On threat of shock as an elicitor of anxiety: a methodological note.
The effects of anxiety on the eyeblink component of the human startle response were measured in 32 college students. The manipulation of threat of shock was not successful in eliciting anxiety, suggesting that, while threat of shock can increase anxiety, this increase is not inevitable, illustrating the importance of a manipulation check of the effectiveness of the threat.
Britt
T W
TW
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.
Blumenthal
T D
TD
D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D004597:Electroshock; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013216:Reflex, Startle; D012107:Research Design