scholarly journals “The Cuscus has White Teeth”: The Verbal Information Pathway to Fear in Non-clinically Anxious Children: No Influence of Ambiguous Information or Trait Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Stefan Dalrymple-Alford
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Current View ◽  
Verbal Information ◽  
Moderator Variable ◽  
Ambiguous Information ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Bias Measure ◽  
Verbal Threat

<p>Twenty-nine non-clinically anxious children, aged 7-10 years old, completed the Fear Beliefs Questionnaire (FBQ; Field & Lawson, 2003) before and after the presentation of verbal ambiguous information about an unknown animal, while 32 similar children matched for trait anxiety did the same after hearing threat information. Behavioural avoidance of the animals was subsequently examined with an adaptation of the Nature Reserve Task (NRT; Field & Storksen-Coulson, 2007). Children also completed a Reduced Evidence of Danger interpretation bias task (Muris, Merckelbach & Damsma, 2000c) for ambiguous stories with generalised anxiety and social anxiety content, prior to the FBQ and NRT. Verbal threat information substantially increased FBQ ratings and NRT distance from the tagged animal, whereas ambiguous information had no effect on these measures other than a subset of children showing an avoidance of the tagged animal in the NRT. Contrary to expectations, level of trait anxiety was not related to interpretation biases, or the effect of ambiguous or threat information. In the threat group, but not the ambiguous group, two bias measures for generalised anxiety stories were associated with relative increase in FBQ ratings for the tagged animal, and a third bias measure for social anxiety stories was associated with NRT score. The associations held when controlling for gender, age, and trait anxiety, including trait anxiety used as a moderator variable. These findings support the view that verbal threat information is sufficient to induce fear of animals in children. Results are inconsistent with the current view that the effects of the verbal information pathway increase as a function of trait anxiety and that ambiguous verbal information can lead to increased fear responding. The evidence for bias – verbal threat associations suggests that future studies should examine their role in the verbal information pathway to fear and anxiety, and clarify the influence of various internalising and externalising psychopathologies beyond trait anxiety.</p>

scholarly journals “The Cuscus has White Teeth”: The Verbal Information Pathway to Fear in Non-clinically Anxious Children: No Influence of Ambiguous Information or Trait Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Stefan Dalrymple-Alford
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Current View ◽  
Verbal Information ◽  
Moderator Variable ◽  
Ambiguous Information ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Bias Measure ◽  
Verbal Threat

<p>Twenty-nine non-clinically anxious children, aged 7-10 years old, completed the Fear Beliefs Questionnaire (FBQ; Field & Lawson, 2003) before and after the presentation of verbal ambiguous information about an unknown animal, while 32 similar children matched for trait anxiety did the same after hearing threat information. Behavioural avoidance of the animals was subsequently examined with an adaptation of the Nature Reserve Task (NRT; Field & Storksen-Coulson, 2007). Children also completed a Reduced Evidence of Danger interpretation bias task (Muris, Merckelbach & Damsma, 2000c) for ambiguous stories with generalised anxiety and social anxiety content, prior to the FBQ and NRT. Verbal threat information substantially increased FBQ ratings and NRT distance from the tagged animal, whereas ambiguous information had no effect on these measures other than a subset of children showing an avoidance of the tagged animal in the NRT. Contrary to expectations, level of trait anxiety was not related to interpretation biases, or the effect of ambiguous or threat information. In the threat group, but not the ambiguous group, two bias measures for generalised anxiety stories were associated with relative increase in FBQ ratings for the tagged animal, and a third bias measure for social anxiety stories was associated with NRT score. The associations held when controlling for gender, age, and trait anxiety, including trait anxiety used as a moderator variable. These findings support the view that verbal threat information is sufficient to induce fear of animals in children. Results are inconsistent with the current view that the effects of the verbal information pathway increase as a function of trait anxiety and that ambiguous verbal information can lead to increased fear responding. The evidence for bias – verbal threat associations suggests that future studies should examine their role in the verbal information pathway to fear and anxiety, and clarify the influence of various internalising and externalising psychopathologies beyond trait anxiety.</p>

A Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study of Anxiety, Fear, and Behavioral Inhibition System Measures

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 179-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Cooper ◽  
Adam M. Perkins ◽  
Philip J. Corr
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Behavioral Inhibition ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Behavioral Inhibition System ◽  
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory ◽  
Factor Analytic ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Structural Invariance ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

Abstract. Recent revisions to the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) of personality have highlighted the distinction between the emotions of fear and anxiety. These revisions have substantial implications for self-report measurement; in particular, they raise the question of whether separate traits of fear and anxiety exist and, if so, their interrelationship. To address this question, the current study used confirmatory factor analytic procedures to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of measures of trait anxiety, fear, and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). We also examined measurement and structural invariance across gender in 167 males and 173 females who completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Carver and White BIS Scale, and the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS). The findings suggested that trait anxiety and the BIS scale are relatively distinct from Tissue Damage Fear (FSS). Further, the final model showed measurement and structural invariance across gender. The implications of the results for future self-report assessment in RST research are discussed.

The Nature and Extent of Social Anxiety and Avoidance in Patients with Chronic Pain

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-72
Author(s):  
Renée F. Seebeck ◽  
Malcolm H. Johnson ◽  
Ross A. Flett
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Sensitivity ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Distress ◽  
Chronic Pain Patients ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Pain Patients

The present study explored the nature and extent of social anxiety and avoidance, anxiety sensitivity, and pain-related anxiety and avoidance in 46 clinic-referred chronic pain patients, compared with a community-based group reporting pain (n = 66) and healthy controls (n = 57). The chronic pain patients consistently reported higher levels of social distress, social avoidance, fear of negative evaluation, anxiety sensitivity, and pain-related anxiety and avoidance as compared with controls. Group differences in social distress, social avoidance, fear of negative evaluation, pain-related cognitive anxiety, and fear of cognitive and emotional dyscontrol, remained stable when pain severity was controlled for. Anxiety sensitivity was strongly related to both social and pain-related fears. The source of these social fears is examined in relation to the elevated pain-related fear and anxiety sensitivity also exhibited by chronic pain patients, and implications for treatment and rehabilitation are discussed.

A Phenomenological Analysis of Anxiety as Experienced in Social Situations

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
General Structure ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Phenomenological Method ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In this study, three individual descriptions of anxiety as experienced in social situations were analyzed so that a general structure representing social anxiety could potentially be obtained. The descriptions analyzed produced results that not only overlapped with already existing literature from various perspectives on the topic, but also highlighted certain key factors that have largely been unaccounted for by prior studies. By utilizing the Descriptive Phenomenological Method in Psychology (Giorgi, 2009), these factors were brought to light in more depth and clarity than if the same phenomenon were studied using a third person approach. Specifically, six constituents of social anxiety were revealed; including factors related to inter-subjectivity, the relationship between fear and anxiety, and the relationship between desire and self-lack.

Interpretive Biases for Ambiguous Information in Body Dysmorphic Disorder

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 435-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Buhlmann ◽  
Sabine Wilhelm ◽  
Richard J. McNally ◽  
Brunna Tuschen-Caffier ◽  
Lee Baer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
The Other ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Ambiguous Information ◽  
Interpretive Bias ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
High Trait ◽  
High Trait Anxiety

ABSTRACTAnxiety-disordered patients and individuals with high trait anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous information as threatening. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether interpretive biases would also occur in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which is characterized by a preoccupation with imagined defects in one's appearance. We tested whether BDD participants, compared with obsessive-compulsive disorder participants and healthy controls, would choose threatening interpretations for ambiguous body-related, ambiguous social, and general scenarios. As we hypothesized, BDD participants exhibited a negative interpretive bias for body-related scenarios and for social scenarios, whereas the other groups did not. Moreover, both clinical groups exhibited a negative interpretive bias for general scenarios.

The Three Systems Model of Fear and Anxiety: Implications for Assessment of Social Anxiety

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne R. Douglas ◽  
William R. Lindsay ◽  
D. Neil Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Present Report ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Social Interaction Test ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Interaction Test

It has been argued that verbal reports and questionnaire data may be constrained by cultural and social demands to the extent that they are unlikely to show concordance with more direct measures of behavioural and physiological anxiety. The present report investigates this hypothesis with reference to social anxiety. It was found that physiological and cognitive questionnaires were good predictors of physiological anxiety and cognitions in a social interaction test. A behavioural questionnaire, however, was a poor predictor of actual behaviour. In the social interaction test, which was designed to produce anxiety, there was a high degree of concordance on all the measures except non-verbal behaviour and heart rate. Because behaviour ratings showed least concordance and the poorest predictive validity, it was suggested that a behavioural assessment alone may give an erroneous picture of a person's overall social anxiety.

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