This study investigated whether contingent-anxious conditioned stimulus termination was more important than temporally yoked termination in producing conservation or enhancement of learned fear. Thirty psychology students, twenty-six females and four males, were administered item thirty-nine from the Fear Survey Schedule and an avoidance test. After in vivo treatment exposure to a harmless snake, post-test measures identical to pretests revealed that contingent-anxious subjects retained significantly more fear (p <.05) on both indexes than temporally yoked subjects. No enhancement was found and only on the subjective measure did contingent-anxious subjects show fear conservation when contrasted with no-treatment controls (p >.05). Implications for "implosive" therapies were discussed.

An experiment was conducted to study the role of "positive expectancy" when utilizing anxiety-relief conditioning. Fourteen male and female undergraduate psychology students were selected as subjects (Ss), based on pre-test scores obtained on the "Snake Intimacy Test" (SIT). Ss were matched according to pre-SIT scores and randomly assigned to the "positive expectancy" or "no expectancy" groups. Anxiety relief conditioning was administered without variation. Only the rationale given each group describing what was transpiring was different. The statistical results revealed significant improvement by both groups. Also, the "positive expectancy" group improved significantly over the "no expectancy" group. Therefore, "positive expectancy" is apparently a sufficient, but not necessary, variable of anxiety-relief conditioning.

O presente trabalho teve, como objetivos, a) desenvolver um procedimento para estabelecer, em abelhas Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, com base em dados da literatura; b) testar o procedimento elaborado; c) aperfeiçoar ou modificar esse procedimento, com base nos dados obtidos. Como o procedimento, inicialmente proposto para ser testado, tivesse se mostrado ineficaz para instalar a resposta desejada, várias modificações foram efetuadas com base nos dados que estavam sendo produzidos, até chegar à elaboração de um procedimento eficaz para instalar, nos sujeitos, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, utilizando estímulos de duas cores diferentes. Esse procedimento iniciava-se com a apresentação de apenas dois cartões de tamanhos diferentes, sendo que o maior (SD ) englobava os estímulos modelo e de comparação de mesma cor. Através de fading da dimensão tamanho, o modelo era gradualmente separado do estímulo de comparação de mesma cor, ate que os três estímulos ficassem igualmente espaçados e distribuídos em três cartões de igual tamanho. Os resultados obtidos com esse procedimento mostraram um ,aumento gradativo na porcentagem de RD, até estabilizar na porcentagem máxima; cada aumento na distância entre os estímulos era seguido de uma diminuição, pequena e de curta duração, na porcentagem de RD Esses resultados, e os obtidos com outros procedimentos utilizados, foram discutidos em ter mos dos efeitos das modificações efetuadas na situação experimental sobre o desempenho dos sujeitos. / The present work has, as main goal, the development of a procedure to stablish matching-to-sample response in bees (Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides ). Based on an analysis of the literature, a procedure was chosed. The data of the testing of such a procedure, showed the need to introduce several modifications, until gradual improvement of the final procedure was achieved. The dimension along which the work was developed was wavelength. On the final procedure, two post cards of different sizes were used, the e larger one contained both the standard and one of the comparison stimuli, the smaller card contained the remaining comparison stimulus, and initially this was always the one not-to-be-chosen. Gradually, standard and comparison stimuli present in the same card were separated, by fading the size dimension, until all three stimuli were evenly spaced and distributed on three equal size cards. Under this procedure, correct responses showed a gradual increase reaching the maximum percentage of correct responses. Each increase in the space between the standard and the to-be-chosen comparison stimulus was followed by an small and short living decrease in the percentage of correct responses. Different features of this, and other discarded procedures were analyzed in connection to the subjects performance.

O presente trabalho teve, como objetivos, a) desenvolver um procedimento para estabelecer, em abelhas Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, com base em dados da literatura; b) testar o procedimento elaborado; c) aperfeiçoar ou modificar esse procedimento, com base nos dados obtidos. Como o procedimento, inicialmente proposto para ser testado, tivesse se mostrado ineficaz para instalar a resposta desejada, várias modificações foram efetuadas com base nos dados que estavam sendo produzidos, até chegar à elaboração de um procedimento eficaz para instalar, nos sujeitos, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, utilizando estímulos de duas cores diferentes. Esse procedimento iniciava-se com a apresentação de apenas dois cartões de tamanhos diferentes, sendo que o maior (SD ) englobava os estímulos modelo e de comparação de mesma cor. Através de fading da dimensão tamanho, o modelo era gradualmente separado do estímulo de comparação de mesma cor, ate que os três estímulos ficassem igualmente espaçados e distribuídos em três cartões de igual tamanho. Os resultados obtidos com esse procedimento mostraram um ,aumento gradativo na porcentagem de RD, até estabilizar na porcentagem máxima; cada aumento na distância entre os estímulos era seguido de uma diminuição, pequena e de curta duração, na porcentagem de RD Esses resultados, e os obtidos com outros procedimentos utilizados, foram discutidos em ter mos dos efeitos das modificações efetuadas na situação experimental sobre o desempenho dos sujeitos. / The present work has, as main goal, the development of a procedure to stablish matching-to-sample response in bees (Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides ). Based on an analysis of the literature, a procedure was chosed. The data of the testing of such a procedure, showed the need to introduce several modifications, until gradual improvement of the final procedure was achieved. The dimension along which the work was developed was wavelength. On the final procedure, two post cards of different sizes were used, the e larger one contained both the standard and one of the comparison stimuli, the smaller card contained the remaining comparison stimulus, and initially this was always the one not-to-be-chosen. Gradually, standard and comparison stimuli present in the same card were separated, by fading the size dimension, until all three stimuli were evenly spaced and distributed on three equal size cards. Under this procedure, correct responses showed a gradual increase reaching the maximum percentage of correct responses. Each increase in the space between the standard and the to-be-chosen comparison stimulus was followed by an small and short living decrease in the percentage of correct responses. Different features of this, and other discarded procedures were analyzed in connection to the subjects performance.