Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Physiological Responses In Initial Psychological Interviews, Robert R. Perkinson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine the physiological responses of subjects to an initial psychological interview, and to study the effect of physical proximity and touch on these responses. Heart rate and total skin conductance variability were the responses monitored. To assess the subjects' like or dislike of the psychologist interviewer, a measure of interpersonal attraction, the Interpersonal Judgment Scale, was employed. The California Psychological Inventory was utilized to investigate possible personality correlates with the physiological responses.

Sixty females, between the ages of 18 and 28, responded to the California Psychological Inventory and were then connected to the …