Labeling relaxation procedures: impact on adolescent's self-report of effectiveness

Adolescents are being taught relaxation techniques by health-care professionals with increased frequency. The present study examined the effect, on self-reported relaxation, of labeling passive relaxation techniques as "hypnotic relaxation" or as "relaxation training." Subjects were 64 adolescent college students who scored above the 50th percentile, from a subject pool of 189 potential subjects, on the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory. A two by two by two factorial design was utilized with sex, label (hypnotic relaxation versus relaxation training) and relaxation technique (hypnotic induction versus autogenic training) as the independent variables. Under the guise of an investigation of the physiologic correlates of relaxation, subjects were assigned at random to one of four groups. Manipulations of label and relaxation technique were presented on tape via an intercom system. The dependent variable, perceived degree of relaxation, was obtained using a form presented as a "double check" of the accuracy of the physiologic monitoring equipment to which subjects seemingly were attached. Results indicate that the label attached to relaxation techniques can have a significant effect on an individual's subjective report of relaxation depending on the subject's sex.