Anxiety Flashcards
Marks & Nesse (1994)
Anxiety as a domain specific mechanism
We evolved to deal with the domain of danger. Subtypes of anxiety avert the specific dangers within the domain.
Subtypes provide a better protection against a particular kind of danger, and their features should match the corresponding danger (e.g. PTSD - features of avoidance of traumatic stimuli)
Cognitive biases
We fear rare events more (more widely publicised e.g. terrorism attacks)
We remember more recent events
We believe more accessible information, even if it is inappropriate
How anxiety can protect us
Escape - distance self from threat
Defence - harm source of danger
Freeze - aids assessment, concealment
Submission - useful if threat from own group, inhibits impulses
These can be used together… although there are subtypes of anxiety they do interlink
Sandseter (2011)
If we calculate the risk of modern phenomena V the more evolutionary relevant, we soon see that we’re hypophobic of real risks, and hyperphobic of non-hazardous ones
Suggest risky play of children may have an anti-phobic effect, become less fearful. No risky play may lead to excessive phobias. Too much risky play = hypophobia? But infants of an age to perceive depth appear afraid of the ‘visual cliff’. So, is it a brain abnormality in acquiring fear that causes lack of a natural phobia? It would be interesting to follow up infants who were not afraid of the visual cliff and see if they had an insufficient fear of heights in later life
Marks & Nesse (1994) fear and fitness
“Our nervous system is neither a tabula rasa nor a clockwork machine”
It’s hard to teach children to be afraid of cars, knives, guns, but easy for them to acquire a fear of spiders after seeing their mother react fearfully one
We are ‘prepared’ to learn fears of evolutionarily relevant dangers
But this doesn’t explain why some people have very bizarre phobias, like a fear of buttons. Must be learned, an association… ‘salient’ cue
Poulton (1998) hypophobia evidence
Fear of heights = no falls… Children who had fallen had a lack of fear when they fell, and a continuing lack of fear in adulthood
Supports non-associative, evolutionary models of fear acquisition, challenges the fear conditioning view
Hatch (2010) suffocation alarm hypothesis
History of suffocation was a predictor of Co2 induced panic. Is panic an evolved protective mechanism against impending asphyxia? People with panic disorder were more anxious inherently than their healthy relatives and controls
Panic as misfiring of the alarm
Charlton (2000)
Subjective mental content during adult panic shares themes with childhood separation anxiety. Attacks occurred when the subjects were separated from their family, and all expressed desire to be reunited during and after. However, only 3 pure cases of PD were examined… can we make generalisations from this? They were also all women. Women tend to have a stronger protective attitude over their family (more investment) and so themes of panic may be linked because of this, rather than because panic in itself is a form of adult separation anxiety.
People have panic attacks for other reasons, e.g. stage frights
Klein (2008) extends the suffocation alarm theory
Suggests panic = result of dysfunction in opioid regulation (for breathing and social-affiliation behaviour). Makes it possible to integrate the separation anxiety theory, Co2 and lactate hypersensitivty theory, and the respiratory phenomena associated with it (including excessive sighing).
Charlton, comments on Damasio theory (PTSD)
Humans are capable of cognitive modelling, strategic social intelligence. Charlton suggests the somatic marker mechanism evolved specifically to allow cognitive modelling, and is the basis for theory of mind
Damasio ideas on emotions
Thinking about frightening event can activate the SNS, just as in real life. This is the reason we read thrillers.
The somatic marker mechanism: awareness of inner states evolved because it enables us to use emotions (somatic states) to ‘mark’ and thereby evaluate external perceptual information. Emotions are laid down with memories. For example, when registering the identity of an aggressive man, the state of fear we feel is also registered.
To plan future action, we need a cognitive representation with external perceptual information (identity of the man) and internal emotional (fear)
Bruner (2006) evolutionary psychology of OCD
Parallels with stereotypies in animals: locomotive behaviour patterns turn into ritualised, highly stereotyped behaviours, performed excessively/inappropriately. May be ‘self-stimulation’ to combat boredom, but some have argued it is a sign of bad welfare
Culture bound rituals are similar too. Repetitive, exaggerated and stereotyped. May serve social purposes and help contain anxiety, are accepted.
Rituals and OCD- common psychological mechanism for order and regularity, which is over-active in OCD?
Dunbar - social brain hypothesis and OCD
Theory of mind = better predict the future and anticipate behavioural consequences of actions. Over active in OCD?
Myers (2005) found a correlation with the number of OCD symptoms and ToM ability
Did the brain areas involved in future action planning and ToM enlarge for their purpose? There must have been a good reason, because brain tissue is energetically expensive
