A Social Safety Net: Developing a Model of Social-Support Figures as Prepared Safety Stimuli

Hornstein, Erica A.; Eisenberger, Naomi I.

doi:10.1177/0963721417729036

Cited by 40 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Moreover, this effect is specific to attachment figures because it was not observed to the same extent as thinking of a positive non-attachment representation. This finding supports one recent model that attachment cues represent unique safety signals that constrain fear learning (Hornstein and Eisenberger, 2018 ). These results are consistent with evidence that attachment primes inhibit the fear system at neural (Coan et al, 2006 ), physiological (Bryant and Chan, 2015 ) and subjective (Ditzen et al, 2008 ) levels.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

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Thinking of attachment figures blocks differential fear conditioning

Toumbelekis

Liddell

Bryant

2018

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Thinking of attachment figures can potentially impact acquisition and extinction of fear memories. In this study, 50 participants underwent a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm. Half the participants thought about a supportive attachment figure and half thought about a non-attachment positive experience prior to the fear conditioning. All participants then underwent a differential fear conditioning and fear extinction paradigm, and returned 2 days later for an extinction recall task. Fear-potentiated startle and subjective expectancy of shock ratings were measured as the primary indicators of fear learning across trials. The attachment prime significantly reduced the acquisition of fear-potentiated startle, and this lower level of fear was maintained at the extinction recall task. These results demonstrate that attachment primes can modulate the acquisition of conditioned fear. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the protective nature of attachment relationships at times that are characterized by fear learning.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…On the basis of these findings, a model has been proposed in which social supports serve as a ‘unique’ safety signal that inhibits fear responses (Hornstein and Eisenberger, 2018 ). They are unique in that they require no prior training and can lead to long-term reductions of fear, unlike conditioned inhibitors.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking of attachment figures blocks differential fear conditioning

Toumbelekis

Liddell

Bryant

2018

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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“…These can provide a needed context for change and growth enabling the client to develop the courage to explore difficult and frightening material (Holmes, ; Holmes & Slade, ; Knox, ; Mearns & Cooper, ). Hornstein and Eisenberger () reviewed the evidence that the presence of ‘support and safety figures’ impacts both fear acquisitive and extinction. Engaging stressors with ‘supportive others’ verses alone impacts the physiological response to the stressor.…”

Section: Social Mentalities and Social Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychotherapy for the 21st century: An integrative, evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach

Gilbert

2019

Psychol Psychother

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Fragmentation of processes and interventions plague the psychotherapies (Gilbert & Kirby, 2019 ). Part of the problem is that we have not agreed on a framework that could be the basis for integrating knowledge and the scientific enquiry of processes and interventions. This paper outlines an approach that brings together a variety of different disciplines in the service of consilience (Wilson, 1998 , Consilience: The unity of knowledge, Vintage, New York, NY; Siegel, 2019 ). It presents the importance of an evolutionary framework for understanding the proclivities and dispositions for mental suffering and antisocial behaviour, and how they are choreographed in different sociodevelopmental contexts. Building on earlier models (Gilbert, 1989 , Human nature and suffering, Routledge, London, UK; Gilbert, 1995 , Clin. Psychol. Psychother., 2, 135; Gilbert, 1998 , Br. J. Med. Psychol., 71, 353; Gilbert, 2016 , Case formulation in cognitive behaviour therapy: The treatment of challenging cases, Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 50–89) the call is for an integrative, evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach to psychology and psychotherapy. Practitioner points Evolutionary functional analysis is part of an evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach to mental health that can serve as a scientific platform for the future developments of psychotherapy. Therapist skills and training will increasing need to focus on the multidimensional textures of mental states especially the context‐social‐body linkages. Therapies of the future will also focus more on the moral aspects of therapy and address the need to promote prosocial and ethical behaviour to self and others.

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“…It has been demonstrated that social-support-figure stimuli act as prepared safety stimuli, such that without requiring specific safety training, social-support-figure stimuli are less readily associated with fear and inhibit fear responding (Hornstein et al, 2016). More specifically with regard to fear extinction, this work has shown that, without any safety training, the presence of socialsupport-figure images enhanced extinction of learnedfear responses for other cues, leading to continued inhibition of the fear response once the social-supportfigure image was removed (Hornstein et al, 2016). These findings contrast sharply with canonical knowledge of learned-safety signals, which require safety training, lead to return of fear once removed, and prevent fear extinction (Lovibond et al, 2000;Rescorla, 1969Rescorla, , 1971Rescorla, , 2003.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Unique Safety Signal: Social-Support Figures Enhance Rather Than Protect From Fear Extinction

Hornstein

Haltom

Shirole

et al. 2017

Clinical Psychological Science

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Although research has made significant advances in identifying treatments for fear-related disorders, these treatments are not entirely effective and relief from symptoms is often short-lived (Craske, 1999; McNally, 2007; Rachman, 1989). The research on which these treatments are based has largely focused on investigating processes by which fears are learned with an eye toward enhancing fear extinction. Less work, however, has examined safety stimuli (which denote the absence of threat) and whether specific types of safety stimuli have beneficial effects on fear extinction. One prevailing view is that safety signals are detrimental to the fear extinction process (Craske et al., 2008; Hermans, Craske, Mineka, & Lovibond, 2006), even though only a handful of studies using simplistic safety signals have tested these effects in humans (Lovibond, Davis, & O'Flaherty, 2000). Although there has been some discussion of the potential benefits of safety behaviors during exposure therapy (Rachman, Radomsky, & Shafran, 2008), protocols for the treatment of fear-related disorders generally warn against the presence of safety signals during therapy, including social-support figures even though their safety role had not been formally tested. However, recent findings suggest that this thinking may be misguided (Hornstein, Fanselow, & Eisenberger, 2016). Here, we examined whether one unique type of safety signal-social-support stimuli-can actually enhance fear extinction and whether these effects remain over time. The most common and effective method of treatment for maladaptive fears is exposure therapy, a procedure based on fear extinction processes. Yet fear extinction procedures in general, and exposure therapies in particular, are not always successful; fear reduction is often only temporary (

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A Social Safety Net: Developing a Model of Social-Support Figures as Prepared Safety Stimuli

Cited by 40 publications

References 37 publications

Thinking of attachment figures blocks differential fear conditioning

Thinking of attachment figures blocks differential fear conditioning

Psychotherapy for the 21st century: An integrative, evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach

A Unique Safety Signal: Social-Support Figures Enhance Rather Than Protect From Fear Extinction

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