Topic
Repression-Sensitization
About: Repression-Sensitization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6 publications have been published within this topic receiving 432 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: This article examines an alternative account based on activation of preexisting response tendencies under threat (selective sensitization), which offers a model for the nonassociative activation of fears and phobias to prepotent stimuli under conditions of stress or threat.
Abstract: Human conditioning research has revealed an apparent resistance to extinction of aversive conditioning to pictures of fear-relevant stimuli such as snakes and spiders, supporting M. E. P. Seligman's (1971) preparedness theory of fears and phobias. This article examines an alternative account based on activation of preexisting response tendencies under threat (selective sensitization). Two experiments demonstrate that selective sensitization of electrodermal responses is attenuated when a fear-relevant stimulus serves as a negative conditioned stimulus (CS-), but is maintained when it serves as a positive conditioned stimulus (CS+). Previous extinction results may therefore be due to preservation of initial responding to CS+ but not CS-. Selective sensitization offers a model for the nonassociative activation of fears and phobias to prepotent stimuli under conditions of stress or threat. Possible genetic and cognitive mechanisms are discussed.
75 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the differences in postdecisional dissonance reduction between sensitizers and repressors in an experiment with two pairs of long-playing record albums.
Abstract: Repression-sensitization differences in postdecisional dissonance reduction were investigated. Repressors (who typically employ “avoidance” strategies for dealing with threatening stimuli) and sensitizers (who typically “approach” threatening stimuli) were allowed to choose and keep, as payment for participation in the experiment, one of two pairs of long-playing record albums. Control subjects indicated which pair of albums they preferred, but did not expect to keep the albums. Measures of postdecisional intellectualization (an “approach” strategy for dealing with dissonance, which involves separating affect from cognition) showed that experimental sensitizers intellectualized more than subjects in any other group. Measures of postdecisional attitude change, on the other hand, revealed no differences between any of the groups. The implications of these results for our understanding of repression-sensitization differences in responses to a decision were discussed.
15 citations
7 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 1 |
| 1987 | 1 |
| 1982 | 1 |
| 1970 | 1 |
| 1968 | 1 |
| 1964 | 1 |