Credibility ratings for desensitization and pseudotherapy among moderately and mildly snake-avoidant college students.
Twenty moderately avoidant and 20 mildly avoidant Ss were chosen as though they were to participate in a snake-avoidance desensitization experiment. After relaxation training, Ss listened to a taped excerpt of either desensitization or pseudotherapy and responded to a 5-item questionnaire that assessed the credibility of the treatment. Mildly avoidant Ss rated desensitization as more credible than pseudotherapy. The implication of this finding is that a great many experimental studies of systematic desensitization have failed to control satisfactorily for the operation of expectancy effects and nonspecific forms of behavioral influence.
D000818:Animals; D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D010919:Placebos; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D012911:Snakes; D013637:Tape Recording
D010919:Placebos