Reduction of social anxiety through modification of self-reinforcement: An instigation therapy technique.

Abstract

Male college students who reported anxiety in social situations involving females were seen in 1 of 3 therapy conditions. The experimental therapy (SR) involved increasing Ss' rate and accuracy of positive self-reinforcement using a hierarchy of situations which 5s sought out between sessions. One control treatment (NS) used nondirective techniques. The 2nd control (NT) involved instructions to Ss to work on their own and report weekly. Pretesting and posttesting difference scores yielded greatest improvement for the SR group on (a) self-reports of anxiety and overt behavior; (6) verbal output in a test simulating social interaction; and (c) generalization to scores on the Manifest Anxiety Scale and Adjective Check List.

Anxiety and Perfectionism: Relationships, Mechanisms, and Conditions

“…Wu and Wei (2008) noted that individuals who rely on external reinforcement are likely to experience increased levels of anxiety depending on the availability of reassurance from others. Treatment evidence supporting this notion suggests that lessening reliance on reinforcement from others and increasing the ability to self-reinforce decreases symptoms of anxiety (Rehm & Marston, 1968). Given that perfectionists may foster negative social interactions and are hypersensitive to negative social feedback, a reliance on validation from others is especially problematic.…”

The relevance of specific conversational behaviors to ratings of social skill: An experimental analysis

“…The study by Arkowitz et aL (1975) did not show questions or agreements to be relevant, but reliabilities were not presented to guarantee that the coding process accurately reflected the frequency of these events. The number of overt or verbal indicators of anxiety was significant in three of five instances [Borkovec et aL (1974), one of two variables; Rehm and Marston (1968); Twentyman and McFall (1975), one of two interactions]. None of the other behaviors coded in the studies above has been consistently related to social skill functioning.…”

“…5 By far the most common procedure involves the comparison of known groups such as persons who self-report social anxiety or comfort or persons who are low vs. high in dating frequency Biglan, et aL, 1979;Borkovec et aL, 1974;Glasgow and Arkowitz, 1975;Greenwald, 1977;Rehm and Marston, 1968;Twentyman and McFall, 1975. This approach has the advantage of comparing extreme groups so that differences are more likely to be detected.…”

Psychometric evaluation of the situation test of heterosocial skill

“…An experimenter then instructed subjects in a procedure for self-administration of the audiotaped items, which was quite consistent with the original procedure developed by Rehm and Marston (1968). The test was administered to individual subjects in a small room containing a desk on which two tape recorders were placed, one for presenting test items and the other for recording responses.…”

“…Considering the above, the present study sought to investigate various aspects of the psychometric reliability and validity of Rehm and Marston's (1968) Situation Test, the first role-play test used in the minimal dating/social anxiety area and the prototype for a number of similarly constructed instruments BeUack et al, 1979;Christensen et al, 1975;Melnick, 1973;Williams & Ciminero, 1978;Zuroff& Schwarz, 1978). The Situation Test evaluates initial responses to audiotaped descriptions of heterosocial situations, which are followed by verbal prompts appropriate for the described situational context.…”