[Studies on the effect of oxprenolol on experimentally induced anxiety (author's transl)]

This experiment studied the question of whether the receptor blocking agent oxprenolol (20 mg) influences somatic and subjective responses to experimentally induced anxiety. 72 male students were Ss in a two-factorial design with type of drug (oxprenolol, placebo) and type of situation as the two factors. Anxiety was induced by the signaled application of shocks to one arm, under condition A with and under condition B without time control (clock available or not). Condition C was a control condition with neither shock nor time control. Heart rate, blood pressure and verbal reports of emotional experience were measured. An analysis of variance revealed the following: Oxprenolol showed physiological effects typical of a receptor blocking agent. The drug positively affected emotional experience not related to the experimentally induced anxiety but did not affect the emotional responses induced by the anxiety-provoking conditions. For explaining the results the possible meaning of the variable "internal vs external control of emotional responses" was considered.