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Results for “fear”

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PubMed1979

Childhood fear and anxiety states in relation to dental treatment.

Five years experience by the authors in organizing a dental psychology clinic has impressed on them that many excessively fearful child patients have a history of untoward dental and medical experiences which might have been prevented. A background to an understanding of fear and anxiety in children is presented, and two cases are described to illustrate straight-forward behavior modification techniques which can be used to help the fearful or excessively anxious child cope with dental treatment.

Anxiety↗

PubMed1979

Panic-fear research in asthma and the nuclear conflict theory of asthma; similarities, differences and clinical implications.

Recent research with the MMPI panic-fear scale has identified personality traits implicated in the psychological maintenance of the medical intractability of asthma. Intensity of prescribed medication, length of hospitalization, and rates of rehospitalization have been found to relate to MMPI panic-fear scores independent of the objective medical severity of the illness as indexed by longitudinal pulmonary functions. In the present study, MMPI panic-fear scores are related to separation and protection conflicts arising in childhood. While the nuclear conflict theory of asthma maintains that such conflicts occur in nearly all asthmatics and form a genetic component of the asthma, the present study finds that childhood separation and protection conflicts occur in a minority of patients, but may be instrumental in maintaining the medical intractability of the illness.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1977

Anger and fear.

The author proposes that fear and anger are innate defensive mechanisms mobilized by preceived threats to the individual. Both mechanisms are accompanied by anxiety and an urge to escape or attack. The individual's lifestyle, which is the result of interaction between his innate qualities and life experiences, determines whether he will attempt to deal with threats, his fear and/or anger, and the resulting anxiety in an objective or pathological manner. This formulation underscores the need to learn methods of coping with anger and fear from early childhood, so that they do not develop into pathological behavior patterns.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Safety on the streets: cohort changes in fear.

Using data from two national surveys, cohort changes in fear for one's safety on the streets are examined over an eleven year period. Fear of walking alone at night has increased among all cohorts, but the greatest increases have taken place among the older cohorts. These results are consistent with interpretations that stress characteristics of the aging process to account for the elderly's greater fear of vulnerability to criminal victimization.

Adult↗

PubMed1979

Religiosity, fear of death and suicide acceptability.

The present research was an attempt to test two hypotheses derived from a recently proposed social psychological model of suicide: The acceptability of suicide is a decreasing function of religiosity and fear of death. Questionnaire data were collected for 205 undergraduates at a midwestern university in 1978. The questionnaire included several measures of religiosity, a factor analysis multidimensional fear of death scale, and a suicide acceptability scale. Results, showing that all of the religiosity measures and certain types of fear of death were significantly related to the acceptability of suicide, supported to the hypotheses under examination.

Attitude to Death↗

PubMed1978

Effect of bilateral suprasylvian ablation on fear behavior elicited by hippocampal stimulation in cats.

Fear responses elicited by electrical stimulation in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus of cats, and the conditioned fear behavior established by pairing this stimulation with a neutral stimulus disappeared after bilateral ablation of the suprasylvian gyrus. The same reactions were not affected when the ectosylvian gyri were removed. The suprasylvian ablation did not impair conditioned classical defence reflexes when a noxious stimulation of the hind limb was used as an unconditioned stimulus. It is suggested that the suprasylvian association area plays an important role in fear produced by hippocampal stimulation but not in pain responses elicited by a noxious peripheral stimulus.

Animals↗

PubMed2024

Complementation testing identifies genes mediating effects at quantitative trait loci underlying fear-related behavior.

Knowing the genes involved in quantitative traits provides an entry point to understanding the biological bases of behavior, but there are very few examples where the pathway from genetic locus to behavioral change is known. To explore the role of specific genes in fear behavior, we mapped three fear-related traits, tested fourteen genes at six quantitative trait loci (QTLs) by quantitative complementation, and identified six genes. Four genes, Lamp, Ptprd, Nptx2, and Sh3gl, have known roles in synapse function; the fifth, Psip1, was not previously implicated in behavior; and the sixth is a long non-coding RNA, 4933413L06Rik, of unknown function. Variation in transcriptome and epigenetic modalities occurred preferentially in excitatory neurons, suggesting that genetic variation is more permissible in excitatory than inhibitory neuronal circuits. Our results relieve a bottleneck in using genetic mapping of QTLs to uncover biology underlying behavior and prompt a reconsideration of expected relationships between genetic and functional variation.

Animals↗

PubMed1979

The relationship of sex role and levels of defensiveness to self-reports of fear and anxiety.

Examined the conclusions of previous research that found that femine Ss perceive themselves as experiencing greater fear and anxiety than Ss with a masculine sex-role orientation. The current study hypothesizes that these results may be confounded by the amount of expressive defensiveness exhibited by Ss (N = 99), independent of their sex-role orientation. The results, however, indicated that feminine Ss perceived themselves as experiencing greater fear than either androgynous or masculine Ss, regardless of their level of defensiveness. Contrary to previous research, there were no significant effects of either sex-role orientation or level of defensiveness on self-reported anxiety.

Anxiety↗

PubMed1977

Effect of arousal conditions during reinstatement treatment upon learned fear in young rats.

The role of shock and epinephrine-induced arousal in the reinstatement of learned fear was investigated in young rats. Groups of 21-day-old rats received classical fear conditioning to the black compartment of a black/white avoidance box. One week later each rat received one of a number of reinstatement conditions consisting of exposure to the apparatus cues, non-contingent foot shock, or exogenous epinephrine injections, alone or in combination. Subjects were tested for retention of spatial avoidance behavior 1 week following reinstatement. Reinstatement with epinephrine and exposure to the training contextual cues, non-contingent foot shock followed by cue exposure, and non-contingent foot shock alone were all found to be as effective as shock administered in conjunction with the cues (the same conditions as those prevailing during training). Cue exposure alone and epinephrine injections without the training cues were ineffective reinstating agents.

Animals↗

PubMed1977

Interaction of separation distress with fear in infant dogs.

Forty-one Telomian, beagle, and F1 hybrid puppies were tested in the presence and absence of a sound-producing stimulus under 2 social conditions, single and paired, at 6, 7, and 8 weeks of age. The sound stimulus definitely produced fearful reactions, as measured by tail carriage, which were not affected by social condition and accompanying differences in distress vocalization. Nor was distress vocalization significantly altered by the sound stimulus. We conclude that sound-induced fear and separation distress are separate and independent affective states. Social condition and the presence of the sound stimulus produced interactive effects at the behavioral level in that paired animals showed longer latencies to contact and maintained greater distances from the sound stimulus.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1979

Noradrenergic agonists and antagonists: effects on conditioned fear as measured by the potentiated startle paradigm.

Clonidine (10-40 microgram/kg) produced a dose-dependent reduction of fear as measured by the potentiated startle effect (increased acoustic startle in the presence of a cue which had been previously paired with shock). The reduction of potential startle could not be accounted for entirely by a general depressant effect of clonidine on startle nor by an acceleration of extinction. Piperoxane and yohimbine, which are associated with anxiety in humans, increased potentiated startle, whereas propranolol and WB-4101 did not. These results provide further evidence that the potentiated startle paradigm in the rat is sensitive to drug that alter anxiety in humans. Moreover, they support the hypothesis that norepinephrine transmission is important for the expression of fear or anxiety.

Animals↗

PubMed1977

Muscarine- and carbachol-induced aggressions: fear and irritable kinds of aggressions.

In unaneasthetized and unrestrained cats, muscarine and carbachol were injected into the cerebral ventricles. The kind of aggressive behaviour depended on the cholinomimetic drug and was classified as fear and an irritable kind of aggression. Muscarine induced the fear kind of aggression. The aggressive behaviour was usually preceded by attempts to escape and the attack was relevant to the situation. For the attack the presence of some threatening agent was needed. The aggression was accompanied by intense motor but less autonomic activation. On the other hand, carbachol induced an irritable kind of aggression and had the following characteristics: for the attack the presence of some threatening agent was not needed; the attack was not relevant to the situation; the aggression was not preceded by attempts to escape; and the aggressive behaviour was accompanied by intense motor and autonomic activation. It is concluded that cholinoceptive mechanisms are involved in the control of aggressive behaviour.

Aggression↗

PubMed1978

Antinociception following lesion-induced hyperemotionality and conditioned fear.

Hyperemotionality and antinociception (during hyperemotional states) followed lesioning of the septal area in rats. Both of these behaviors showed parallel decreases with daily handling as well as significant positive correlations between them. Tail-flick latencies were also elevated when fear was conditioned to the environmental cues associated with the tail-flick procedure. Fear-induced antinociception trials. These results are interpreted as demonstrations of the behavioral activation of endogenous antinociceptive mechanisms and are in agreement with the postulates of centrifugal control of nociception of the gate control theory of pain.

Animals↗

PubMed1979

Role of conditioned contextual stimuli in reinstatement of extinguished fear.

If the unconditioned stimulus (US) is presented independently of the conditioned stimulus (CS) following extinction, the conditioned response may be reinstated to the CS. Three experiments are reported that suggest that reinstatement is mediated by conditioning to contextual stimuli that are present during both US presentation and testing. Shocks presented to rats following the extinction of conditioned suppression reliably reinstated suppression to the CS, but only when they were presented in the context in which testing was later to occur. Reinstatement was also reversed by extinguishing fear to the context through nonreinforced exposure to the context between shock presentation and testing. Reinstatement was obtained in these experiments in spite of procedures that have been used in the past to minimize the influence of context conditioning. Moreover, fear of the context was never detected directly by depressed bar-press rates in the absence of the CS. The results do not support the hypothesis that reinstatement results from an increment in the strength of a memory of the US that has been weakened during extinction. Problems inherent in controlling and detecting levels of context conditioning that may influence behavior toward nominal CSs are discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed1977

The factorial structure of adolescent responses to a fear survey schedule.

The Wolpe-Lazarus Fear Survey Schedule was administered to a sample of 553 girls and 559 boys ranging in age between 12 and 18 years, and their responses were factor analyzed. The most prominent factors to emerge were those loading on items in the Social stimuli and Tissue damage categories. An analysis of frequency of response to schedule items indicated that this prominence was not a problem of item distribution in the schedule. The findings are discussed in relation to theoretical accounts of fears, and the author concludes that no one particular theoretical position can adequately account for the major findings.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1976

Methodological problems in the study of fears.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate methodological problems in the study of fears and to make suggestions that will facilitate future research. The most basic problem begins with a definition of "fear". Other considerations include methods of assessment, classification, and the instruments used.

Fear↗

PubMed1979

Antecedents of dental fear.

Early dental experiences were described in essay form by 225 college students reporting either "high" or "low" fear of dentistry. Antecedent factors which appeared to differentiate the two groups most clearly included pain experiences and dentist behaviors. Results were interpreted as supportive of a social-learning model of dental fear acquisition and their implications for dental training and practice were discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1978

Sex differences in 'fear of success' among British students.

Using a measure derived from Horner's studies of 'fear of success', the attitudes of three groups of British undergraduates towards success and failure were investigated. The results indicate ambivalence towards success and failure among both sexes, but neither the numerical analysis nor the kinds of responses indicated much of the overt sex-stereotype-based 'fear of success' found in the earlier American studies. Both sexes indicated some disillusionment with the 'success ethic'. Males showed somewhat greater anxiety about failure.

Achievement↗