Ego Strength and Physiological Responsivity

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
I. Introduction This is the second of a series of reports on the results obtained when subjects who were grouped according to level of ego strength were stimulated with various intensities of sound and their skin resistance (PGR), finger blood volume (FBV), heart rate (HR), and muscle potential responses (EMG) continuously recorded. The first report dealt with differences in response magnitudes among high, middle, and low ego strength groups; it was predicted and in general confirmed that the higher the subjects' ego strength, the greater the magnitude of response on all four physiological measures. Other hypotheses tested were that stimulus intensity would be linearly related to response magnitude and that there would be differential rates of accommodation among ego strength groups; the former was consistently supported, the latter consistently rejected. This paper will deal with the temporal aspects of the responses obtained in the same experiment; with the amount