A comparison of in-vivo and imaginal participant modeling.
Recent research indicates that effective treatments of phobic reactions are often performance-based and involve exposure to the phobic object. The present study was designed to determine whether both of these components were necessary for the effectiveness of participant modeling procedures (N = 26). Phobic individuals were assigned randomly to one of two forms of participant modeling: In-vivo vs. imaginal. Both treatment analogues were identical except that the in-vivo version involved actual exposure to a phobic object, while the imaginal version simply required individuals to imagine that the phobic object was physically present. Results on behavioral and self-report measures indicated that both in-vivo and imaginal participant modeling were effective in generating increased approach behavior, but neither produced generalization beyond the laboratory setting. Explanations were discussed.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*