RATINGS OF ANXIETY‐PRONENESS AND RESPONSES TO ELECTRICAL PAIN STIMULATION: Preliminary experiments in a group of young delinquents

Abstract

A group of young delinquents clinically rated as manifesting a tendency to react with anxiety and tension was compared with a group from the same prison with predominantly ‘psychopathic’ traits according to clinical ratings. The delinquents were subjected to electrical pain stimulation and tested with a battery of tests and personality inventories. In line with the hypotheses, the more anxiety‐prone delinquents showed greater sensitivity to pain, had lower scores in the Leg Persistence Test, shorter reaction times and more errors in an auditive choice reaction test. There were no significant differences with regard to the inventory variables.