Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy最新文献

While few deny the prevalence of craving among drug-dependent individuals, many theorists have suggested that craving has outlived its usefulness as a meaningful psychological construct. The prevailing notion is that craving reflects an underlying biologic need, but the empirical support for this appears weak. To examine this concern, we review a similar psychological construct: hunger. An intuitive view is that hunger reflects the need to eat due to energy depletion. In this paper, we outline conceptual expectations of the constructs of craving and hunger, and review evidence suggesting that neither craving nor hunger (1) is a simple reflection of underlying biologic need, (2) has reliable physiological correlates or controls, (3) is strongly linked to affective state, or (4) reliably predicts consumption (food or drug). Rather than abandon the study of a compelling psychological construct, researchers ought to re-examine their expectations of craving, and re-focus their attempts to understand the role of craving in drug use. A review of the hunger literature also suggests several fruitful lines for investigation of craving.

The field of behavioral assessment that employs the framework of the experimental analysis of behavior is considered to be in a crisis state because (1) it is isolated from relevant work in traditional psychology and in other behavioral approaches, (2) in its application and in its research it is forced to introduce concepts, methods, and testing instruments that are inconsistent with its basic assumptions, (3) it is not capable of behaviorizing and incorporating into a behavioral framework important findings of the traditional field of psychological measurement, (4) it has not fulfilled its original promise of competing successfully with traditional psychology, as the published works of its practitioners clearly show, and (5) it is not serving as a heuristic guide for the many things that need to be developed if the behavioral approach is to fulfill its promise. Paradigmatic behavioral assessment is outlined as an alternate framework that — while perfectly behavioristic — rests upon basic principles and concepts and methodology that can incorporate aspects of traditional psychological measurement in a manner that provides the heuristic foundation for reaching the promise of the behavioral approach.

Two studies examined the relation among affective processing measures as assessed by the Affective Information Processing Questionnaire (AIPQ) and smoking indices. The AIPQ assesses attributional style, expectations regarding the strength, frequency, and duration of affective reactions, and expectations regarding the controllability of affective reactions both by smoking and by other means in response to a series of vignettes depicting stressful situations. In the first study, 195 undergraduates completed the AIPQ along with measures of affect and smoking. Results indicated satisfactory reliability for the AIPQ scales. A subsample of Study 1 subjects (n=49) were exposed to a laboratory stressor in Study 2. Results indicated that the affect control expectations measures predicted post-stressor measures of negative affect, urge to smoke, negative reinforcement from smoking, and alveolar carbon monoxide value. Attributional style and expectations regarding affective reactions did not consistently predict post-stressor measures. The relation of affective processing to smoking motivation and relapse is discussed.

Social learning models of relapse have included a focus on the learned reactions of substance abusers to the presence of substance use cues, but the relative roles played by cue-elicited psychophysiological reactions and urges to use have been unclear. The relationships of these kinds of cue-elicited reactions to each other, to measures of individual differences, to attentional processes, and to relapse are reviewed across three recent studies (published or to be published elsewhere). Alcoholic males who participated in one of three studies were assessed for cue reactivity (salivation and urge to drink while sniffing an alcoholic beverage versus water) as well as individual difference measures. Salivation and urge to drink have a weak or nonsignificant relationship to each other. Cue-elicited urge to drink generally correlates with negative mood, awareness of somatic reactions, attention to alcohol, and enjoyment of the sight and smell of alcohol. Salivation tends not to be related to these conscious processes although it is greater among those who expect more positive effects from alcohol, and among those with more alcohol dependence. Salivation but not urge to drink was predictive of quantity and frequency of drinking during the first three months post-detoxification. Results are generally consistent with appetitive-motivation models of alcohol use and with Tiffany's (1990) hypothesis that automatic processes are more important than conscious processes in drug-use behavior.

Masturbatory reconditioning procedures all involve having the client use masturbation to modify his sexual preferences. Four methods of masturbatory reconditioning—thematic shift, fantasy alternation, directed masturbation, and satiation—are evaluated. There are few controlled studies and no group comparison studies. Most of the literature involves uncontrolled case reports and expresses confidence in the application of these procedures. However, a careful appraisal of the evidence offers little encouragement for thematic shift or fantasy alternation, but some hope that directed masturbation and satiation may be effective. More careful, larger scale studies are required before we can say that these procedures rest on a sound empirical basis.

Self-report data for 5,687 children ranging in age from 9 to 19 years were collected approximately three months after Hurricane Hugo devastated the rural community where the children lived. Information about the children's perceptions of hurricane severity, degree of home damage suffered as a result of the hurricane, and hurricane-related parental job loss was used to categorize children into four levels of hurricane exposure. Reports of anxiety were obtained via the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) and reports of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were obtained via the Reaction Index (RI). Significantly higher anxiety scores and significantly more PTSD symptomatology was found for children experiencing more or more severe exposure to the hurricane. Girls reported more anxiety and PTSD symptoms than boys, and black children were more likely than the white children to report PTSD symptomatology. Additionally, girls were more severely affected by increasing levels of hurricane exposure as indicated by their RI scores. These results indicate that, similar to adult and child victims of crime and adult victims of disaster, the development of PTSD symptoms in children exposed to a natural disaster is a function of the degree of exposure to the traumatic event. The results also suggest that children's trait negative affectivity may moderate the effects of exposure on the development of PTSD symptoms.

The states-of-mind (SOM) model, and information theoretic model of positive and negative cognitions/affects, was examined in 73 agoraphobics completing cognitive and behavioral treatments. The SOM model posits that a positive dialogue represents an optimal cognitive balance for coping with stress. The primary aims of the present study included delineating differential cognitive trajectories across treatments and assessment phases; comparing SOMs between subjects achieving low versus high endstate functioning, improvement, and tripartite concordance versus disconcordance on measures of psychophysiology, behavior and anxiety; and, studying the clinical significance of changes in SOM with the use of normative cohorts. The results corroborate prior SOM studies regarding its differential, convergent, external, and social-clinical validity. However, superior functioning was associated with higher SOMS than predicted. Methodologic, conceptual, and psychometric issues raised by some of the findings are discussed, with implications for clinical research.

In a recent review article, Arrindell, Pickersgill, Merckelbach, Ardon, and Cornet (1991) (Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 13, 73–130) proposed an a priori four-dimensional categorization system for the description of self-rated fears on the basis of suggestions from previous reviews and research. The categories were described as: (I) Interpersonal events or situations, (II) Death, injuries, illness, blood and surgical procedures, (III) Animals, and (IV) Agoraphobia. While it has proven to be feasible to categorize fear factors/components derived in different empirical studies reliably into each of these categories, no confirmatory evidence is as yet available to support the factorial validity of the relevant dimensional system. Using the multiple-group method, clear evidence was found at the primary level for such in a sample of 398 anxiety disorder patients. In addition, the corresponding component scales were demonstrated to be highly consistent internally and to be moderately to highly intercorrelated, with none of the intercorrelations exceeding or even approaching the internal consistencies in magnitude — thus clearly indicating that a reliable distinction can be made between the four fear dimensions. The findings are discussed in relation to other classes of fear reactions described in the clinical-theoretical literature and to Endler's interactional model of personality. Following the line of research from the area of personality testing, it is, among other things, suggested that psychobiological, developmental, and behavioral-social studies should, in the future, be organized around the now well-established dimensions of fear described above.