The effects of flooding on reducing snake fear in rhesus monkeys: 6-month follow-up and further flooding

Prolonged exposure to conspecific and predator odors reduces fear reactions to these odors during subsequent prod-shock tests

“…The results ofExperiment 1 also indicate that a long-term (i.e., 12-h) exposure to the alpha-colony odors is significantly more effective in reducing fear-mediated changes in burying and freezing than is a short-term (i.e., 2-h) exposure. This result is in agreement with the findings of previous studies that have reported that the total amount of CS exposure is a critical variable in overcoming fear reactions (Levis, 1989;Mineka & Keir, 1983).…”

“…Support for this prediction is found in the literature on the extinction of avoidance responses (e.g., Baum, 1970;Levis, 1989;Mineka, 1979) and in flooding studies done with fear of snakes in primates (Mineka, 1987;Mineka & Keir, 1983).…”

Management of Dental Anxiety among Patients

“…[14][15][16][17] For example, an individual who experiences a painful procedure (and the unconditioned response of anxiety/fear) during a dental visit may acquire a conditioned association between the dentist (the conditioned stimulus) and anxiety/fear (the conditioned response). [18][19][20][21] Re-presentation of the conditioned stimulus (the dentist or related stimuli) is then able to elicit the conditioned response of anxiety during the patient's next dental consultation.…”

“…Certain behaviors may be "reinforced" (i.e., increased in frequency) through their association with positive consequences ("positive reinforcement") or through the removal of negative consequences ("negative reinforcement"). 14,18,19,22,23 Alternatively, behaviors may be "punished" (i.e., reduced in frequency) if they lead to negative consequences ("positive punishment") or the removal of positive consequences ("negative punishment"). 22 For phobias, the process of positive punishment (e.g., pain and anxiety that occurs during a visit to the dentist) and negative reinforcement (e.g., the reduction in anxiety that results when the individual avoids the dentist) is thought to be most important, and these comprise Mowrer's twofactor model of phobia acquisition and maintenance.…”

In vivo flooding for anxiety disorders: Proposing its utility in the treatment posttraumatic stress disorder

“…First, the term has been applied to describe various methods of flooding in imagination (e.g., implosion, systematic desensitisation) to phobic stimuli Emmelkamp & Wessels, 1975;Stampfl & Levis, 1967;Stern & Marks, 1973;Watson & Marks, 1971) and also to the imaginal reliving of traumatic memories in PTSD (Carroll & Foy, 1992;Jaycox & Foa, 1996). Second, flooding has referred to the real-life confrontation of anxietyproducing situations and stimuli, beginning with the most anxiety-producing task, in both the anxiety (Houlihan, Schwartz, Miltenberger, & Heuton, 1993;Marshall, 1985;Yule, Sacks, & Hersov, 1974) and animal (Baum & Poser, 1971;Mineka & Keir, 1983;Mineka, Keir, & Price, 1980) literatures. For the purpose of this review, unless discussed in the context of PTSD treatment, imaginal exposure refers to exposure (using one's imagination) to phobic and avoided physical situations and/or stimuli (e.g., a crowded bus in the case of agoraphobic client, a social situation for an individual with social phobia).…”