Reports of discomfort and pain and decisions to discontinue accepting non-incremental electric shock were examined in 48 subjects who were exposed to models who simulated progressively greater discomfort, ostensibly in response to the same shocks the subjects were receiving. The shocks were of a constant, low amperage intensity that usually is accepted without expressions of discomfort. A strong propensity to match the model's ratings of the shocks as progressively more uncomfortable and eventually painful was observed, with the tendency more marked when a particular experimenter was physically present rather than when the subject was being run through automated procedures.
Two studies were conducted to examine the effect of test anxiety on preference for complex play materials. Both studies suggested that increasing test anxiety was generally associated with increasing preference for play with complex jigsaw puzzles. However, variables which seemed to represent IQ and need achievement were found to confound these data. Compared to those children who were not high in ICJ or in need achievement, children who were high in these traits showed more preference for .simple stimuli when low anxious, and more preference for complex stimuli when high anxious. Hypotheses accounting for these data in terms of different styles of coping are discussed. Different motivational states arc proposed in lowanxious children who are divergent in IQ and need-achievement.The studies reported here were supported by a giant from the Canada Council to J.B. Gilmore for research into the determinants of play behaviour. The authors wish to thank Mrs. Olga Bierschbach, Principal, and the staff of St. Agnes School, and Sr. Mary Petra, Principal, and the staff of St. Louis School, all of Waterloo, Ontario, for their generous cooperation in providing facilities for Study i. We thank also Carol IJzunoff who acted as the second experimenter in that study. Helen Best is now associated with the Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital, Kitchener, Ontario, and Sharon Eakms. with the Alcohol and Drug Commission, British Columbia Ministry of Health. Requests for reprints should be sent to J.
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