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ANXIETY AS A FUNCTION OF PSYCHOMOTOR AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Author(s) -
ANTHONY H. SYLVIA
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1960.tb00734.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychomotor learning , anxiety , developmental psychology , association (psychology) , juvenile delinquency , personality , poison control , cognition , cognitive psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , medicine , environmental health
The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between ( a ) psychomotor behaviour, in the form of manual response to visual signals, ( b ) task difficulty, and ( c ) social behaviour, in the form of delinquency in a military milieu. The psychomotor response was measured in terms of amplitude and duration of manual movement. Significant association was established between psychomotor and subsequent social behaviour. The delinquent groups showed over‐activity, in a sense defined. Overactivity has been found typical of anxiety in other experimental and clinical observations. The theoretical implications of the observed association are discussed in terms of Hullian learning theory and the Brown‐Farber theory of frustration. It is suggested that the difference between the response patterns of the delinquent and non‐delinquent groups may be accounted for in terms of the Brown‐Farber formulation, under certain conditions. These require the assumption of a factor operative as a personality constant, affecting the strength of the avoidance impulse. A three‐factor function of anxiety is suggested. The psychomotor and social behaviour of the delinquent group are held to show a common feature of extreme avoidance‐tendency in frustrating circumstances.