Psychology Commons^™

Avoidance Learning Of Anxiety : An Application Of Signal Detection Theory, Maribeth Ekey

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study was to test the appli­ cation of Signal Detection Theory to a model for the development of anxiety. An attempt was made to condi­ tion anxiety responses to decreasing magnitudes of a noxious stimulus through the negative reinforcement of avoidance behavior. An analogue based on Mandler and Watson's (1966) interruption theory was designed. Data from 32 male and female volunteers from the University of Richmond subject pool were used in the final analy­ sis. All students were pretested with Sarason's (1972) Test Anxiety Scale and placed in high- and low-anxiety groups according to …