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A new mode of fear expression: perceptual bias in height fear
Open accessAbstract
Emotion and psychopathology researchers have described the fear response as consisting of four main components--subjective affect, physiology, cognition, and behavior. The current study provides evidence for an additional component in the domain of height fear (perception) and shows that it is distinct from measures of cognitive processing. Individuals High (N = 35) and Low (N = 36) in acrophobic symptoms looked over a two-story balcony ledge and estimated its vertical extent using a direct height estimation task (visual matching), and an indirect task (size estimation); the latter task seems to exhibit little influence from cognitive factors. In addition, implicit and explicit measures of cognitive processing were obtained. Results indicated that, as expected, the High Fear group showed greater relative, implicit height fear associations and explicit threat cognitions. Of primary interest, the High (compared to Low) Fear group estimated the vertical extent to be higher, and judged target sizes to be greater, even when controlling for the cognitive bias measures. These results suggest that emotional factors such as fear are related to perception.
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“Additionally, when asked to stand on a balcony, height-fearful individuals more strongly endorsed experiencing thoughts related to danger (e.g., “The railing will not protect me”) and their inability to cope with anxiety (“I will be paralyzed by fear”), compared to low fear participants (Clerkin et al., 2009; Teachman et al., 2008).”
From Cognitive processing and acrophobia: validating the Heights Interpretation Questionnaire (2011) · cites this paper as Teachman et al., 2008
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“Consistent with past research (e.g., Clerkin et al., 2009; Menzies & Clark, 1995; Teachman et al., 2008), the current studies demonstrate that height fearful individuals interpret heights to be dangerous and they doubt their ability to cope with their anxiety.”
From Cognitive processing and acrophobia: validating the Heights Interpretation Questionnaire (2011) · cites this paper as Teachman et al., 2008
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Metadata
- Authors
- Teachman, B. A., Stefanucci, J. K., Clerkin, E. M., Cody, M. W., & Proffitt, D. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Virginia (US)
- William & Mary (US)
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 296-301
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- PMC
- PMC3182306
- OpenAlex
- W2012276805
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 12.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (RO1MH075781-01A2)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- acrophobia, perceptual bias, fear expression, stature estimation, size estimation, emotion and perception, cognitive biases
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Altitude, Attention, Discrimination Learning, Distance Perception, Fear, Female, Humans, Individuality, Judgment, Male, Orientation, Perceptual Distortion, Personality Inventory, Phobic Disorders, Space Perception
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