To lower his examination anxiety, a therapist asks Rohan to tighten the muscles of his forearm as hard as he can, hold them, and then let go. The therapist repeats this with other muscle groups. What effect does the therapist want from first making Rohan contract each muscle group?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Rohan becomes aware of the tenseness or muscular tension in that muscle group.
Option (1) Rohan becomes aware of the tenseness or muscular tension in that muscle group. — Correct. This is <strong>progressive muscular relaxation</strong>, a relaxation procedure that lowers anxiety. <strong>Contracting a muscle group first makes the client aware of tension</strong>; he then lets it go and learns the opposite, relaxed state.
Option (2) Rohan's tension becomes associated with an aversive consequence, so he gives it up. — Incorrect. This describes <strong>aversive conditioning</strong>: an undesired response is paired again and again with an unpleasant result, like a mild shock. Nothing unpleasant is paired with tensing here; the tensing only shows what tension feels like.
Option (3) Rohan's feeling of relief becomes the maintaining factor for the tensing response. — Incorrect. A <strong>maintaining factor</strong> is what keeps a faulty behaviour going, like relief that keeps a person smoking. Tensing is not a faulty behaviour to be kept up; it is a step towards relaxing.
Option (4) Rohan learns the relaxed response by observing the therapist as a role model. — Incorrect. This is <strong>modelling</strong>, where the client copies a role model's behaviour. Rohan is not watching anyone; he practises tensing and letting go in his own muscles.
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