Autonomic arousal, interpersonal climate, and orality.

Abstract

Electrodermal responses in male subjects who gave at least four oral-dependent Rorschach responses (n = 15) or no more than two such responses (n = 19) were assessed both before and after the subjects had either a warm, friendly interaction or a cold, unfriendly interaction with a confederate. There were no group differences on initial baseline measurements. Following a 10-minute warm or cold interaction, there was significant three-way interaction (Period X Condition X Orality) in tonic conductance, p less than .003. Analysis of the three-way interaction produced one simple effect: Highly oral subjects responded differentially to warm or cold treatment by the confederate, p less than .018. Three groups--nonorals in either condition and orals in the condition--increased in physiological arousal over time. Only the highly oral subjects interacting with the warm confederate showed no such increase in arousal, presumably because the presence of a warm, interested other inhibits physiological activation.

Dependency and patienthood

“…Thus, as predicted, while warm vs. cold treatment had no effect on EDR in nondependent subjects, dependent subjects were indeed sensitive to warm vs. cold treatment by a confederate. Consistent with the findings of Masling et al (1974) and Juni and Semel(1982), the results of Masling et al's (1982) study indicate that dependent persons are more sensitive than nondependent persons to interpersonal cues.…”

“…(See Greenberg & Bornstein, 1988a, 1988b, for reviews.) The results of these investigations confirm that a dependent personality orientation is associated with increased risk for a wide variety of physical and psychological disorders, including heart disease (Greenberg & Bornstein, 1988a), cancer (Greenberg & Dattore, 1981), obesity (Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967), alcoholism (Bertrand & Masling, 1969), tobacco addiction (Jacobs & Spilken, 1971), bulimia (Bornstein & Greenberg, 1991), and depression (Bornstein, Poynton, & Masling, 1985). Furthermore, the dependency-illness relationship is comparable in men and women, occurs in both children and adults, and is consistent across different ethnic and socioeconomic groups.…”

Self‐Regulation Processes and Their Signatures

“…Evidence for the activation of the dependents' self-goal "to secure and maintain relationships with important others" could be found in their physiological responses to an interpersonal interaction (Masling, O'Neill, and Katkin, 1982). Evidence for the activation of the dependents' self-goal "to secure and maintain relationships with important others" could be found in their physiological responses to an interpersonal interaction (Masling, O'Neill, and Katkin, 1982).…”

Differential Relationships of Objective and Projective Dependency Scores to Self-Reports of Interpersonal Life Events in College Student Subjects

“…Studies in this area have demonstrated that dependent persons show high levels of suggestibility (Tribich & Messer, 1974); interpersonal yielding (Bornstein, Masling, & Poynton, 1987); and compliance with the requests, expectations, and demands of others (Agrawal & Rai, 1988). In addition, studies have found that dependent persons are sensitive to interpersonal cues (Masling, O'Neill, & Katkin, 1982), are highly motivated to affiliate with other people (Keinan & Hobfall, 1989), and are particularly anxious regarding evaluation by others, especially figures of authority (Alam, 1986).…”