Non-associative fear acquisition: a review of the evidence from retrospective and longitudinal research

Poulton, Richie; Menzies, Ross G.

doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(01)00045-6

Cited by 196 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…To begin with, its advocates (e.g., Poulton & Menzies, 2002) claim that some fears (e.g., fear of water) consist of evolutionary-relevant and, therefore, non-associative responses, while other fears (e.g., driving fears) are evolutionary-neutral responses that require associative learning. But how do they know?…”

Section: The Three Pathways To Fear and The Non-associative Accountmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The non-associative account of phobic etiology is a typical exponent of the latter position. It assumes that fear of heights, water, spiders, strangers, separation, and so on represent evolutionary-relevant fears that occur without critical learning experiences involving these feared objects (Menzies & Clarke, 1995;Poulton & Menzies, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The etiology of specific fears and phobias in children: a critique of the non-associative account

Muris

Jong

Ollendick

2002

Behaviour Research and Therapy

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The non-associative account of phobic etiology assumes that a number of specific fears (e.g., fear of heights, water, spiders, strangers, and separation) have an evolutionary background and may occur in the absence of learning experiences (e.g., conditioning). By this view, these specific fears pertain to stimuli that once posed a challenge to the survival of our prehistoric ancestors. Accordingly, they would emerge spontaneously during the course of normal development and only in a minority of individuals, these specific fears would persist into adulthood. While the non-associative approach has generated interesting findings, several critical points can be raised. First, it capitalizes on negative findings, i.e., the failure to document learning experiences (e.g., conditioning, modeling) in the history of phobic children. Second, it largely ignores factors that have been found to be crucial for the acquisition of early childhood fears (e.g., the developmental level of the child, stimulus characteristics such as novelty, aversiveness, and unpredictability, and early experience with uncontrollable events). As an alternative to the non-associative account, we briefly describe a multifactorial model of childhood fears and phobias. 

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Section: The Three Pathways To Fear and The Non-associative Accountmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The etiology of specific fears and phobias in children: a critique of the non-associative account

Muris

Jong

Ollendick

2002

Behaviour Research and Therapy

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“…The stimulus equivalence paradigm has been employed to demonstrate how relations can emerge between stimuli that were not directly trained or paired together and also to suggest that the phenomenon of stimulus equivalence appears to be closely related to language or verbal processes (e.g., Barnes, 1994;Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Smeets, Cullinan & Leader, 2004;Sidman, 1994). This has potential for addressing some of the criticisms of behavioral accounts of clinical anxiety in the absence of conditioning histories for many clients suffering from anxiety disorders (e.g., Augustson & Dougher, 1997;Field, 2006;Lazarus, 1984;Poulton & Menzies, 2002;Rachman, 1977;Rodriguez, Luciano, Guitierrez, & Hernandez, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The interfering effect of emotional stimulus functions on stimulus equivalence class formation: implications for the understanding and treatment of anxiety

Tyndall

Roche

James

2009

European Journal of Behavior Analysis

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“…Anxiety illustrc1tes the diversity of the body's regulation mechanisn1s (Barlow, , 1 9H8; Marks, 1987;Poulton & Menzies, 2002;Stein & Bouwer, 1997). For instance, rigid defensive responses to fixed cues, such as chicks hiding from hawk-shaped shadows, are useful when a correct response to the first encounter is esscntiat but they n:sult in many false alarms and do not protect agai nst novel dangers.…”

Section: Anxiety Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary Psychology and Mental Health

Nesse

2015

The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

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Evolutionary biology is the recognized foundation for understanding animal behavior, but only now is it being recognized as essential for understanding abnormal behavior. The range of applications is wide, from recognizing the origins, functions, and regulation of emotions, to evolutionary explanations for the persistence of alleles that predisposed to mental disorders. Like other medical disorders, every mental disorder requires not only a description of the responsible mechanisms, but also an explanation for why those mechanisms are vulnerable to failure. The six reasons for vulnerability from evolutionary medicine help to structure research questions and answers. Some disorders are more common in modern environments, but many are products of the limits of natural selection, or trade‐offs. The principle that natural selection shaped organisms to maximize reproductive success instead of health is crucial for psychiatry. Also essential is recognition of negative emotions as evolved defenses whose apparently faulty regulation can be explained by the smoke detector principle. While some aspects of some mental disorders reflect adaptive traits, many are better interpreted as flaws that exist for good reasons.

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Non-associative fear acquisition: a review of the evidence from retrospective and longitudinal research

Cited by 196 publications

References 79 publications

The etiology of specific fears and phobias in children: a critique of the non-associative account

The etiology of specific fears and phobias in children: a critique of the non-associative account

The interfering effect of emotional stimulus functions on stimulus equivalence class formation: implications for the understanding and treatment of anxiety

Evolutionary Psychology and Mental Health

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