Perceived control: bogus pulse rate feedback and reported symptom reduction for individuals with accumulated stressful life events
Abstract
The present investigation tested the hypothesis that perceived control reduces reported symptom incidence for individuals with stressful life events. Subjects (undergraduate psychology students from an urban university) were divided into two groups, high and low in stress, based on their life change unit scores as measured by the Schedule of Recent Events (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). Subjects participated in a study in which they attempted to reduce pulse rate (PR) and were informed of their successes (i.e., PR reductions) through bogus feedback. High and low stress subjects were assigned randomly to one of the following conditions: bogus ascending success feedback (AS), wherein successes were concentrated more in the later stage of a PR reduction period; bogus equally distributed success feedback (EDS), wherein successes were equally distributed in the early and later stages of a PR reduction period; or no feedback (NF). The study consisted of three sessions held on 3 consecutive days. Each session consisted of a 3-minute baseline (nonfeedback) period followed by a 10-minute PR reduction period. Self-reports on 13 symptom items were measured 2 weeks before the study (pretest), after the final session of the study (posttest), and 3 weeks after the study (follow-up). Results indicated that on 5 of the 13 symptom items, the AS condition produced a significant reduction in reported symptom incidence for high-stress subjects only, and this effect was maintained for 3 weeks after the…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
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