Fear information and social phobic beliefs in children: a prospective paradigm and preliminary results

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Field, A P, Hamilton, S J, Knowles, K A and Plews, E L (2003) Fear information and social phobic beliefs in children: a prospective paradigm and preliminary results. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41 (1). pp. 113-123. ISSN 0005-7967

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Abstract

This paper presents a first attempt to develop a prospective paradigm to test Rachman’s (Behav. Res. Ther. 15 (1977) 375) theory of fear acquisition for social fears. Following the prospective paradigm for animal fears developed by Field et al. (Behav. Res. Ther. 39 (2001) 1259) an attempt is made to adapt this paradigm to look at the effect of fear information in the development of social fears. A large group of normal children (N=135)who were at an age (10–13 years) at which social concerns are most pertinent were tested using this paradigm. They were given positive, negative or neutral information about three social situations: public speaking, eating in public, and meeting a new group of children. Children’s fear beliefs were measured before and after the information was given and the information was given by a teacher, a same age peer or no information was given (a control). The results indicate that although information can change social fear beliefs it is dependent upon the type of social activity and who provides the information. The implications of these initial results for our understanding of both the role of fear information in the development of social fear beliefs, and the limitations of this current paradigm are discussed.

Item Type: Article
Schools and Departments: School of Psychology > Psychology
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF0712 Developmental psychology Including infant psychology, child psychology, adolescence, adulthood
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Depositing User: Andy Field
Date Deposited: 18 Jan 2007
Last Modified: 02 Jul 2019 20:52
URI: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/716
Google Scholar:29 Citations

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