Abstract
The present experiment examined the effects of repeated experiences on anxiety responses. Electric Shock was used as an aversive stimulus, and 12 subjects were assigned to the two groups, namely, DDD and VVD ones. In DDD group, the subjects directly repeated experiences of receiving electric shock in three times. While in VVD group, the subjects directly experienced electric shock after the two times vicarious experiences observing another one receiving electric shock.The main findings were as follows; (1) The subject in DDD group rated the aversiveness of electric shock lower, and physiological and subject anxiety responses were gradually reduced as the function of repetition of the experiences. (2) While the subject in VVD group highly rated the aversiveness of shock, and the anxiety responses did not decrease so much as in DDD group.
