Maternal Modeling and the Acquisition of Fear and Avoidance in Toddlers: Influence of Stimulus Preparedness and Child Temperament

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of maternal modeling on the acquisition of fear and avoidance towards fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant, novel stimuli in a sample of 71 toddlers. Children were shown a rubber snake or spider (fear-relevant objects) and a rubber mushroom or flower (fear-irrelevant objects), which were alternately paired with either negative or positive expression by their mothers. Both stimuli were presented again after a 1-and a 10-min delay, while mothers maintained a neutral expression. The toddlers showed increased fear and avoidance of the objects following negative reaction from their mothers than following positive maternal expression. This was similarly true for both fearrelevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli. In addition, no association was found between child temperament and behavioral responses and a weak association emerged between child temperament and emotional responses. The results demonstrate that young children can rapidly form conditioned emotional and behavioral responses via maternal reactions regardless of stimulus preparedness or child temperament. It is suggested that early maternal modeling may be relevant to a broad spectrum of fearful reactions.

Reductions in Children’s Vicariously Learnt Avoidance and Heart Rate Responses Using Positive Modeling

“…The key findings were that results (a) replicated previous findings showing that fear-related vicarious learning leads to increases in children's fear beliefs and avoidance preferences (e.g., Askew et al, 2013;Reynolds et al, 2014), as well as demonstrating that compared to a control animal, children showed higher behavioral avoidance (e.g., Askew & Field, 2007;Dubi et al, 2008;Gerull & Rapee, 2002), heart rate, and attentional bias for fear-paired animals (Reynolds et al, 2014); (b) confirmed Dunne and Askew (2013) findings indicating that counterconditioning is successful in returning children's learned avoidance preferences to baseline levels; (c) for the first time demonstrated lower heart rate responses for fear-paired animals in a group receiving vicarious fear learning then positive modeling compared to a control group receiving vicarious fear learning only; and (d) showed that fear responses following vicarious fear-learning and then CS-only presentations were comparable to a control group receiving vicarious fear-learning only. Thus there was little evidence of extinction.…”

“…A substantial body of prospective, experimental research has indicated that vicarious learning can lead to increases in children's fear cognitions and behavioral avoidance of animals (e.g., Askew, Dunne, Özdil, Reynolds, & Field, 2013;Askew & Field, 2007;Askew, Kessock-Philip, & Field, 2008;Dubi, Rapee, Emerton, & Schniering, 2008;Egliston & Rapee, 2007;Gerull & Rapee, 2002), and more recently physiological responses and attentional bias toward threat (Reynolds, Field, & Askew, 2014). However, the exact mechanisms underlying the process of vicarious fear learning in children are still not fully understood.…”

Family Factors in the Development and Management of Anxiety Disorders

“…In humans, developmental research has shown that infants will reflect their mothers' fearful reactions to novel objects (Hornik Parritz et al 1992;Mumme and Fernald 1996). In a further development of this paradigm, it has been shown that very young children (aged under 2 years) can learn to fear and avoid a novel object following a single fearful reaction to that object from their mother (Dubi et al 2008;Gerull and Rapee 2002). Of more direct relevance to typical anxiety disorders, this modelled acquisition of fear has been shown to apply to fearful reactions to strangers (de Rosnay et al 2006).…”

Internalizing Trajectories in Young Boys and Girls: The Whole is Not a Simple Sum of its Parts

“…For children one to three years, it would be normative for separation distress to decrease due to greater experience with separations, better developed internal representations of relationships, and improved emotion and behavior regulation (Fox and Calkins 2003;Pipp et al 1993). Inhibition to novelty might also decrease due to observational learning and other socialization experiences (Dubi et al 2008). For example, seeing a playmate unafraid to approach a novel object could influence a child's response.…”