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Biomedical subjects

J G Dawson

Publications and source records attributed to J G Dawson.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Death anxiety: "state" or "trait"?

Investigated relative effects of hypnosis, alpha biofeedback, prestige suggestion, and silence in attenuating experimentally induced increases in death anxiety. Forty female undergraduate Ss at Louisiana State University were tested on four measures of death anxiety: "Emotional" associations to "death" words, association response latencies to "death" vs. "neutral" words, Death Anxiety Scale, and Death Concern Scale. Ss then were assigned to four treatments: (1) Hypnosis, with anxiolytic post-hypnotic relaxation suggestions; (2) Nonhypnotic anxiolytic prestige suggestions; (3) EEG alphacontingent biofeedback; and (4) a 15-minute waiting period. After treatments, Ss viewed a tape-slide presentation that emphasized personal death and overestimated its probability from various causes. Ss then were retested on death anxiety measures, forms of which were counterbalanced within groups. Analysis of variance (at .05 and .01 confidence levels) failed to differentiate groups on either increases or decreases of death anxiety. It was concluded that death anxiety may be a "trait" as opposed to a "state" phenomenon.

Alpha Rhythm↗
PubMed1977

Role-played and hypnotically induced simulation of psychopathology on the MMPI.

The differential effects of role-played vs. hypnotically induced simulation of a paranoid syndrome on diagnostic and validity scales of the MMPI were tested with 30 female undergraduate Ss. Hypnotized Ss given the paranoid syndrome suggestion simulated the MMPI more accurately than did role-playing Ss. The F scale and Gough F-K index of dissimulation identified the role-playing group, but not the hypnosis with simulation suggestion group. It was concluded that further refinement of the validity scales of the MMPI is needed to improve their effectiveness in detecting deception on this test.

Adolescent↗