
with appropriate control groups. 3) The contribution of
the free imagery task itself to interpersonal anxiety
needs to be assessed, perhaps via manipulation of feed-
back as done by Stern. 4) The study needs to include a
check on the occurrence of the appropriate directed imagery.
5) Possible interactive effects of intrapsychic and inter-
personal processes can be assessed if 2 and 3 above are
both included in a factorial design.

In addition to the preceding considerations, it
would be interesting to extend the study to include a pop-
ulation with more overt psychopathology, to determine
whether or not the reactions which are being observed here
show any relationship to what is labeled psychopathological

in situations outside the laboratory.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

POST-EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX A

POST-EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

The following is a copy of the post-experimental
questionnaire administered to all subjects at the con-
clusion of the experimental procedure:

Experimenter # l 223 4

Exp. condition 1 2 3 4

Questionnaire

Thank you for your participation. If you wish to
have detailed feedback about the rationale and results of
this experiment, leave your name and mailing address with
the experimenter. A summary of the results will then be
mailed to you following the completion of the study.

Please respond to this questionnaire carefully and
completely because your answers are an important part of
our assessment of this study.

Sometimes participants in psychological research feel
that their experience was not what the experimenter expected
or wanted. Participants often feel that if they report
their experience accurately and completely, the experimenter
might be angry or disappointed by their responses.

On the contrary, we hope that you will feel free to
respond completely and sincerely, to help us to better un-
derstand our procedures, observations, and results.

1. During this experiment you listened to a tape record-
ing of a story. Please rate the following parts of
the story by circling the number on the rating scales
that best describes the story. This in £25 a "projec-
tive" test. Please respond according to the way the
facts of the story seemed to you:

35

36

a. How attractive was the girl in the story?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very very
attractive unattractive

b. How confident was the man in the story?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very not at all
confident confident

c. How enjoyable for the man in the story was
talking with the girl?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very very
enjoyable unenjoyable

d. How enjoyable for the girl in the story was
talking with the man?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very very
enjoyable unenjoyable

e. How adequate did the man in the story feel?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very very
adequate inadequate

f. How sexually aroused by the girl did the man
in the story become?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very not at all
aroused aroused

9. How sexually aroused by the man did the girl in
the story become?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very not at all
aroused aroused

h. How comfortable did the man in the story feel?

7 6 5 4 3 2 1
very very
comfortable uncomfortable

37

Sometimes when people are asked to report images they
choose not to report some of them because they seem

too bad, unusual, sexual, unimportant, weird, etc.

This is a normal reaction. This does, however, compli-
cate the job of interpreting the results of the exper-
iment. We would like you to answer the following
questions. If there is any question in this part which
you do not wish to answer, we will respect your wishes.

a. Were there any images which you had but did not
report?
Yes NO

 

b. Please describe any further images you had, if you
choose to do so.
1.
2.
3.

c. Are there still some images which you have not
reported?
Yes No

 

Have you heard anything about this experiment previously,
or any other like it? Yes No (If yes, be
specific)

What do you think was the purpose of the study?
What do you think the experimenters hoped to find?

Based on your experience with this study, would you say
this study is: (circle True or False for each)

a. Probably worthless

b. Interesting

c. Trivial

d. Likely to contribute to psychological knowledge
e. Not relevant to the real world

f. A good experience for yourself, personally

g. Offensive

h. Easy

Piefatietitifl
W'UNIW'UWIW'U

Please circle True or False for each of the following:

T

W

I'm glad I participated in this study.

T F This study was generally boring.

T F I felt anxious about whether I would be a good
subject.

T F The experimenter's instructions were difficult

to follow.

38

8. What were the most positive, enjoyable, and/or inter-
esting aspects of this study for you? (Write "None"
if appropriate)

9. What were the most negative, unenjoyable, and/or
boring aspects of this study for you? (Write "None"
if appropriate)

10. The following statements refer to the period after
the experimenter asked you to report any physical sen-
sations, as well as any images that came to your mind:

felt less comfortable than before.
felt sleepy.

felt somewhat embarrassed.

was confused about the instruction.
was interested in what was happening.

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11. Any further comments?

Again, thank you for your participation.

APPENDIX B

SYMPTOMATIC REACTION SCALE

APPENDIX B

SYMPTOMATIC REACTION SCALE

The following descriptions of symptoms are from the
latest revision of the Symptomatic Reaction Scale, under-
taken by Reyher in April, 1975. For a general description
of the Symptomatic Reaction Scale see Perkins & Reyher,
1971; Sommerschield & Reyher, 1973; Burns & Reyher, 1976;
and Stern, 1975. Symptoms were scored when subjects re-

ported any of the following:

Reactions produced by the presumed inhibition of the
ascending reticular activating system such as:

l. Sleepy, tired

2. Drained, run down
Reactions produced by the presumed effect of visual depri-
vation upon eye closure under conditions that produce
anxiety and a resulting distortion of vestibular system
feedback. Subjectively this is experienced as motion
such as:

3. Rotation

4. Spinning

5. Light headed

6. Dizzy

39

7.
8.
9.

40

Moving up and down
Moving back and forth

Tilting

and as being disoriented such as for

10.
11.
12.

Place
Direction

Time

Reactions produced by the presumed effect of visual depri-

vation upon eye closure under conditions that produce

anxiety and a resulting distortion of somesthetic feedback.

Subjectively this distortion is experienced as changes in

body image such as:

13.
14.

15.

16.
17.
18.
19.

20.

21.

Elongation of body or one of its parts
Shrinking of body or one of its parts

Thickening or inflation of body or one of its
parts

Heaviness of body or one of its parts
Lightness of body or one of its parts
Disappearance of body or one of its parts

Squeezing or feeling of pressure on body or one
of its parts

Numbness of body or one of its parts

Pain in body or one of its parts

Note: The high incidence of pains and.pressures in

the head, eyes and behind eyes may have special
significance and are scored in categories 55-

62.

Physiological manifestations of anxiety, sympathetic branch

41

of autonomic nervous system such as:
22. Sweaty, clammy
23. Dry mouth
24. Tachycardia, skipped heart beat
25. Gastritis
26. Warm
27. Cold
28. Goose flesh
29. Shiver
30. Malaise
Physiological manifestations of anxiety, somatic nervous
system
31. Tics and twitches
32. Tremors
33. Stiff muscles
34. Tired muscles
35. Tense muscles
Anxiety equivalents, somatic
36. Uncomfortable
37. Uptight
38. Fidgety
39. Restless

40. Nervous

41. Funny
42. Shaky
43. Antsy

44. Uneasy

42

Anxiety due to a reduction or threatened reduction of self-
esteem, such as:

45. Scared

46. Anxious

47. Frightened
Reactions revealing a disruption of cognitive processes due
to the anxiety-producing properties of the experimental
task such as:

48. Confusion

49. Inability to think

50. Bafflement
Reduction in self-esteem. Reactions in which there is a
perceived disparity between one's expectations and one's
actual performance, such as:

51. Feeling of failure

52. Feeling inadequate, dumb

53. Goofing up

54. Feeling powerless, impotent
Reactions of presumed parasympathetic innervation (vasodi-
lation), cranial division, autonomic nervous system due to
insufficiency of repression of affect and impulses of intra-
psychic origin, such as:

55. Headache

56. Band of pressure around head

57. Tightness

58. Throbbing in head

59. Pain behind eyes

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43

60. Burning eyes

61. Blushing

62. Blood rushing to head
Ego alien affect, not cognitive dissonance, tinged with
the Superego's rejection of impulses of intrapsychic
origin, such as:

63. Weird

64. Strange

65. Queasy

66. Unreal

67. Unnatural

68. Crazy

69. Spooky

70. Foreign
Conscious correlates of mislabeled or muted affect due to
fear of rejection by experimenter. This etiology as well
as type of affect must be determined by context of behav-
ior, particularly the subject's imagery.

71. For reduction in self-esteem: feel alone, feel
bad, abandoned, etc.

72. For guilt: down on self, hasseling myself

73. For anger: frustrated, bothered, impatient,
annoyed, etc.

74. For sex: excited, aroused, hyper, etc.
Hysterical reactions of symbolic significance

75. Loss of cognitive function

76. Loss of perceptual function

77. Loss of bodily function

44

Disturbance of consciousness due to insufficiency of re-
pression, such as:

78. Feeling stoned

79. Feeling out of it

80. Spaced out

81. Like a daydream

82. Like talking in sleep
Dissociative reactions due to an insufficiency of repres-
sion in which there is an awareness of unknown forces in-
fluencing one's thoughts and behavior, such as:

83. Blocking something

84. Content of thought cannot be specified, but
there is mentation

85. Wanting to do something, but not knowing what
Affective anxiety equivalents because of defenses against
the experience of anxiety of intrapsychic origin, such as:

86. Excitement, when not sexual as determined by
context

87. Aroused, when not sexual as determined by context
88. Hyper, when not sexual as determined by context
89. Anticipation
90. Surprise, shock
Cognitive anxiety equivalents because of defenses against
the experience of anxiety of intrapsychic origin, such as:
91. Pensive
92. Ruminative
93. Concerned

94. Troubled, worried

45

Conscious correlates of repression due to unconscious
fear that a small expression of repressed affect will re-
sult in the Ego being overwhelmed by Id, i.e., a small
expression of anger will lead to murder. This etiology
as well as type of affect must be determined by context
of behavior, particularly the subject's imagery:

95. For reduction in self-esteem: feel bad, feel
alone, abandoned, etc.

96. For guilt: down on self, hasseling myself

97. For anger: frustrated, bothered, impatient,
annoyed, etc.

98. For sex: excited, aroused, hyper, etc.
Superego reactions resulting from a greater insufficiency
of repression of affect and impulses of intrapsychic origin,
such as:

99. Contriteness

100. Shame

101. Guilt

102. Disgust
Reactions in which there is profound disturbance of per-
ception

103. Perception breaks down entirely, and "everything
seems like it's moving and changing."

104. Hallucinations, positive: seeing a word when it
was not presented or seeing something other than
a word; also auditory or olfactory.

105. Hallucinations, negative: cannot see words pre-
sented

Acute reactions indicating a nearly complete breakdown or

insufficiency of the subject's repression of affect and

46

impulses of intrapsychic origin and his behavior becomes

disorganized
106. Violent reactions of both branches of the
autonomic nervous system
107. Incontenance
108. Aimless ineffective behavior
109. Panic, extreme terror
110. Suicide

APPENDIC C

SUMMARY OF RAW DATA

APPENDIX C

SUMMARY OF RAW DATA

 

 

 

 

 

Subject # A B c D3
Treatment #1 (neutral condition)
Experimenter A
29 6 5 123 4.87
32 3 3 146 2.05
36 11 4 254 4.33
Experimenter B
13 5 2 264 1.89
18 3 3 104 2.88
19 2 2 103 1.94
Experimenter C
37 11 7 355 3.10
45 19 11 493 3.85
46 5 5 81 6.17
Experimenter D
l 1 1 110 0.91
6 15 6 376 3.99
9 7 5 260 2.69
Treatment #2 (drive intensification condition)
Experimenter A
26 3 3 290 1.03
30 3 2 42 7.14
31 ll 6 202 5.45

47

48

Summary of Raw Data (Continued)

 

 

 

 

 

Subject # A B C Da
Treatment #2 (drive intensification condition)
Experimenter B
14 6 4 43 13.95
15 9 6 49 18.37
16 4 3 123 3.25
Experimenter C
39 4 2 173 2.31
41 2 2 419 0.48
42 10 6 287 3.48
Experimenter D
4 9 4 147 6.12
8 9 3 160 5.62
7 3 2 69 4.35
Treatment #3 (insufficiency condition)
Experimenter A
25 6 4 211 2.84
27 5 4 87 5.75
35 10 6 260 3.85
Experimenter B
21 5 3 123 4.07
23 9 7 311 2.89
24 3 2 167 1.80
Experimenter C
43 4 4 142 2.82
47 8 3 144 5.56
48 5 4 150 3.33
Experimenter D
2 8 5 103 7.77
3 7 4 94 7.45
10 3 2 224 3.94

49

Summary of Raw Data (Continued)

 

 

 

Subject # A B‘ C Da
Treatment #4 (drive intensification-
insufficiency condition)
Experimenter A
28 20 11 175 11.43
33 ll 3 141 7.80
34 4 4 109 3.67
Experimenter B
17 7 7 140 . 5.00
20 9 7 102 8.82
22 3 3 346 0.87
Experimenter C
38 2 2 174 1.14
40 13 5 140 9.29
44 7 4 351 1.99
Experimenter D
5 8 4 368 2.17
11 5 4 228 2.19
12 4 3 254 1.57

 

2 aExpressions per word are expressed as products of
10 for convenience of presentation.
Total symptom expressions
Symptom types

Total words spoken
Expressions per word

0011133

LIST OF REFERENCES

LIST OF REFERENCES

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Freud, S. A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Joan
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Freud, S. The Interpretation of Dreams. In A. A. Brill
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Freud, S. Psychopathology of Everydaerife. In A. A.
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Karnilow, A. A comparison of Oedipal and peer sex through
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52

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