Application of Verbal Behavior Analysis to the Study of Psychological Defense Mechanisms

Explainers as an Indicator of Defensive Attitude to Experienced Anxiety in Young Women Differing in Their Styles of Coping with Threatening Stimuli

“…The results of the experiment confirm the relationship between frequency of use of causal conjunctions and explainers and a high level of defensiveness, which was also observed by Weintraub and Aronson (1974) and Natale, Dahlberg, and Jaffe (1978). The highest rate of explainers occurred among repressors, who are characterised by an inclination to block the perception of a threat and to deny negative emotions; the lowest rate, on the other hand, was found among lowanxious individuals, who have a low level of anxiety and low defensiveness.…”

“…The authors analysed the texts of utterances of three out of four groups of individuals selected according to the criteria of Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson -low-anxious individuals, individuals with a repressive style of coping with threatening stimuli, and high-anxious individuals -to compare the frequency of use of conjunctions and explainers, which are considered to be an important indicator of anxiety. The authors assumed, in accordance with the research of Weintraub and Aronson (1974), Weintraub (1989), and Natale, Dahlberga, and Jaffe (1978), that the number of these expressions is largest in the utterances of repressors, who have high anxiety and high defensiveness, and lowest in the utterances of lowanxious individuals. This is reflected in the following research hypothesis:…”

Negative reactions to depressive behaviors: A communication theories analysis.

“…When depressed students were asked to get acquainted with another student for 15 minutes, they emitted fewer statements that reflected a positive appraisal of their partner and made more directly negative statements than did their nondepressed peers (Gotlib & Robinson, 1982). Similar findings of negative verbal content among depressed people were obtained in studies of stranger interactions (Coyne, 1976a), unstructured interviews (Hinchliffe et al, 1971b), 10-minute monologues (Weintraub & Aronson, 1967), telephone conversations with confidants (Belsher & Costello, 1991), and psychotherapy sessions (Weissman & Klerman, 1973).…”

Obesity: Psychological causes, correlations, and speculations.

“…There were no differences in the femininity scores of obese women except for the studies by Levitt and Fellner (1965) and by Lefley (1971), but the results of the latter study appeared to be due to differences in emotional reactivity. Lefley (1971) and Weintraub and Aronson (1969) also found a greater emo-tional reactivity in obese than in normal weight women. However, Holland et al (1970) and Silverstone (1968) reported that obese individuals showed no greater prevalence of neurosis or psychosis than did other persons of the same age and social group.…”