Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-54qdv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T21:43:57.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why are phobias irrational?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Peter F. Lovibond ,
David A. T. Siddle  and
Nigel W. Bond
Peter F. Lovibond
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia; p.lovibond@unsw.edu.au
David A. T. Siddle
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia; david@psy.uq.oz.au
Nigel W. Bond
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide 5042, Australia; psnwb@cc.flinders.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We endorse Davey's view that expectancy processes are intimately involved in fear reactions, but question his model on three grounds. First, the mechanism for generating expectancy bias to both ontogenetic and phylogenetic stimuli is not spelled out. Second, the selective association component is unnecessary. Third, the model fails to provide a clear explanation for the irrationality of phobic reactions.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 303
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Agras, W. S., Sylvester, D. & Oliveau, D. (1969) The epidemiology of common fears and phobias. Comprehensive Psychiatry 10:151–56. [aGD]Google Scholar
Alcock, J. (1989) Animal behavior: An evolutionary approach. Sinauer. [AJF]Google Scholar
Alloy, L. B. & Tabachnik, N. (1984) Assessment of covariation by humans and animals: The joint influence of prior expectations and current situational information. Psychological Review 91:149. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, G., Stewart, G., Allen, R. & Henderson, A. S. (1990) The genetics of six neurotic disorders: A twin study. Journal of Affective Disorders 19:23–29. [rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Archer, J. (1979) Behavioural aspects of fear. In: Fear in animals and man, ed. Sluckin, W.. Van Nostrand Reinhold. [DBM]Google Scholar
Arntz, A., Hildebrand, M. & van den Hout, M. (1994) Overprediction of anxiety, and diseonfirmatory processes, in anxiety disorders. Behaviour Research & Therapy 32:709–22. [rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arntz, A., Lavy, E., van den Berg, G. & van Rijsoort, S. (1993) Negative beliefs of spider phobics: A psychometric evaluation of the spider phobia beliefs questionnaire. Advances in Behaviour Research & Therapy 15:257–77. [rGD]Google Scholar
Baer, P. E. & Fuhrer, M. J. (1969) Cognitive factors in differential conditioning of the GSR: Use of the reaction time task as the UCS with normals and schizophrenics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 74:544–52. [AH]Google Scholar
Bateson, P. P. G. (1969) The development of social attachments in birds and man. Advances in Science 25:279–88. [rGD]Google ScholarPubMed
Bennett-Levy, J. & Marteau, T. (1984) Fear of animals: What is prepared? British Journal of Psychology 75:35–42. [aGD, SM]Google Scholar
Bertenthal, B. I. & Campos, J. J. (1984) A reexamination of fear and its determinants on the visual cliff. Psychophysiology 21:413–17. [RGM]Google Scholar
Biferno, M. A. & Dawson, M. E. (1977) The onset of contingency awareness and electrodermal classical conditioning: An analysis of temporal relationships during acquisition and extinction. Psychophysiology 14:164–71. [rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blaich, C. F. & Miller, D. B. (1986) Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos): 4. Effects of social experience. Journal of Comparative Psychology 100:401–5. [DBM]Google Scholar
Blaich, C. F., Miller, D. B. (1988) Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos): 6. Effects of sibling and self-produced auditory stimulation. Journal of Comparative Psychology 102:56–60. [DBM]Google Scholar
Blaich, C. F., Miller, D. B. & Hicinbothom, G. (1989) Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings: 8. Interaction between developmental history and behavioral context. Developmental Psychobiology 22:203–10. [DBM]Google Scholar
Bonner, J. T. (1987) The next big problem in developmental biology. American Zoologist 27:715–23. [DBM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1975) Attachment and loss, vol. 2. Penguin. [RGM]Google Scholar
Brunswik, E. (1952) The conceptual framework of psychology. In International encyclopedia of unified science, vol. 1. University of Chicago Press. [AJF]Google Scholar
Brunswik, E. (1955) Representative design and probabilistic theory in a functional psychology. Psychological Review 2:193–217. [AJF]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brush, F. R. (1991) Genetic determinants of individual differences in avoidance learning: Behavioral and endocrine characteristics. Experientia 47:1039–50. [DJD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cadle, J. E. (1987) Geographic distribution: Problems in phytogeny and zoogeography. In: Snakes, ecology and evolutionary biology, ed. Seigel, R. A., Collins, J. T. & Novak, S. S.. Macmillan. [aGD, rGD]Google Scholar
Carr, A. (1974) Compulsive neuosis: A review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin 81:311–18. [rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chambers, J., Yeragani, V. K. & Kershavan, M. S. (1986) Phobias in India and the United Kingdom: A trans-cultural study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia 74, 388–391. [aGD, rCD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheney, D. L. & Seyforth, R. M. (1990) How monkeys see the world. Chicago University Press. [aGD, rGD]Google Scholar
Clark, D. M. (1988) A cognitive model of panic attacks. In: Panic: Psychological processes, ed. Rachman, S. & Maser, J. D.. Erlbaum. [rGD]Google Scholar
Clarke, J. C. & Jackson, J. A. (1983) Hypnosis and behavior therapy: The treatment of anxiety and phobias. Springer. [RGM]Google Scholar
Cook, E. W. III, Hodes, R. L. & Lang, P. J. (1986) Preparedness and phobias: Effects of stimulus content on human visceral conditioning. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 95:195–207. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, M. & Mineka, S. (1987) Second order conditioning and overshadowing in the observational conditioning of fear in monkeys. Behaviour Research & Therapy 25:349–64. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, M. & Mineka, S. (1989) Observational conditioning of fear to fear-relevant versus fearirrelevant stimuli in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, 448–459. [aGD, SM, rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, M. & Mineka, S. (1990) Selective associations in the observational conditioning of fear in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 16:372–89. [aGD, SM, AJT]Google Scholar
Cook, M. & Mineka, S. (1991) Selective associations in the origins of phobic fears and their implications for behavior therapy. In: Handbook of behavior therapy and pychological science: An integrative approach, ed. Martin, P.. Pergamon Press. [SM]Google Scholar
Cook, M., Mineka, S., Wolkenstein, B. & Laitsch, K. (1985) Observational conditioning of snake fear in unrelated rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 94:591–610. [aGD, SM]Google Scholar
Cornelius, R. R. & Averill, J. R. (1983) Sex differences in fear of spiders. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45:377–83. [AH]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, C. G. (1982) Fears and phobias in women: A community study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 91:280–86. [aGD]Google Scholar
Crocker, J. (1981) Judgment of covariation by social perceivers. Psychological Bulletin 90:272–92. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curio, E. (1978) Cultural transmission of enemy recognition. Science 202:899–901. [RMN]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davey, G. C. L., ed. (1987) Cognitive processes and Pavlovian conditioning in humans. Wiley. [PFL]Google Scholar
Davey, C. C. L. (1989) Ecological learning theory. Routledge. [rCD]Google Scholar
Davey, C. C. L. (1992a) An expectancy model of laboratory preparedness effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 121:24–40. [aGD, PFL, LM]Google Scholar
Davey, C. C. L. (1992b) Characteristics of individuals with fear of spiders. Anxiety Research 4:299–314. [rGD]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davey, C. C. L. (1994a) The ‘disgusting’ spider: The role of disease and illness in the perpetuation of fear of spiders. Society & Animals 2:17–24. [aGD]Google Scholar
Davey, C. C. L. (in press) Rumination and the enhancement of fear: Some laboratory findings. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy. [aGD]Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L., Burgess, I. & Rashes, R. (in press) Coping strategies and phobias: The relationship between fears, phobias and methods of coping with stressors. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. [rGD]Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L. & Dixon, A. L. (1994) The expectancy bias model of selective associations: The relationship of judgements of CS dangerousness, CSUCS similarity and prior fear to a priori and a posteriori covariation assessments. Submitted. [rGD]Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L., Forster, L. & Mayhew, G. (1993) Familial resemblances in disgust sensitivity and animal phobias. Behaviour Research & Therapy 31:41–50. [rGD]Google Scholar
Davis, M. (1992). The role of the amygdala in conditioned fear. In: The amygdala: Netirobiological aspects of emotion, memory, and mental dysfunction (pp.255–6), ed. Aggleton, J.. Wiley. [AH]Google Scholar
Dawkins, M. S. (1986) Unravelling animal behaviour. Longman. [DBM]Google Scholar
Dawson, M. E. & Schell, A. M. (1985). Information processing and human autonomic classical conditioning. In: Advances in psychophysiology, vol. 1 (pp. 89–165), ed. Ackles, P. K., Jennings, J. R. & Coles, M. G. H.. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. [AH, AMS]Google Scholar
Dawson, M. E. & Schell, A. M. (1987) The role of “controlled” and “automatic” processes in human autonomic classical conditioning. In: Cognitive processes and Pavlovian conditioning in humans. Wiley. [rGD]Google Scholar
Dawson, M. E. & Biferno, M. A. (1973) Concurrent measurement of awareness and electrodermal classical conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology 101:55–62. [rGD]Google Scholar
Dawson, M. E., Schell, A. M. & Banis, H. T. (1986). Greater resistance to extinction of electrodermal responses conditioned to potentially phobic CSs: A noncognitive process? Psychophysiology 23:552–61. [AH, AO]Google Scholar
De Jong, P. (1993) Covariation bias in phobia: Mere resistance to preexperimental expectancies? Behavior Therapy 24:447–54. [aGD]Google Scholar
De Jong, P. & Merckelbach, H. (1991) Covariation bias and electrodermal responding in spider phobics before and after behavioural treatment. Behaviour Research & Therapy 29:307–14. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Jong, P., Merckelbach, H., Arntz, A. & Nijman, H. (1992) Covariation detection in treated and untreated spider phobics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 101:724–27. [aGD.rCD]Google Scholar
Delprato, D. J. (1987) Developmental interactionism: An integrative framework for behavior therapy. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy 9:173–205. [DJD]Google Scholar
Del, Russo J. E. (1975) Observational learning of discriminative avoidance in hooded rats. Animal Learning & Behavior 3:76–80. [aGD]Google Scholar
Dennis, W. (1940) Does culture appreciably affect patterns of infant behavior? Journal of Social Psychology 12:305–17. [RGM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Silva, P. (1988) Phobias and preparedness: Replication and extension. Behaviour Research & Therapy 26:97–98. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Silva, P., Rachman, S. & Seligman, M. E. P. (1977) Prepared phobias and obsessions: Therapeutic outcome. Behaviour Research & Therapy 15:65–77. [aGD]Google Scholar
Diamond, D., Matchett, G. & Davey, G. C. L. (in press) The effect of prior fear levels on UCS-expectancy ratings to a fear-relevant stimulus. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A. [aGD]Google Scholar
Dimberg, U. & Ohman, A. (1983) The effects of directional facial cues on electrodermal conditioning to facial stimuli. Psychophysiology 20:160–67. [JJP]Google Scholar
Domjan, M. (1983) Biological constraints on instrumental and classical conditioning: Implications for general process theory. In: The psychology of learning and motivation, vol. 17, ed. Bower, C.. Academic Press. [SM]Google Scholar
Domjan, M. & Galef, B. (1983) Biological constraints on instrumental and classical conditioning: Retrospect and prospect. Animal Learning & Behavior 11:151–61. [SM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durham, W. H. (1976) The adaptive significance of cultural behavior. Human Ecology 4:89–121. [aGD]Google Scholar
Esteves, F., Dimberg, U. & Ohman, A. (in press). Automatically elicited fear: Conditioned skin conductance responses to masked facial expressions. Cognition and Emotion. [AO]Google Scholar
Esteves, F., Dimberg, U., Parra, C. & Ohman, A. (1994). Nonconscious associative learning: Pavlovian conditioning of skin conductance responses to masked fear-relevant facial stimuli. Psychophysiology, 31, 375–85. [a GD, AO]Google Scholar
Fantino, E. & Logan, C. A. (1979) The experimental analysis of behavior: A biological perspective. Freeman. [EF]Google Scholar
Figueredo, A. J. (1992) Preparedness and plasticity: A stochastic optimality theory. Young Investigator Award Competition. Fourth Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico. [AJF]Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A. (1981) The modularity of the mind. MIT Press. [LM]Google Scholar
Garcia, J. & Ervin, F. R. (1968) Gustatory-visceral and telereceptor-cutaneous conditioning: Adaptation in internal and external milieus. Communications in Behavioral Biology A 1:389–417. [AJF]Google Scholar
Garcia, J., Hankins, W. G. & Rusiniak, K. W. (1974) Behavioral regulation of the milieu interne in man and rat. Science 185:824–31. [AJF]Google Scholar
Garcia, J. & Koelling, R. (1966) Relation of cue to consequences in avoidance learning. Psychonomic Science 4:123–24. [JJP]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, E. J. & Walk, R. D. (1960) The “visual cliff.” Scientific American 202(4):64–71. [RGM]Google Scholar
Gottlieb, G. (1991) Experimental canalization of behavioral development: Theory. Developmental Psychology 27:4–13. [DBM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottlieb, G. (1992) Individual development & evolution: The genesis of novel behavior. Oxford University Press. [DBM]Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. & Lewontin, R. C. (1984) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptionist programme. In: Conceptual issues in evolutionary biology, ed. Sober, E.. MIT Press. [RJM]Google Scholar
Gouzoules, S. H., Gouzoules, H. & Marler, P. (1984) Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) screams: Representational signalling in the recruitment of agonistic aid. Animal Behaviour 32:182–93. [aGD, SM.rGD]Google Scholar
Gray, J. A. (1971) The psychology of fear and stress. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. [RGM]Google Scholar
Gray, J. A. (1987) The psychology of fear and stress, 2d ed.Cambridge University Press. [PFL]Google Scholar
Greenwald, M. K., Cook, E. W. & Lang, P. J. (1989) Affective judgment and psychophysical response: Dimensional covariation in the evaluation of pictorial stimuli. Journal of Psychophysiology 3:51–64. [aGD]Google Scholar
Hamm, A. O., Greenwald, M. K., Bradley, M. M. & Lang, P. J. (1993). Emotional learning, hedonic change, and the startle probe. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102:453–65. [AH]Google Scholar
Hamm, A. O., Stark, R. & Vaitl, D. (1990). Startle reflex potentiation and electrodermal response differentiation: Two indicators of two different processes in Pavlovian conditioning. Psychophysiology 27:S37 (Abstract). [AH]Google Scholar
Hamm, A. O. & Vaitl, D. (1993). Affective associations: The conditioning mode and the organization of emotions. In: The structure of emotion, ed. Birbaumer, N. & Oehman, A.. Seattle: Hogrefe. [AH]Google Scholar
Hamm, A. O., Vaitl, D. & Lang, P. J. (1989a) Fear conditioning, meaning, and belongingncss: A selective analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 98:395–406. [aCD, LM, SM]Google Scholar
Hamm, A. O., Vaitl, D. & Lang, P. J. (1989b). Fear conditioning, meaning, and belongingness: A selective analysis. Journal of Psychophysiology 3:51–64. [DVJGoogle Scholar
Hansen, C. H. & Hansen, R. D. (1988). Finding the face in the crowd: An anger superiority effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54:917–24. [AO]Google Scholar
Hansen, C. H. & Hansen, R. D. (1994) Emotion: Attention and facial efference. In The heart's eye: Emotional influence in perception and attention, ed. Niedenthal, P. M. & Kitayama, S.. Academic Press. [LM]Google Scholar
Haubensak, C. (1992). The consistency model: A process model for absolute judgments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 18:303–9. [DV]Google Scholar
Hebb, D. O. (1946) On the nature of fear. Psychological Review 53:259–76. [RGM]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heyes, C. M. (1994) Social learning in animals: Categories and mechanisms. Biological Reviews 69:207–31. [aCD, SM]Google Scholar
Honeybourne, C., Matchett, G. & Davey, G. C. L. (1993) An expectancy model of preparedness effects: A UCS-expectancy bias in phylogenetic and ontogenetic fear-relevant stimuli. Behavior Therapy 24:253–64. [arCD]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hugdahl, K. (1978) Electrodermal conditioning to potentially phobic stimuli: Effects of instructed extinction. Behaviour Research and Therapy 16:315–21. [AMS]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hugdahl, K. & Johnson, B. H. (1989) Preparedness and electrodermal fearconditioning: Ontogenetic vs. phylogenetic explanations. Behaviour Research & Therapy 27:345–53. [aGD, LM, SM, AO]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hugdahl, K. & Karker, A. C. (1981) Biological vs. experimental factors in phobic conditioning. Behaviour Research & Therapy 19:109–15. [aGD, SM]Google Scholar
Hugdahl, K. & Ohman, A. (1977) Effects of instruction on acquisition and extinction of electrodermal responses to fear relevent stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 3:608–18. [AMS]Google Scholar
Ingold, T. (1988) What is an animal? Unwin Hyman. [aGD]Google Scholar
James, W. (1890) Principles of psychology. Holt. [AJF]Google Scholar
Jennings, H. S. (1930) The biological basis of human nature. Norton. [DJD]Google Scholar
Johnson, M. H. & Morton, J. (1991) Biology and cognitive development: The case of face recognition. Blackwell. [LM]Google Scholar
Johnston, T. D. (1985) Introduction: Conceptual issues in the ecological study of learning. In: Issues in the ecological study of learning, ed. Johnston, T. D. & Pietrewicz, A. T.. Erlbaum. [aGD, rGD]Google Scholar
Johnston, T. D. (1988) Developmental explanation and the ontogeny of birdsong: Nature/nurture redux. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 11:617–63. [DJD]Google Scholar
Jones, M. K. & Menzies, R. G. (1994) The etiology of fear of spiders. Submitted. [RGM]Google Scholar
Kagan, J., Kearsley, R. B. & Zelazo, P. R. (1978) Infancy: Its place in human development. Harvard University Press. [RGM]Google Scholar
Kantor, J. R. (1959) Interbehavioral psychology. Principia Press. [DJD]Google Scholar
Kantor, J. R. (1971) The aim and progress of psychology and other sciences. Principia Press. [DJD]Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., Heath, A. C. & Eaves, L. J. (1992). The genetic epidemiology of phobias in women: The interrelationship of agoraphobia, social phobia, situational phobia and simple phobia. Archives of General Psychiatry 49:273–81. [AO]Google Scholar
Kendrick, K. M. & Baldwin, B. A. (1987) Cells in temporal cortex of conscious sheep can respond preferentially to the sight of faces. Science 236:448–50. [LM]Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, D. R. (1984) Age, gender and patterns of common intense fears among adults. Behaviour Research & Therapy 22:141–50. [aGD, RGM, rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, D. F. (1993) False suffocation alarms, spontaneous panics, and related conditions: An integrative hypothesis. Archives of General Psychiatry 50:306–17. [RJM]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohn, B. (1976) Observational and discrimination learning in the rat: Effects of stimulus substitution. Learning & Motivation, 7:303–12. [aGD]Google Scholar
Kraemer, G. W. (1985) Effects of differences in early social experience on primate neurobiological-behavioral development. In: The psychobiology of attachment, ed. Reite, M. & Field, T.. Academic Press. [RGM]Google Scholar
Lakatos, I. (1970) Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes. In: Criticism and the growth of knowledge, ed. Lakatos, I. & Musgrave, A.. Cambridge University Press. [AJF]Google Scholar
Lakatos, I. (1978) The methodology of scientific research programs. Cambridge University Press. [AJF]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, P. J. (1985) The cognitive psychophysiology of emotion: Fear and anxiety. In: Anxiety and the anxiety disorders, ed. Tuma, A. H. & Maser, D.. Erlbaum. [aGD]Google Scholar
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M. & Cuthbert, B. N. (1990). Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex. Psychological Review 97:377– 95. [AH]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lang, P. J., Greenwald, M. K., Bradley, M. M & Hamm, A. O. (1993). Looking at pictures: Affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions. Psychophysiology 30:261–73. [AH]Google Scholar
LeDoux, J. E. (1990). Information flow from sensation to emotion: Plasticity in the neural computation of stimulus value. In: Learning and computational neuroscience: Foundations of adaptive networks (pp. 3–51), ed. Gabriel, M. & Moore, J.. MIT Press. [AH]Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C. (1984) Adaptation. In: Conceptual issues in evolutionary biology, ed. Sober, E.. MIT Press. [RJM]Google Scholar
LoLordo, V. M. & Droungas, A. (1989) Selective associations and adaptive specializations: Taste aversions and phobias. In Contemporary learning theories: Instrumental conditioning theory and the impact of biological constraints on learning, ed. Klein, S. & Mowrer, P.. Erlbaum. [aGD.rCD]Google Scholar
Lore, R., Blanc, A. & Suedfeld, P. (1971) Empathetic learning of a passiveavoidance response in domesticated Rattus norvegicus. Animal Behaviour 19:112–14. [aGD]Google Scholar
Lovibond, P. F., Siddle, D. A. T. & Bond, N. W. (1993) Resistance to extinction of fear-relevant stimuli: Preparedness or selective sensitization? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 122:449–61. [PFL, AJT]Google Scholar
MacLeod, C. (1990) Mood disorders and cognition. In: Cognitive psychology: An international review, ed. Eysenck, M. W.. Wiley. [RJE]Google Scholar
MacLeod, C. & Mathews, A. (1988) Anxiety and the allocation of attention to threat. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 40:653–70. [aGD]Google Scholar
Mandel, I. & Bridger, W. (1967) Interactions between instructions and ISI in conditioning and extinction of the GSR. Journal of Experimental Psychology 74:36–43. [AMS]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M. (1987) Fears, phobias and rituals: Panic, anxiety and their disorders. Oxford University Press. [RJE, RGM]Google Scholar
Marler, P. (1978) Affective and symbolic meaning: Some zoosemiotic speculations. In Sight, sound and sense, ed. Sebeok, T. A.. Indiana University Press. [aGD]Google Scholar
Masataka, N. (1993) Effects of experience with live insects on the development of fear of snakes in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). Animal Behaviour 46:741–46. [aGD, DBM, SM]Google Scholar
Mason, J. R. & Reidinger, R. F. (1982) Observational learning of food aversions in red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). Auk 9:548–54. [aGD]Google Scholar
Masten, A. S. & Braswell, L. (1991) Developmental psychopathology: An integrative framework. In: Handbook of behavior therapy and psychological science: An integrative approach, ed. Martin, P. R.. Pergamon Press. [DJD]Google Scholar
Mathews, A. (1990) Why worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behaviour Research & Therapy 28:455–68. [aGD]Google Scholar
Mathews, A. & Eysenck, M. W. (1987) Clinical anxiety and cognition. In: Theoretical foundations of behavior therapy, ed. Eysenck, H. J. & Martin, I.. Plenum. [RJE]Google Scholar
Mathews, A. & McLeod, C. (1985) Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety states. Behaviour Research & Therapy 23:563–69. [aGD, LM]Google Scholar
Matthews, B. A., Shimoff, E., Catania, A. C. & Sagvolden, T. (1977) Uninstructed human responding: Sensitivity to ratio and interval contingencies. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 27:453–67. [EF]Google Scholar
Mayr, E. (1974) Behavioral programs and evolutionary strategies. American Scientist 62:650–59. [AJF]Google Scholar
McKinney, W. T. (1985) Separation and depression: Biological markers. In: The psychobiology of attachment, ed. Reite, M. & Field, T.. Wiley. [RGM]Google Scholar
McNally, R. J. (1987) Preparedness and phobias: A review. Psychological Bulletin 101:283–303. [aGD]Google Scholar
McNally, R. J. (1994) Panic disorder: A critical analysis. Guilford Press. [RJM]Google Scholar
McNally, R. J. & Heatherton, T. F. (in press). Are covariation biases attributable to a priori expectancy biases? Behaviour Research & Therapy. [aGD, DV]Google Scholar
Mealey, L., Daood, C. & Krage, M. (1993) Selective memory for faces of cheaters? Presented at the Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Binghamton, NY (07) and the Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Phoenix, AZ (November).Google Scholar
Menzies, R. G. & Clarke, J. C. (1993a) The etiology of childhood water phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy 31:499–501. [RGM]Google Scholar
Menzies, R. G. & Clarke, J. C. (1993b) The etiology of fear of heights and its relationship to severity and individual response patterns. Behaviour Research and Therapy 31:355–65. [RGM]Google Scholar
Menzies, R. G. & Clarke, J. C. (1994) The etiology of phobias: A non–associative account. Submitted. [RGM]Google Scholar
Menzies, R. G. & Clarke, J. C. (in press) Danger expectancies and insight in acrophobia. Behavior Research and Therapy. [PFL]Google Scholar
Merckelbach, H., van den Hout, M. A., Hoekstra, R. & Van Oppen, P. (1988) Many stimuli are frightening but some are more frightening than others: The contribution of preparedness, dangerousness, and unpredictability to making a stimulus fearful. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioural Assessment 10:355–66. [aGD]Google Scholar
Merckelbach, H., van den Hout, M. & van der Molen, G. M. (1987) Fear of animals: Correlations between fear ratings and perceived characteristics. Psychological Reports 60: 1203–9. [SM]Google Scholar
Miller, C. F. (1988) Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings: 7. Auditory experience maintains freezing. Developmental Psychobiology 21:523–33. [DBM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D. B. (1980) Maternal vocal control of behavioral inhibition in mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos). Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 94:606–23. [DBM]Google Scholar
Miller, D. B. (1988a) Beyond interactionism: A transactional approach to behavior development. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 11:641–42. [DJD]Google Scholar
Miller, D. B. (1988b) Development of instinctive behavior: An epigenetic and ecological approach. In: Handbook of behavioral ncurobiology, vol. 9. Developmental psychobiology and behavioral ecology, ed. Blass, E. M.. Plenum. [DBM]Google Scholar
Miller, D. B. (1994) Social context affects the ontogeny of instinctive behaviour. Animal Behaviour 48. [DBM]Google Scholar
Miller, D. B. & Blaich, C. F. (1984) Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings: The inadequacy of learning and genetic explanations of instinctive behavior. Learning and Motivation 15:417–27. [DBM]Google Scholar
Miller, D. B., Hicinbothom, G. & Blaich, C. F. (1990) Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings: Multiple pathways in behavioural development. Animal Behaviour 39:1207–12. [DBM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mineka, S. (1982) Depression and helplessness in primates. In: Child nurturance, vol. 3, ed. Fitzgerald, H. E., Mullins, J. A. & Gaze, P. Plenum. [RGM]Google Scholar
Mineka, S. (1985) Animal models of anxiety–based disorders. In: Anxiety and anxiety disorders, ed. Tuma, A. & Maser, J.. Erlbaum. [aGD]Google Scholar
Mineka, S. (1987) A primate model of phobic fears. In: Theoretical foundations of behaviour therapy, ed. Eysenck, H.J. & Martin, I.. Plenum. [aGD]Google Scholar
Mineka, S. (1992) Evolutionary memories, emotional processing and the emotional disorders. In: The psychology of learning and motivation, vol. 28, ed Medin, D.. Academic Press. [SM, AO]Google Scholar
Mineka, S. & Cook, M. (1986) Immunization against the observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 95:307–18. [rGD]Google Scholar
Mineka, S. (1993). Mechanisms involved in the observational conditioning of fear. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122:23–38. [AO]Google Scholar
Mineka, S., Davidson, M., Cook, M. & Weir, R. (1984) Observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 93:355– 72. [aCD, SM]Google Scholar
Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., Williams, R. & Mathews, A. (1993) Subliminal processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102:304–11. [aGD]Google Scholar
Morakinyo, O. (1985) Phobic states presenting as somatic complaints in Nigeria: Socio-cultural factors associated with diagnosis and psychotherapy. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia 71:356–65. [aGD, rGD]Google Scholar
Morakinyo, O. & Akiwowo, A. (1981) The Yoruba ontology of personality and motivation. A multidisciplinary study. Journal of Social and Biological Structures 4:19–38. [aGD, rGD]Google Scholar
Mundkur, B. (1983) The cult of the serpent. State University of New York Press. [aGD, rGD]Google Scholar
Nesse, R. M. (1987) An evolutionary perspective on panic disorder and agoraphobia. Ethology and Sociobiology 8:73S–83S. [RJM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nesse, R. M. (1990) Evolutionary explanations of emotions. Human Nature 1(3):261–89. [RMN]Google Scholar
Nichter, M. (1981) Idioms of distress: Alternatives in the expression of psychosocial distress—a case study from South India. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry 5:379–408. [aGD, rGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Öhman, A. (1979) Fear relevance, autonomic conditioning, and phobias: A laboratory model. In: Trends in behavior therapy, ed. Sjoden, P. O., Bates, S. & Dockens, W. S. III. Academic Press. [aGD]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (1986) Face the beast and fear the face: Animal and social fears as prototypes for evolutionary analyses of emotion. Psychophysiology 23:123–45. [AMS]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (1992) Orienting and attention: Preferred preattentive processing of potentially phobic stimuli. In: Attention and information processing in infants and adults: Perspectives from human and animal research, ed. Campbell, A., Hayne, H. & Richardson, R.. Erlbaum. [aGD.LM.AO]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (1993a) Fear and anxiety as emotional phenomena: Clinical phenomenology, evolutionary perspectives, and information processing mechanisms. In: Handbook of emotions, ed. Lewis, M. & Haviland, M.. Guilford. [aGD, LM, AO]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (1993b) Stimulus prepotency and fear: Data and theory. In: The organization of emotion: Cognitive, clinical and psychophysiological perspectives, ed. Birbaumer, N. & Ohman, A.. Hogrefe. [aGD, AO]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (in press) Preferential preattentive procesing of threat in anxiety: Preparedness and attentional biases. In: Current controversies in the anxiety disorders, ed. Rapee, R. M.. Guilford. [AO]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. & Soares, J. J. F. (1993) On the automaticity of phobic fear: Conditioned skin conductance responses to masked phobic stimuli. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102:121–32. [aGD, AO]Google Scholar
Öhman, A. & Soares, J. J. F. (1994). “Unconscious anxiety”: Phobic responses to masked stimuli. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 103:231–40. [AO, AJT]Google Scholar
Öhman, A., Dimberg, U. & Ost, L. G. (1985). Animal and social phobias: Biological constraints on learned fear responses. In: Theoretical issues in behavior therapy, ed. Reiss, S. & Bootzin, R. R.. Academic Press. [aGD, AO, AMS]Google Scholar
Öhman, A., Esteves, F. & Soares, J. J. F. (in press). Preparedness and preattentive associative learning: Electrodermal conditioning to masked stimuli. Journal of Psychophysiology. [AO]Google Scholar
Öhman, A., Fredrikson, M. L. & Hugdahl, K. (1978) Orienting and defensive responding in the electrodermal system: Palmar-dorsal differences and recovery rate during conditioning to potentially phobic stimuli. Psychophysiology 15:93–101. [aGD]Google Scholar
Öhman, A., Fredrikson, M. & Hugdahl, K. (1978) Towards an experimental model of simple phobic reactions. Behavioural Analysis and Modification 2:97–114. [AH]Google Scholar
Oyama, S. (1985) The ontogeny of information: Developmental systems and evolution. Cambridge University Press. [DBM]Google Scholar
Pendery, M. & Maltzman, I. (1977) Instructions and the orienting reflex in “semantic conditioning” of the galvanic skin response in an innocuous situation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 106:120–40. [AH]Google Scholar
Petrinovich, L. (1979) Probabilistic functionalism: A conception of research method. American Psychologist 34:373–90. [AJF]Google Scholar
Plaud, J. J. (1994) Behavioral analysis of fear-related responding using a modified matching-to-sample procedure. Submitted. [JJP]Google Scholar
Plaud, J. J. (in press) The formation of stimulus equivalences: Fearirelevant versus fearirrelevant stimulus classes. The Psychological Record. [JJP]Google Scholar
Plaud, J. J. & Vogeltanz, N. (1991) Behavior therapy: Lost ties to animal research? The Behavior Therapist 14:89–93, 115. [JJP]Google Scholar
Plotkin, H. C. (1981) A multiple-level model of evolution and its implications for sociobiology. Behavioral b Brain Sciences 4:225–68. [aGD.rGD]Google Scholar
Plotkin, H. C. (1983) The functions of learning and cross-species comparisons. In: Animal models of human behaviour, ed. Davey, G. C. L.. Wiley. [aGD]Google Scholar
Plotkin, H. C. & Odling-Smee, F. J. (1979) Learning, change and evolution. Advances in the study of behavior 10:1–41. [aGD]Google Scholar
Plotkin, H. C. & Odling-Smee, F. J. (1982) Learning in the context of a hierarchy of knowledge gaining processes. In: Essays in evolutionary epistemology, ed. Plotkin, H. C.. Wiley. [aGD]Google Scholar
Prokasy, W. F. & Kumpfer, K. L. (1973). Classical conditioning. In: Electrodermal activity in psychological research, ed. Prokasy, W. F. & Raskin, D. C.. Academic Press. [AH]Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1977) The conditioning theory of fear-acquisition: A critical examination. Behaviour Research & Therapy 15:375–87. [aGD]Google Scholar
Raguram, R. & Bide, A. V. (1985) Patterns of phobic neurosis: A retrospective study. British Journal of Psychiatry 147:557–60. [arGD]Google Scholar
Renner, F. (1990) Spinnen: Ungeheuer-sympathisch. Verlag: Kaiserslautern. [aGD]Google Scholar
Richards, J. & Rader, N. (1983) Affective, behavioral, and avoidance responses on the visual cliff: Effects of crawling onset age, crawling experience, and testing age. Psychophysiology 20:633–42. [RGM]Google Scholar
Riskind, J. H., Kelley, K., Harman, W., Moore, R. & Gaines, H. S. (1992) The loomingness of danger: Does it discriminate focal phobia and general anxiety from depression? Cognitive Therapy and Research 16:603–22. [RJE]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, R. J. & Ditto, W. B. (1983). A developmental-genetic analysis of common fears from early adolescence to early adulthood. Child Development 54:361–68. [AO]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rozin, P. & Kalat, J. (1971) Specific hungers and poison avoidance as adaptive specializations of learning. Psychological Review 781:459–87. [SMI]Google Scholar
Russell, P. A. (1979) Fear evoking stimuli. In: Fear in animals and man, ed. Sluckin, W.. Van Nostrand Reinhold. [aGD, RJE, rGD]Google Scholar
Ruyle, E. E. (1973) Genetic and cultural pools: Some suggestions for a unified theory of biocultural evolution. Human Ecology 1:201–15. [aG]Google Scholar
Salzen, E. A. (1979) The ontogeny of fear in animals. In: Fear in animals and man. ed. Sluckin, W.. Van Nostrand Keinhold. [DBM]Google Scholar
Scarr, S. & Salapatck, P. (1970) Patterns of fear development during infancy. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 16:53–90. [RCM]Google Scholar
Schell, A. M., Dawson, M. E. & Marinkovic, K. (1991) Effects of potentially phobic conditioned stimuli on retention, reinstatement, and extinction of the conditioned skin conductance response. Psychophysiology 28:140–53. [AO, AMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schienle, A., Vaitl, D. & Stark, R. (1994). Covariation bias and paranormal belief. Submitted. [DV]Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. (1974) On going back to nature: A review of Seligman and Hager's biological boundaries of learning. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 21:183–98. [SM]Google Scholar
Seligman, M. E. P. (1970) On the generality of the laws of learning. Psychological Review 77:406–18. [aGD, AJF, AO, JJP]Google Scholar
(1971) Phobias and preparedness. Behavior Therapy 2:307–20. [aGD, PFL, RGM, RJM, SM, AO, JJP]Google Scholar
Seligman, M. E. P. & Hager, J. L., eds. (1972) Biological boundaries of learning. Appleton-Ccntury-Crofts. [JJP]Google Scholar
Seligman, M. E. P. & Hager, J. L. (1972) Introduction. In: Biological boundaries of learning, ed. Seligman, M. E. P. & Hager, J. L.. Appleton-Century-Crofts. [AJF]Google Scholar
Shimoff, E., Catania, A. C. & Matthews, B. A. (1981) Uninstructed human responding: Sensitivity of low-rate performance to schedule contingencies. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 36:207–20. [EF]Google Scholar
Simoons, F. J. (1961) Eat not thisftcsh. University of Wisconsin Press. [aCD]Google Scholar
(1974) Fish as forbidden food: The case of India. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 3:185–201. [aCD]Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1961) Cumulative record, revised ed. Appleton-Century-Crofts. [JJP]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1969) An operant analysis of problem solving. In: Contingencies of reinforcement, ed. Skinner, B. F.. Appleton-Century-Crofts. [EF]Google Scholar
(1981) Selection by consequences. Science 213:501–4. [EF]Google Scholar
(1984) Selection by consequences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7:477–510. [EF]Google Scholar
Smith, P. K. (1979) The ontogeny of fear in children. In: Fear in animals and num. ed. Slukin, W.. Van Nostrand Reinhold. [RCM]Google Scholar
Soares, J. J. F. & Oilman, A. (1993a) Backward masking and skin conductance responses after conditioning to nonfeared but fear-relevant stimuli in fearful subjects. Psychophysiology 30:460–66. [aCD, AO]Google Scholar
(1993b) Preattentive processing, preparedness, and phobias: Effects of instruction on conditioned electrodermal responses to masked and non-masked fear-relevant stimuli. Behaviour Research and Therapy 31:87–95. [AO]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soler, J. (1979) The semiotics of food in the Bible. In: Food and drink in history. Selections from Annals, vol. 5, ed. Forster, R. & Randum, O.. John Hopkins University Press. [aGD]Google Scholar
Struhsaker, T. T. (1967) Auditory communications among vervet monkeys (Cercoopithectts aethiops). In: Social communication among primates, ed. Altman, S.A.. University of Chicago Press. [aGD]Google Scholar
Sutton, S. K., Mineka, S. & Tomarken, A. J. (1991) Affective versus semantic determinants of covariation bias between fear-relevant stimuli and aversive outcomes. Paper presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, Ill. [aGD]Google Scholar
Tambiah, S. J. (1963) Animals are good to think and good to prohibit. Ethnology 8:423–59. [aGD]Google Scholar
Tinbergen, N. (1951/1969) The study of instinct. Oxford University Press. [LM]Google Scholar
Tomarken, A. J., Mineka, S. & Cook, M. (1989) Fear-relevant selective associations and covariation bias. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 98:381–94. [aGD, AJT]Google Scholar
Tomarken, A., Sutton, S. & Mineka, S. (in press) Fear-relevant illusory correlations: What types of associative linkages promote judgmental bias? Journal of Abnormal Psychology. [SM, AJT]Google Scholar
Torgersen, S. (1979) The nature and origin of common phobic fears. British Journal of Psychiatry 134:343–51. [AO]Google Scholar
Vaitl, D., Gruppe, H. & Kimmel, H. D. (1985). Contextual stimulus control of conditional vasomotor and electrodermal reactions to angry and friendly faces. Transswitching—yes! Preparedness—no! Pavlovian Journal of Biological Sciences 20 124–31. [DV]Google Scholar
Waddington, C. H. (1942) Canalization of development and the inheritance of acquired characters. Nature 150:563–64. [DBM]Google Scholar
(1957) The strategy of genes. Allen & Unwin. [AJF]Google Scholar
Ware, J., Jain, K., Burgess, I. & Davey, G., , C. L. (1994) Desease-avoidance model: Factor analysis of common animal fears. Behaviour Research & Therapy 32:57–6. [aGD]Google Scholar
Wickens, D. & Harding, G. (1967) Effects of ISI, forewarning, and instructions on the extinction of the GSR. Journal of Experimental Psychology 74:363–69. [AMS]Google Scholar
Willis, R. G. (1990) Signifying animals. Unwin Hyman. [aGD]Google Scholar
Zafiropoulou, M. & McPherson, F. M. (1986) “Preparedness” and the severity and outcome of clinical phobias. Behaviour Research & Therapy 24:221–22. [aGD]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed