Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-58).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-58).

This study was conducted to determine the influence of age and culture on the fear of snakes. Five age groups, consisting of 20 White and 20 Xhosa subjects each, were tested. In addition to a behavioural and a GSR measure of fear, questionnaires were applied to determine the extent of the subjects' personal and vicarious aversive experiences of snakes and attitudes towards snakes. The behavioural measure showed a significant decrease in the fear of snakes between the 9 - 11 year and the 14 - 16 year White groups, while, for the Xhosa subjects, the fear of snakes increased significantly between the age groups 14 - 16 years and 18 - 20 years. The GSR measure showed a consistent level in the fear of snakes for White subjects. For the Xhosa subjects the mean GSR score for the 18 - 20 year .group was considerably higher than the means for the other age groups. The intensity of the fear of snakes for White and Xhosa subjects of the same age was remarkably similar. Xhosa subjects had significantly more negative attitudes towards snakes than white subjects. This finding was explained in terms of Whites having had greater opportunities to obtain factual information about snakes. No significant relationships were found between (a) the measures of the extent of the subjects' aversive experiences of snakes; (b) the degree of negative attitudes towards snakes; and the measures of the fear of snakes. On the basis of these measures, the etiology of the fear of snakes cannot be explained in terms of aversive experiences with snakes per se. The striking similarity of responses to a live snake by subjects from two widely different cultures suggests caution in an over-hasty dismissal of the theory of an innate fear of snakes.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the applicability of several habituation models to fear processes with special reference to the effects of anxious arousal on fear, fear reduction, and the return of fear. The effects of anxious arousal on self-efficacy expectations were also explored. Seventy-six female undergraduate students who reported a fear of snakes and met a minimum criterion of fear on a Behavioral Approach Test participated in the study. Subjects viewed a videotaped fear reduction program under either control or anxious arousal conditions. Fear and self-efficacy expectations were assessed repeatedly during the first session. During a follow-up session one month later, subjects were re-exposed to the feared stimulus under either control or anxious arousal conditions. Although anxious arousal did not affect fear levels within-session, experiencing anxious arousal during fear reduction impeded reduction of subjective fear and, paradoxically, resulted in less heart rate response upon exposure to the feared stimulus following fear reduction. Return of subjective fear was experienced by all of the subjects except those who experienced fear reduction while in an anxious state and follow-up assessment in a calm state. These subjects experienced a substantial decrement in self-reported fear at follow-up. There was a failure to find a relationship between anxious arousal and self-efficacy. The results were interpreted in terms of several habituation models. It was concluded that the results are better understood in terms of emotional processing models of fear. Novel findings include evidence that: anxious arousal during fear modification impedes the return of fear, and that assessment in a calm state, following fear reduction while in an anxious state, blocks the return of fear. These findings are theoretically and clinically important. The implications of the results to self-efficacy theory were discussed. The clinical implications of the findings were also explored with special reference to relapse. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Stimulus and response expectations play a central role in cognitive formulations of fear and avoidance. Research on this subject has been primarily concerned with the identification of various forms of expectations and their associated biases. Comparatively little is known about the cognitive structures or processes that produce biased expectations. The studies reported in this dissertation were intended to investigate the mechanisms of one bias of fear expectations, the overprediction of fear. This is a common phenomenon in which fearful people tend to overestimate the amount of fear that they will experience upon exposure to a threatening stimulus. Although overprediction is of interest in its own right, it is also important in that it promotes excessive avoidance behaviour, and so contributes to the maintenance of fear. A theoretical framework, called the stimulus estimation model, was proposed for conceptualizing the overprediction of fear. This model consists of an algebraic expression of the elements of overprediction and a set of candidate cognitive mechanisms that generate the algebraic relations. The essence of the algebraic expression is that the overprediction of fear arises from the overprediction of the threatening elements of the feared stimulus, and the underprediction of the elements that confer safety. One of the cognitive components of this model, the selective recall model, states that overprediction arises from the selective retrieval of memories of highly fearful reactions to aversive events. Another cognitive component, the differential-weighting model, proposes that overprediction arises because environmental information about sources of safety has a greater influence on reported fear than on predicted fear. The first experiment tested the selective recall model with a priming paradigm. One group of 50 spider-fearful subjects was required to recall highly fearful encounters with spiders (fear-relevant priming). A second group of 50 spider-fearful subjects was required to recall spider-irrelevant experiences (fear-irrelevant priming). The selective recall model predicts that the overprediction of fear in a subsequent fear-evoking task would be greatest after fear-relevant priming compared with fear-irrelevant priming. Contrary to expectation, predicted fear did not differ between the priming conditions. Reported fear was greatest after fear-relevant priming. Thus, contrary to the selective-recall model, the magnitude of overprediction was smallest in the fear-relevant priming condition. The second experiment tested the differential-weighting model. One hundred and twenty-one spider-fearful subjects were randomly allocated to one of two groups. One group received minimal safety information about a fear-evoking task. The second group received a high level of safety information about the task. It was found that the groups did not differ in their fear predictions, but the high information group made lower fear reports than the low-information group. As a result, the provision of safety information increased the magnitude of overprediction, thus supporting the model. The third experiment attempted to replicate and extend the findings of Experiment 2, using a sample of 224 snake-fearful subjects. Danger and safety information were compared in their effects on predictions and reports of fear. All information effects were nonsignificant. The results of further analyses suggested that this was due to inadequate experimental manipulations rather than to an inadequacy in the model. The algebraic expression of the stimulus estimation model was supported by a series of analyses, including structural equation modeling. Thus, in the case of the fear of snakes, support was found for the hypothesis that the overprediction of fear is caused by overpredictions of the dangerousness, activity level, and size of the snake, and underpredictions of the safety and controllability of the situation. In the final chapter, the utility of the stimulus estimation model was considered, implications for other fear-relevant phenomena were set out, and directions for further investigation were explored. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Research Psychology, in the Departmnet of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2003. / The quality of life of people is often determined by how safe they feel to engage in activities. We are living in a country where the moral order is being-decayed for reasons that can and cannot be explained. This research set out to investigate whether there is an association (if any) between the fear of crime and various respondent characteristics and what the impact of crime has on students' social mobility in different settings. Another reason for investigation was to determine what students' perceptions of safety are in various places. Taking a closer look at what students perceive as the important causes of fear of moving around in Cape Town. A questionnaire was used to investigate these questions. The final sample included 298 students from 4 tertiary institutions in the Western Cape region. The results of the research showed that there is a relationship between student characteristics and fear of crime. It also showed that race was a strong predictor for the fear of crime among students. The research results are similar to previous research that have been carried out about the fear of crime. The research showed that students are affected by the fear of crime and most students fear moving around Cape Town because of a lack of police presence and fear for their personal safety.

No description available.

No description available.

Children's fears have been the focus of a great deal of research over the past 10-15 years. Studies have centered on the developmental nature and frequency of children's fears, delineating the essential components of certain fears, as well as evaluating the efficacy of various treatment procedures. The present study examined the effects of three behavioral techniques on children's fear of the dark. Nine children who demonstrated a clinical fear of the dark were seen at a university clinic for two, one-half hour sessions each week over a seven week period, with follow-up assessment occurring one and two months after treatment. The three treatments employed were: symbolic modeling, self-instructional training and contact desensitization. A multiple baseline design across subjects was utilized, with dependent measures consisting of the motoric, cognitive, and physiological components of each child's fear and parent data were collected. Significant changes in dark tolerance between baseline and treatment were most consistently observed in those children receiving the symbolic modeling procedure. The next condition yielding the most consistent changes in duration between baseline and treatment was the contact desensitization treatment. No appreciable changes were found in the children in the self-instructional condition. The self-report and heart rate measures failed to demonstrate strong, reliable changes for any subject in the study except for one subject whose heart rate significantly increased after intervention. Examination of parent data yielded inconsistent results across conditions, thereby limiting any conclusions regarding generalization. The results were discussed in relation to the literature on fear reduction techniques. Limitations of the present study were discussed and topics for future research were delineated.

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-180).