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The Role of Verbal Threat Information in the Development of Childhood Fear. “Beware the Jabberwock!”
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Rachman's (Behaviour Research and Therapy 15:372-387, 1977; Clinical Psychology Review 11:155-173, 1991) three pathways theory proposed that childhood fears not only arise as a consequence of direct learning experiences, but can also be elicited by means of threat information transmission. This review looks at the scientific evidence for this idea, which has accumulated during the past three decades. We review research on the influences of media exposure on children's fears, retrospective parent and child reports on the role of threat information in fear acquisition, and experimental studies that explored the causal effects of threat information on childhood fears. We also discuss possible mechanisms by which threat information exerts its influence and the processes relevant to understand the role of this type of learning experience in the origins of fear. Finally, implications for the prevention and intervention of childhood fears are briefly explored, and potential leads for future research will be highlighted.
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“Much of the research (Field & Storksen-Coulson, 2007; Merckelbach et al., 1996; Muris & Field, 2010; Ollendick & King, 1991) that has examined these pathways to fear have primarily relied upon non-clinical samples, providing insight into the nature of the development of normative childhood fears.”
From Specific Phobia in Young Children: Associations between the Origins of Fear and Clinical Expression of Phobia Symptoms. (2025) · cites this paper as Muris & Field, 2010
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The etiology of childhood water phobia
Menzies, R. G., & Clarke, J. (1993) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(93)90131-d · Cited by 117
A developmental-genetic analysis of common fears from early adolescence to early adulthood.
Rose, R. J., & Ditto, W. B. (1983) · PubMed · Cited by 112
The behavioral inhibition system and the verbal information pathway to children's fears.
Field, A. P. (2006) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.115.4.742 · Cited by 104
Self-citationField, A. P., Lawson, J., & Banerjee, R. (2008) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.117.1.214 · Cited by 104
Self-citationAnxiety disorders in children and adolescents
Fong, G., & Garralda, M. E. (2005) · Psychiatry · doi:10.1383/psyt.2005.4.8.77 · Cited by 104
MacLeod, C. (2005) · doi:10.1002/0470013494.ch22 · Cited by 101
Information processing biases and anxiety: a developmental perspective
Hadwin, J. A., & Field, A. P. (2010) · Cited by 98
Self-citationFear of the beast: a prospective study on the effects of negative information on childhood fear
Muris, P., Bodden, D. H. M., Merckelbach, H. L. G. J., Ollendick, T. H., & King, N. J. (2003) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(01)00137-1 · Cited by 97
Self-citationA Developmental-Genetic Analysis of Common Fears from Early Adolescence to Early Adulthood
Rose, R. J., & Ditto, W. B. (1983) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129697 · Cited by 96
Muris, P., van Zwol, L., Huijding, J., & Mayer, B. (2009) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.12.001 · Cited by 94
Self-citationWatch Out for the Beast: Fear Information and Attentional Bias in Children
Field, A. P. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp3503_8 · Cited by 94
Self-citationDo anxious parents interpretive biases towards threat extend into their child's environment?
Lester, K., Field, A., Oliver, S., & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2009) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.11.005 · Cited by 89
Self-citationParental Mediation of Children's Emotional Responses to a Violent News Event
Buijzen, M., van der Molen, J. H. W., & Sondij, P. (2007) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650206298070 · Cited by 86 · cited 4×
“looked at the impact of specific news events such as the assassination of the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (Buijzen et al. 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialHeritability and Prevalence of Specific Fears and Phobias in Childhood
Lichtenstein, P., & Annas, P. (2000) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00680 · Cited by 83
Doogan, S., & Thomas, G. V. (1992) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(92)90050-q · Cited by 80
The etiology of specific fears and phobias in children: a critique of the non-associative account
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H. L. G. J., de Jong, P. J., & Ollendick, T. H. (2002) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(01)00051-1 · Cited by 80
Self-citationHolmes, E. A., Creswell, C., & O’Connor, T. G. (2007) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.10.003 · Cited by 78
Children's Comprehension of and Fear Reactions to Television News
Smith, S. L., & Wilson, B. J. (2002) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0401_01 · Cited by 74
Beyond fear and disgust: The role of (automatic) contamination-related associations in spider phobia
Huijding, J., & de Jong, P. J. (2006) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.009 · Cited by 74
A dirty animal is a scary animal! Effects of disgust-related information on fear beliefs in children
Muris, P., Mayer, B., Huijding, J., & Konings, T. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2007.09.005 · Cited by 73
Self-citationThe interaction of pathways to fear in childhood anxiety: A preliminary study
Field, A. P., & Storksen-Coulson, H. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2007.09.001 · Cited by 72
Self-citationThe verbal information pathway to fear and heart rate changes in children
Field, A. P., & Schorah, H. (2007) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01772.x · Cited by 69
Self-citationConditioning theory: a model for the etiology of public speaking anxiety?
Hofmann, S. G., Ehlers, A., & Roth, W. T. (1995) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(94)00072-r · Cited by 69
Autobiographical Memories About the Experience of Seeing Frightening Movies in Childhood
Hoekstra, S. J., Harris, R. J., & Helmick, A. L. (1999) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0102_2 · Cited by 69
Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales
Siporin, S., & Zipes, J. D. (1982) · Journal of American Folklore · doi:10.2307/540727 · Cited by 66
Media Use and Children's Perceptions of Societal Threat and Personal Vulnerability
Comer, J. S., Furr, J. M., Beidas, R. S., Babyar, H. M., & Kendall, P. C. (2008) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374410802148145 · Cited by 65 · cited 1×
“In a similar vein, Comer et al. (2008) explored the link between chil-”
BackgroundDissociations between implicit and explicit attitudes toward phobic stimuli
de Jong, P. J., van den Hout, M., Rietbroek, H., & Huijding, J. (2003) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930302305 · Cited by 63
Fright Reactions to Television
Valkenburg, P. M., Cantor, J. R., & Peeters, A. (2000) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365000027001004 · Cited by 63
Pathways to fear in spider phobic children
Merckelbach, H., Muris, P., & Schouten, E. (1996) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(96)00052-6 · Cited by 61
Self-citationPerceptions of fear in other Children and adolescents: The role of gender and friendship status
Ollendick, T. H., Yang, B., Dong, Q., Xia, Y., & Lin, L. (1995) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/bf01447207 · Cited by 60 · cited 1×
“Note that this finding is in keeping with the common observation that girls exhibit higher levels of fear than boys (Craske 1997; Muris 2007), which may well have to do with the fact that the expression of fear is more in agreement with the feminine than with the masculine gender role (Ollendick et al. 1995).”
ResultKinderman, P., & Tai, S. (2006) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465806003274 · Cited by 59
Etiology and maintenance of dog fears
Nardo, P. A. D., Guzy, L. T., Jenkins, J. A., Bak, R. M., Tomasi, S. F., & Copland, M. (1988) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(88)90005-8 · Cited by 59
Disgust sensitivity and psychopathological symptoms in non-clinical children
Muris, P., van der Heiden, S., & Rassin, E. (2007) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.02.001 · Cited by 57
Self-citationLearning of Information Processing Biases in Anxious Children and Adolescents
Field, A. P., & Lester, K. J. (2010) · doi:10.1002/9780470661468.ch11 · Cited by 55
Self-citationThe verbal information pathway to fear and subsequent causal learning in children
Field, A. P., & Lawson, J. (2008) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930801886532 · Cited by 55
Self-citationThe etiology of childhood dog phobia
King, N. J., Clowes-Hollins, V., & Ollendick, T. H. (1997) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(96)00067-8 · Cited by 52 · cited 1×
“important contribution to the acquisition of children’s dog phobia (King et al. 1997) and dental fear (Milgrom et al.”
BackgroundField, A. P., Hamilton, S. J., Knowles, K. O., & Plews, E. L. (2002) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(02)00050-5 · Cited by 48
Self-citationKelly, V. L., Barker, H., Field, A. P., Wilson, C., & Reynolds, S. A. (2009) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.10.002 · Cited by 48 · cited 5×
“They were then asked to do the Touch Box Task (e.g., Field and Lawson 2003; Field et al. 2008b; Kelly et al. 2010) or the Nature Reserve Task (Field and Storksen-Coulson 2007) that have already been described.”
InfluentialSelf-citationHow serious are common childhood fears? II. The parent's point of view
Muris, P., & Merckelbach, H. L. G. J. (2000) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(99)00119-9 · Cited by 48
Self-citationAnxiety disorders in children and adolescents: research, assessmentand intervention
Vance, A. L. A. (2002) · Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1046/j.1440-1614.2002.01015.x · Cited by 48
Conditioning models of childhood anxiety
Field, A. P., & Davey, G. C. L. (2000) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511663239.009 · Cited by 45
Self-citationUCS Inflation in the aetiology of a variety of anxiety disorders: Some case histories
Davey, G. C. L., de Jong, P. J., & Tallis, F. (1993) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(93)90130-m · Cited by 43 · cited 1×
“The second way in which verbal information might affect direct conditioning is by enhancing the aversiveness of the US, a phenomenon that is known as ‘‘US inflation’’ (Davey et al. 1993).”
BackgroundFear of water in children and adults: Etiology and familial effects
Graham, J., & Gaffan, E. A. (1997) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(96)00086-1 · Cited by 41
Children's Direct Fright and Worry Reactions to Violence in Fiction and News Television Programs
van der Molen, J. H. W., & Bushman, B. J. (2008) · The Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.03.036 · Cited by 41
Future directions for child anxiety theory and treatment
Field, A., Cartwright-Hatton, S., Reynolds, S., & Creswell, C. (2008) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930701842270 · Cited by 40
Self-citationBreaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales
Zipes, J. 1. (2002) · Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) · Cited by 40
Merckelbach, H., Arntz, A., Arrindell, W., & de Jong, P. D. (1992) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(92)90039-j · Cited by 39 · cited 1×
“For example, in studies of high and low fearful participants, fear learning experiences are reported by similar numbers of high and low fearful people (Di Nardo et al. 1988; Ehlers et al. 1994; Hofmann et al. 1995; Merckelbach et al. 1992).”
BackgroundEffects of verbal information on fear-related reasoning biases in children
Muris, P., Rassin, E., Mayer, B., Smeets, G., Huijding, J., Remmerswaal, D., & Field, A. P. (2008) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.12.002 · Cited by 39
Self-citationThe effects of verbal information on children's fear beliefs about social situations
Lawson, J., Banerjee, R. A., & Field, A. P. (2006) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.01.007 · Cited by 38 · cited 3×
“, social) situations demonstrated that positive information did not produce substantial decreases in fear (Field et al. 2003; Lawson et al. 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationCraske, M. G. (2003) · Origins of Phobias and Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/b978-008044032-3/50008-3 · Cited by 38
Smith, S. L., & Moyer‐Gusé, E. (2006) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0803_2 · Cited by 37
What Happens When Verbal Threat Information and Vicarious Learning Combine?
Askew, C., Kessock-Philip, H., & Field, A. P. (2008) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465808004402 · Cited by 33 · cited 1×
“The study in question (Askew et al. 2008) used verbal information before, during, or after vicarious learning experiences.”
BackgroundSelf-citationField, A. P., Ball, J. E., Kawycz, N. J., & Moore, H. (2007) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465807003736 · Cited by 33
Self-citationRemmerswaal, D., Muris, P., Mayer, B., & Smeets, G. (2010) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.03.012 · Cited by 33
Self-citationMuris, P., Huijding, J., Mayer, B., Leemreis, W. H., Passchier, S., & Bouwmeester, S. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374410902976379 · Cited by 29 · cited 1×
“Interestingly, one investigation that provided children with ambiguous verbal information about a novel animal revealed a moderating influence of gender (Muris et al. 2009).”
BackgroundSelf-citationOrigins of common fears in South African children
Muris, P., du Plessis, M., & Loxton, H. (2008) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.03.004 · Cited by 27
Self-citationField, A. P., & Price-Evans, K. (2009) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.01.020 · Cited by 25
Self-citationThe etiology of childhood spider phobia
Merckelbach, H. L. G. J., & Muris, P. (1997) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(97)00054-5 · Cited by 23 · cited 2×
“A first study that has addressed this issue was conducted by Muris et al. (2008b) who presented 9- to 13-year-old children with disgust-related and cleanliness-related information about unknown animals. Before and after the information, beliefs of disgust and fear regarding the animals were assessed. Results showed th…”
BackgroundSelf-citationDavis, T. E. (2005) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy/bpi018 · Cited by 23
Developmental Aspects of Conditioning Processes in Anxiety Disorders
Dadds, M. R., Davey, G. C. L., & Field, A. P. (2001) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780195123630.003.0010 · Cited by 19 · cited 2×
“In other words, fear learning has to do with forming an association between a neutral stimulus and a noxious outcome (see also Dadds et al. 2001). It is also worth remembering that these stimuli and outcomes need not be real. Field (2006a) cites evidence that suggests that associative learning can operate on mental re…”
BackgroundSelf-citationOrigins of Phobias and Anxiety Disorders
(2003) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-044032-3.x5000-x · Cited by 17
Behaviour modification with the severely retarded
Gathercole, C. E. (1977) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(77)90074-2 · Cited by 14
Price-Evans, K., & Field, A. P. (2008) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465808004396 · Cited by 12
Self-citationThe Emotional Impact of Frightening Stories on Children
Orbach, I., Vinkler, E., & Har‐Even, D. (1993) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb00999.x · Cited by 8
Could nursery rhymes cause violent behaviour? A comparison with television viewing
Davies, P. (2004) · Archives of Disease in Childhood · doi:10.1136/adc.2003.042499 · Cited by 8 · cited 1×
“Threat information has, for centuries, formed an intrinsic part of culture, folklore and society (Ragan 2006): around 41% of a sample of nursery rhymes was violent in some way (Davies et al. 2004).”
BackgroundOutfoxing Fear: Folktales from Around the World
Ragan, K. (2006) · Cited by 3
Cf, J. (1956) · PubMed · Cited by 2
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Metadata
- Authors
- Muris, P., & Field, A. P.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Muris, Peter
- Venue
- Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review
- Published
- 2010-03-03
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 129-150
- ISSN
- 1096-4037 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2827
- PMC
- PMC2882043
- OpenAlex
- W2107307412
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 170
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 1.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- children's fears, threat information, fear acquisition, media exposure, parent report, fear prevention
- MeSH terms
- Child, Fear, Humans, Phobic Disorders, Verbal Behavior, Expressed Emotion
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