Normative development of fears Flashcards
How do we respond to fear?
Fight
Flight
Freeze
How is childhood fear measured?
Assessed directly (and often retrospectively) using child interviews, questionnaires, parent/teacher report
What are the characteristics of normal childhood fears?
Commonly experience
Relatively mild
Appear and disappear spontaneously
Follow a predictable pattern
Decrease with age
What does Gullone (2000) review show?
Reviewed interview studies with 4-19 year olds
Average number of fears is 2-5 per child
Tend to elicit general themes e.g. animals, death/injury, the unknown, social concerns
What happened in Bauer (1976) study?
Aged 4-6, 6-8,20,12
Asked ‘what are you afraid of most?’
Categories
o Injury/ physical danger
o Monsters and ghost
o Animals
o Bedtime fears
o Frightening dreams
Fears of injury ↑ w/ age
Fears in most categories ↓ w/ age esp. monsters
What does Ollendick’s study (1983) show?
80 item measure of children’s fear in response to a range of spec. stimuli/situations called Fear survey schedule for children - revised
* Measures number, severity and type of normal fears children experience
Five reliable factors
o Fear of danger and death (e.g. being hit by a car or truck)
o Fear of failure and criticism (e.g. looking foolish)
o Fear of the unknown (e.g. going to bed in the dark)
o Fear of animals (e.g. snakes)
o Stress and medical fears (e.g. getting an injection from the doctor
What are the methodological issues of studying childhood fears?
- Some of the items = outdated + contemporary threats (e.g. climate change) not included (Fishkin et al, 1997; Lengua et al., 2005)
- Doesn’t capture cultural variation in childhood fears
- Only measure what is included, not an exhaustive list (see Muris et al.,, 1997)
What do Ollendick et al.’s study (1989) show?
N = 1185 children (395 aged 7-10, 449 aged 11-13, 341 aged 14-16)
Recruited in US and Australia
Average of 14 fears reported (see also Ollendick et al., 1996)
o Top fears relate to dangerous situations and physical harm
What are the three moderators of childhood fears?
- Gender
- Cultural variation
- Socioeconomic effects
How is gender a moderator of childhood fears?
Ollendick et al. &1989
Identified as girls report more fears than children who identified as boys. Fears highest for death/danger items
Gullone & King (1993): Items that most strongly discriminated between boys and girls
Rats, spiders, snakes, mice, creepy houses, being alone, bad dreams
Brody et al. (1990) = gender role orientation stronger predictor of fear than child’s biological sex
How is cultural variation a moderator of childhood fears?
Across “Western” countries lots of consistency:
* Number of fears decreases with age
* Girls more fearful than boys
* Content of fears appears to show similar developmental pattern (but also some idiosyncrasies e.g. sharks in Australia)
Ollendick et al. (1996)
* 1200 7-17 year old in Nigeria, China, US and Australia
* Found iff. in intensity + patterns of fears
o Nigeria > China > America = Australia
o Girls > boys apart from Nigeria
o Fears ↓ w/ age = only US + Australian samples.
o No age diff. in Nigerian sample
o Peak in anxiety in late childhood (10-14yrs) in Chinese sample
* Common fears primarily death/danger related but ↑ social-evaluative + safety-related fear in Nigerian and Chinese samples
* Idiosyncratic fears – ghosts in China, looking foolish in US, ocean in Nigeria, guns in Australia
Could be the result of socialisation practices especially in collectivist cultures.
What does idiosyncratic fears mean?
distinctive fear to a specific area
How are socioeconomic effects a moderator of childhood fears?
Coroake (1969) = ↓ SES children report ↑ fears
Differences in content of fears
* Low SES = animals, strange people, abandonment by parents, death, violence, knives
* Middle/Upper SES = heights, ill health, rollercoasters, pet’s safety
Exposed to ↑ spec. threats + enhanced general feelings of fear and anxiety in ↓ SES environments
What are developmental patterns in fear?
How different fears might emerge at different times across childhood. Suggests that fears are a predictable developmental pattern.
o Infants = environmental stimuli (loud noises, separation, unusual stimuli)
o 4-8: Ghosts, imaginary creatures, and animals
o 10-12: social fears, self-injury
What does Field and Davey (2001) show?
- Evidence that pattern maps onset of phobias
o Height/water phobia begins in infancy
o Animal phobias start between 7-9
o Social fears in pre-adolescence
o H/E = some researchers argue that some fears like snakes may be innate + present from very early in development
Name consistent research w/ predictable patter but mixed, hard to interpret results
Buer (1976)
o fear of monsters and ghosts ↓ with age
o Fear of bodily injury and physical danger ↑ with age
Muris et al. (2000): 4-12 year olds
o Fears and scary dreams more common in 7-9 year olds compared to 10-12 year olds
o Worry more common in 10-12 year olds than 4 – 6 year olds
Describe the evolutionary approach towards fears
Natural selection = supports indvdls who rapidly learn about threats = danger to self because this facilitates survival bc ↑ survival.
Fear system evolved to focus on threats @ ages where
threats = ↑ greatest risk to our ancestors (Ohman et al., 1985)
Some fears = innate + may not need to be learned at all (Poulton & Menzies, 2002)
We may be prepared to rapidly acquire some fears with little or
no prior learning*
Describe cognitive development as an approach to fears
originates from conceptualisation of threat= Conceptualisation of threat depends on a child’s cognitive + physical abilities (Vasey, 1993)
cognitive abilities e.g. biological regulation, memory, self-control = ↑ sophisticated
Range of fear-provoking stimuli broadens + cognitive features
of anxiety (e.g. worry) = ↑ prevalent
What are common fears in infancy?
Environmental stimuli
Separation anxiety
What is the evolution assumption of common fears in young children?
Young children = defenseless so adaptive to fear wide range of environmental stimuli
Fear + avoidance = keeps infant within protective distance of caregivers ↑ survival
What is the cognitive development explanation of common fears in infancy?
Cognitive capacities = limited so fear is directed at immediate, concrete environmental threats
By 9mths = children develop ability to differentiate between
familiar and unfamiliar faces so sep anx, fear of strangers emerges
What are common fears in early/middle childhood?
Imaginary creatures, fear of the dark
Fear of small animals
What is the evolution explanation of common fears in early/middle childhood?
Young children = begin to explore environment more independently increasing risk from predators + dangerous environments
Fear system evolved to prioritise rapid learning about threats from animals/unknown situations
What is the cognitive development explanation of common fears in early/middle childhood?
Development of magical thinking and poor fantasy-reality distinction may account for fear of monsters
Fear of animals/unknown emerges with increased physical mobility and awareness of external environment
