Client by treatment interactions in response acquisition and cognitive restructuring approaches

Abstract

The present study compared response acquisition and cognitive restructuring in treating socially anxious college freshmen. Forty-two male and female subjects were randomly assigned to cognitive restructuring, reponse acquistion, and attention placebo control groups. Dependent measures, taken at pre- and posttreatment, included self-reported assertiveness, social anxiety and faulty cognitive self-appraisal, and analogue observational measures of skill and anxiety. Client by treatment interactions indicated that the effects of cognitive restructuring were negligible for subjects initially reporting relatively lower levels of social anxiety and faulty cognitive self-appraisal. Response acquistion, in constrast, was equally effective for subjects at lower and higher levels of these two variables.