Abstract
This article attempts to summarize certain simple applications of principles of lerning and behavior theory that are bilieved to be relevant to psychosomatic medicine. These is a simple experimental design that isolates the psychological effects from the effects of the physical stimulus. The triadic procedure consists of exposing two or more animals to exactly the same physical stressor while each subject is in a different psychological condition. It provides a direct test of hypothesis that it is not physical stressor itself but psychological factors, that cause the psychosomatic diseases. The psychological variable that have been studies are those related to the controllability of stressors, predictability of stressors, and prior learning of helplessness. The present paper summarizes some experiments from the author's laboratory on such effects and also on some of the ways in which learning in the stressful situation affects physiological and/or behavioral responses.
