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PREPAREDNESS AND PHOBIAS: SPECIFIC EVOLVED ASSOCIATIONS OR A GENERALIZED EXPECTANCY BIAS?

Davey, Graham (1995) PREPAREDNESS AND PHOBIAS: SPECIFIC EVOLVED ASSOCIATIONS OR A GENERALIZED EXPECTANCY BIAS?.

Short Abstract:

Most phobias are focussed on a small number of fear-inducing stimuli (e.g. snakes, spiders). A review of the evidence supporting biological and cognitive explanations of this uneven distribution of phobias suggests that the readiness with which such stimuli become associated with aversive outcomes arises from biases in the processing of information about threatening stimuli rather than from phylogenetically based associative predispositions or "biological preparedness." This cognitive bias, consisting of a heightened expectation of aversive outcomes following fear-relevant stimuli, generates and maintains robust learned associations between them. Some of the features of such stimuli which determine this expectancy bias are estimates of how dangerous they are, the semiotic similarity between them and their aversive outcomes, and the degree of prior fear they elicit. Ontogenetic and cultural factors influence these features of fear-relevant stimuli and are hence important in determining expectancy bias. The available evidence does not exclude the possibility that both expectancy biases and specific evolved predispositions co-exist, but the former can explain a number of important findings that the latter cannot.

Long Abstract:

Most phobias are focussed on a small number of fear-inducing stimuli (e.g. snakes, spiders). A review of the evidence supporting biological and cognitive explanations of this uneven distribution of phobias suggests that the readiness with which such stimuli become associated with aversive outcomes arises from biases in the processing of information about threatening stimuli rather than from phylogenetically based associative predispositions or "biological preparedness." This cognitive bias, consisting of a heightened expectation of aversive outcomes following fear-relevant stimuli, generates and maintains robust learned associations between them. Some of the features of such stimuli which determine this expectancy bias are estimates of how dangerous they are, the semiotic similarity between them and their aversive outcomes, and the degree of prior fear they elicit. Ontogenetic and cultural factors influence these features of fear-relevant stimuli and are hence important in determining expectancy bias. The available evidence does not exclude the possibility that both expectancy biases and specific evolved predispositions co-exist, but the former can explain a number of important findings that the latter cannot.

Keywords:	Preparedness, phobias, biological preparedness, selective associations, information processing biases, classical conditioning, covariation assessment, cross-cultural studies
Subjects:	Psychology: Behavioral Analysis Biology: Evolution Biology: Sociobiology Psychology: Clinical Psychology Psychology: Psychobiology Psychology: Social Psychology
ID code:	bbs00000449
Deposited by:	Graham Davey on 01 May 2001