Fears Flashcards
Are there differences in fear between children?
Individual variation
Very complex, universal emotion
Typically, physiological symptoms (sweating)), cognitive (dread) and subjective (upset)
What do we fear?
Things which are a threat to our safety eg. environmental factors
Responses to fear
Flight
Fight
Freeze
How are childhood fears assessed?
Interviews, questionnaires, parent/teacher reports
What are normal fears?
Common appear randomly mild predictable pattern decrease with age
Gullone
Reviewed interviews with 4-19 year olds, average number of fears = 2-5 per child, general themes = animals, death/injury, social concerns
Bauer
3 different age groups
“what are you afraid of most”
All decrease with age, apart from physical danger and injury
What is the fear survey schedule
80 item measure of children fear in response to a range of stimuli/situations
Ollendick - fear survey schedule
Found 5 factors: fear of danger and death failure and criticism the unknown animals stress and medical But.. doesn't capture contemporary threats limited to items on the scale might not show actual fear, ppl may life
Ollendick, king and fray 1989
1185 children, US and Australia, av of 14 fears reported, top = danger and physical harm
girls report more fear than boys
fears higher for death and danger
Follow up in 1999 - fears declined with age, death and danger highest. Stress and medical increased with age
What are the moderators of childhood fears?
Gender
Culture
Socioeconomic effects
Gender effects
Girls report more fears and have a higher prevalence of anxiety
Certain fears for certain genders
Girls = spiders, mice, dreams, rats, home alone
High femininity and low masculinity associated with greater avoidance and anxiety
Gender role orientation stronger predictor than sex
Cultural effects
Consistency among Western cultures, fears decreasing with age, girls more fearful, same developmental patterns
Some cultural differences in collectivist places, due to cultural group membership
Ethnic minorities display higher
Socioeconomic effects
Lower SES report more fears, and differences in the fears
Low SES = animals, strangers, death, violence, knives
Middle/upper = heights, ill, roller coasters, pets safety
Why do gender effects occur?
Gender role stereotyping reinforces girls to show fear and emotions
In a study, 72 fear item schedule, 1 month late repeated this containing 14 original items, told shown a video of fish, mice, rats and rollercoaster while heart monitored. Told heart is important lie detector indicator so need to be accurate
Results: females fear response didn’t change between test and retest, males increased for mice, rollercoaster and bugs - more likely to preserve masculine image
Why do cultural effects occur?
Socalisation practises - collectivist cultures emphasise self control, social inhibition and compliance with norms, could lead to anxiety and fears
Ollendick et al: differences in intensity and pattern of fears
Nigeria > china > america = australia
girls > boys apart from Nigeria
fears decreased with age only in US and Australia
Peak in anxiety at 10-14 in china, could be due to intense schooling
Common fears = death and danger but more social evaluative and safety in Nigeria and china
Idiosyncratic fears: ghosts in china, looking foolish in US, ocean in Nigeria and guns in Australia
Why do socioeconomic effects occur?
Exposed to more threats and general feelings on fear and anxiety
What are the developmental patterns
Infants - environmental stimuli 4-8 - ghosts, imaginary creates 10-12 - social fears evidence this maps onto age of onset of phobias: height/water begins in infancy animal begins at 7/9 social fears in pre adolescence
Evidence for developmental patterns
Beuer
Fears of monsters and ghosts decreases with age
Fear of bodily injury and physical danger increases with age
Muris et al
4-12 year old, fears decrease with age
Westernberg et al
Social fears increased (evaluation and achievement)
Physical fears decreased
What explains the predictable pattern?
Evolution
Cognitive development
Evolution
Fear system evolved to focus on threats at ages which they would’ve been the greatest risk for our ancestors
Infancy - fears to keep infants close to caregiver
Older mid children - can explore the environment so fear of the animals and the dark
Childhood- fear social position, need to pass genes on
Cognitive development
Fear originates from conceptualisation of threat, depending on physical and cognitive abilities. As cognitive abilities mature, have increased awareness of worry
Muris et al - cognitive development
Increased age and cognitive abilities leads to enhanced ability to elaborate and then worry. worry common as the point that children can elaborate
Increased age and cognitive ability = more elaboration = emergence of personal worry
