Stimulus fear-relevance and the vicarious learning pathway to childhood fears

Article

Askew, C., Dunne, G., Ozdil, Z., Reynolds, G. and Field, A. 2013. Stimulus fear-relevance and the vicarious learning pathway to childhood fears. Emotion. 13 (5), pp. 915-925. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032714
TypeArticle
TitleStimulus fear-relevance and the vicarious learning pathway to childhood fears
AuthorsAskew, C., Dunne, G., Ozdil, Z., Reynolds, G. and Field, A.
Abstract

Enhanced fear learning for fear-relevant stimuli has been demonstrated in procedures with adults in the laboratory. Three experiments investigated the effect of stimulus fear-relevance on vicarious fear learning in children (aged 6–11 years). Pictures of stimuli with different levels of fear-relevance (flowers, caterpillars, snakes, worms, and Australian marsupials) were presented alone or together with scared faces. In line with previous studies, children’s fear beliefs and avoidance preferences increased for stimuli they had seen with scared faces. However, in contrast to evidence with adults, learning was mostly similar for all stimulus types irrespective of fear-relevance. The results support a proposal that stimulus preparedness is bypassed when children observationally learn threat-related information from adults.

PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA)
JournalEmotion
ISSN1528-3542
Electronic1931-1516
Publication dates
Print31 Oct 2013
Publication process dates
Deposited23 Apr 2015
Output statusPublished
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032714
LanguageEnglish
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