SPECIFIC AND GENERAL INHIBITORY REACTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH MASTERY OF STRESS

16 experienced and 16 novice parachutists were administered word-association tests containing dimensions of taboo- and parachuting-relevant words on both the day of a jump and on a control day. On the control day both groups produced monotonic gradients of GSR and reaction time along both dimensions. On the day of a jump the novices produced steeper gradients of GSR and RT along both dimensions, while the experienced parachutists produced less steep monotonic gradients along the taboo dimension and inverted V-shaped curves along the parachuting dimension. It was concluded that there are specific and general inhibitory reactions associated with the mastery of stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.