Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 13, Issue 4, September 1982, Pages 476-485
Behavior Therapy

Behavioral, affective, and cognitive effects of participant modeling and an equally credible placebo*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(82)80010-5Get rights and content

Thirty-eight subjects fearful of snakes were given one session of either participant modeling, an initially equally credible placebo treatment, or were in a notreatment control condition. Subjects in the two treatments showed significant changes on both behavioral and self-report indices, with the participant modeling producing significantly greater improvement than the other conditions. Betweengroup differences were not obtained at a 4-week follow-up, possibly a result of shortness of treatment and differential attribution. Although initially equivalent across treatments, credibility increased significantly for the participant modeling group and stayed virtually the same for the placebo group. Different concepts of credibility are postulated, with the observed increase in credibility attributed to self-observed behavior change for recipients of participant modeling.

References (20)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (9)

View all citing articles on Scopus
*

This research was conducted by the first author in partial fulfillment of M.S. degree requirements at Old Dominion University. Appreciation is expressed to Wallace W. Wilkins for comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

View full text