The etiology of childhood spider phobia

Behaviour Research and Therapy
H Merckelbach, P Muris

Abstract

Twenty-six girls with a clinical spider phobia and 26 matched control girls were interviewed about conditioning, modeling, and negative information experiences in connection with spiders. In addition, parents of the phobic girls were independently interviewed about the origins of their child's phobia. Phobic children more often reported aversive conditioning experiences with spiders than did control children. Also, in a number of cases, conditioning events described by the phobic children were confirmed by their parents, a result that replicates the findings of Merckelbach, Muris and Schouten (1996; Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 935-938). Taken together, the results contradict a strong version of the non-associative account of phobias and suggest that in at least some cases, conditioning events may contribute to the development of (childhood) spider phobia.

References

Jan 1, 1991·Behaviour Research and Therapy·T H Ollendick, N J King
Nov 1, 1995·Behaviour Research and Therapy·R D Withers, F P Deane
Nov 1, 1995·Behaviour Research and Therapy·K C KirkbyK L Smith
Jan 1, 1997·Behaviour Research and Therapy·N J KingT H Ollendick
Dec 24, 1997·Behaviour Research and Therapy·P MurisR Collaris

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Citations

Mar 4, 2010·Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review·Peter Muris, Andy P Field
Jan 30, 2002·Behaviour Research and Therapy·Peter MurisThomas H Ollendick
Jun 18, 1999·Behaviour Research and Therapy·P MurisM van de Ven
Feb 26, 2003·Behaviour Research and Therapy·P MurisI van Spauwen
Sep 21, 2005·Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America·Wendy K Silverman, Jacqueline Moreno
May 28, 2004·Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America·John R Saucier
Jan 31, 2015·The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology : QJEP·An T D LeArnold J Wilkins
Aug 29, 2013·Psychological Science·Geoff G Cole, Arnold J Wilkins
Oct 27, 2018·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Risako ShiraiHirokazu Ogawa

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