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McElroy, Keck, and Phillips (1995) hypothesized that compulsive buying belongs to a compulsive-impulsive spectrum and should be related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study compared compulsive buyers to noncompulsive buyers on hoarding and OCD symptoms. Compulsive buyers scored higher on both types of symptoms, but the relationship between buying and OCD was mainly mediated by hoarding. A measure of buying that emphasized financial consequences correlated highly with measures emphasizing the psychological function of possessions and the acquisition of free things (e.g., handouts at a lecture, free newspapers, etc.). The latter 2 buying measures were more closely associated with hoarding and OCD than the buying measure emphasizing financial concerns. A reconceptualization of compulsive buying is proposed incorporating the broader construct of acquisition.

We investigated the utility of a brief cognitive restructuring intervention in inoculating perfectionists from their typical negative responses to evaluative threat. In particular, we wanted to examine whether cognitive restructuring could reduce perfectionists' negative affect and cognitions about a speech task. We were also interested in analyzing the pattern of within-session change across a variety of affective and cognitive measures as a function of this cognitive intervention. Sixty female undergraduate students delivered a speech before a small audience. We used a 2 (Group) × 2 (Condition) design to investigate the effects of perfectionism and intervention type on subjects' negative affect and cognitions related to the evaluative task. Participants high and low in perfectionistic concern over mistakes (CM; group) were randomly assigned to receive either a cognitive restructuring or distraction intervention (Condition) prior to the speech task. Individuals high in CM reported significantly more negative cognitive and affective responses to the evaluative task than low CM subjects; however, cognitive restructuring was successful in reducing cost and probability estimates for all subjects' most feared predictions for the impending speech. Moreover, these cognitive changes were associated with lower ratings of self-reported anxiety in comparison to subjects in the distraction condition. Interestingly, cognitive restructuring did not affect subjects' more global ratings of negative affect or negative thoughts about the speech. Our results provide some preliminary but encouraging implications for the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring in the treatment of perfectionism.

In two experiments, evaluating the effect of false autonomic feedback, subjects received two identical electrical shocks separated by 2 min. During the interval between the shocks, the subjects received false feedback showing that fear either increased or decreased. Both experiments revealed that relative to subjects in the decreased arousal feedback condition, subjects in the increased arousal feedback condition reported greater increases in anxiety and judged the second shock to be stronger than the first shock. There was no difference in physiological arousal (pulse rate) between the subjects in the two conditions. The influence of false feedback on emotion and pain perception was discussed.