A cross-cultural study of animal fears

Davey, Graham C. L.; McDonald, Angus S.; Hirisave, Uma; Prabhu, G. G.; Iwawaki, Saburo; Jim, Ching Im; Merckelbach, Harald; Jong, Peter J. de; Leung, Patrick; Reimann, Bradley C.

doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(98)00059-x

Cited by 182 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…We considered rats to be a third fear-relevant CS based on a study from Hygge and Öhman (1978) who found preparedness effects with a rat picture as a fear-relevant stimulus and based on correlational studies that have found rats to be a universal fear-relevant animal similar to snakes and spiders (Davey et al, 1998;Ware, Jain, Burgess, & Davey, 1994).…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Can prepared fear conditioning result from verbal instructions?

Mertens

Raes

Houwer

2016

Learning and Motivation

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Evolutionary fear-relevant stimuli such as snakes or spiders are thought to be prepared to elicit fear reactions. This implies that the acquisition of conditioned fear responses is facilitated when these stimuli serve as conditioned stimuli (CSs). Moreover, extinction of conditioned fear responses is delayed when CSs are prepared stimuli. The research presented in this article addresses the question whether such selective learning effects can be obtained even when participants do not experience pairings of CSs and US but receive only instructions about those pairings. Two experiments were conducted in which participants were verbally informed about the relationship between fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant CSs and the presence of an electrical stimulus (US). However, CSs were never actually paired with the US. US expectancy ratings and skin conductance responses were recorded during multiple CS only trials. In the first experiment, we observed acquisition, extinction and reinstatement of fear on the basis of instructions, but these effects were not modulated by the fear-relevance of the CSs. In the second experiment, we manipulated whether participants actually experienced the CS-US contingencies or were merely instructed. We obtained facilitated acquisition for the merely instructed fear-relevant CS+. We discuss these results in relation to the evolutionary fear learning model of Öhman and Mineka (2001) and the expectancy bias model of Davey (1992).

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Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Can prepared fear conditioning result from verbal instructions?

Mertens

Raes

Houwer

2016

Learning and Motivation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Davey (1994) and Davey et al (1998), however, argue that fear of spiders has a cultural rather than evolutionary background. They found that fear of spiders covaries with disgustsensitivity.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Spidersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They found that fear of spiders covaries with disgustsensitivity. This means that spiders are viewed in the same category as cockroaches, snails, wasps and other, non-predatory, but "disgusting" animals (Davey et al, 1998). Although the link between spiders and disgusting animals is puzzling at first glance, they propose that spiders in the Middle Ages were associated with illness, e.g.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Spidersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He expects that some African cultures will have a more positive attitude towards spiders than European cultures. In a later study Davey et al (1998) conducted a cross-cultural comparison of animal fears, including fear of spiders. A sample from Africa was, however, not included.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Spidersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Human attitudes towards and fear of animals are determined by cultural and evolutionary factors (Herzog & Burghardt 1988, Fredrikson, Annas, & Wik, 1997Davey et al, 1998). In the school age group of 6 -16 years children's attitudes develop through affective, cognitive and ecological stages (Kellert, 1985;Field & Davey, 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

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