A new mode of fear expression: Perceptual bias in height fear.

Abstract

Emotion and psychopathology researchers have described the fear response as consisting of four main components -subjective affect, physiology, cognition, and behavior. The current study provides evidence for an additional component in the domain of height fear -perception -and shows that it is distinct from measures of cognitive processing. Individuals High (N = 35) and Low (N = 36) in acrophobic symptoms looked over a two-story balcony ledge and estimated its vertical extent using a direct height estimation task (visual matching), and an indirect task (size estimation); the latter task seems to exhibit little influence from cognitive factors. In addition, implicit and explicit measures of cognitive processing were obtained. Results indicated that, as expected, the High Fear group showed greater relative, implicit height fear associations and explicit threat cognitions. Of primary interest, the High (compared to Low) Fear group estimated the vertical extent to be higher, and judged target sizes to be greater, even when controlling for the cognitive bias measures. These results suggest that emotional factors such as fear are related to perception. Keywords visual perception; implicit associations; height fear; acrophobiaIndividuals typically think about emotion in terms of the subjective affect they experience. Yet, emotion researchers have long recognized that there are other modes for expressing emotion. For example, Lang's (1979) seminal bio-informational theory proposed three components to the fear response -physiology, cognition, and behavior. More recently, Barlow (2002) and others (Davis & Ollendick, 2005) have noted the importance of the affective state in feeling fearful as well. While these four modalities encompass a large part

Fear Generalization in Humans: Systematic Review and Implications for Anxiety Disorder Research

“…These response biases may be an important characterization of fear expression in anxiety disorders, particularly specific phobias, wherein fear behaviors are elevated in response to stimuli with exaggerated threat features and perception of feared stimuli is biased. For instance, spider phobics show a cognitive bias to misjudge a previously encountered live spider as larger than it actually was (Vasey et al, 2012) and height phobics peering over a ledge overestimate height (Teachman, Stefanucci, Clerkin, Cody, & Proffitt, 2008). sensory preconditioning Fear generalization following an aversive experience is in some cases based on an association established before the experience occurred.…”

Competitive Interaction Leads to Perceptual Distancing Between Actors

“…Visual perception of the physical environment is scaled by a person's capacity for action (Witt, 2011), modified by fear or threat (Cole et al, 2013;Stefanucci et al, 2008;Teachman et al, 2008), and shaped by the presence of a supportive friend (Schnall et al, 2008) or capable co-actor (Doerrfeld et al, 2012). Here, we have shown for the first time that the dynamics of social interactions can also impact perception.…”

Tenho medo de quê?

“…This study concentrates on the last of these. Our fears are influenced by age, sex, culture, socioeconomic class and level of cognitive development, in addition to other variables of an individual or social nature, and these data could be valuable for classifying fear as normal or pathological, thereby indicating whether intervention is needed (10,11,15,16) .…”

“…Manifestations of fear that are perceptible by other people include social withdrawal, apathy, sadness or even problems concentrating on work or at play. The initial repertoire of emotions become interconnected with a person's developing intellectual abilities (10) and the new types of social relations they engage in and expressions of fear can be learnt and modified according to cultural standards.…”