The purpose of this investigation was to test the
hypothesis that perceived responsibility is a major
determinant of compulsive checking. Thirty participants
recruited from the community through the local media, who
met criteria for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, received
four conditions. In the low responsibility condition,
perceived responsibility for an anticipated negative eventt
was transferred to the experimenter. In contrast, in the
high responsibility condition, perceived responsibility for
an anticipated negative event was given to the participant.
The remaining two conditions served as control conditions.
Subjects were assessed before and after each experimental
manipulation.
Results suggest a causal connection between decreases
in perceived responsibility and compulsive checking.
Decreases in perceived responsibility produced decreases in
several measures critical to compulsive checking. Results
from increases in perceived responsibility were less clear.
However, increases in perceived responsibility lead to
increases in panic and likelihood of anticipated criticism. There were trends for increases in perceived responsibility
to lead to increases in perceptions of discomfort
experienced, urge to check, and severity of anticipated
criticism. There was no relationship between variations in
perceived responsibility and perceived extent of
controllability over an anticipated negative event.
Theoretical implications of the results and, in
particular, the value of a cognitive analysis of compulsive
checking, are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6867 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Lopatka, Cindy Lee |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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