Recalling courage: An initial test of a brief writing intervention to activate a ‘courageous mindset’ and courageous behavior

ABSTRACT

Though theoretical models propose that courage can be ‘activated,’ little experimental work exists to support this idea. The current study examines a writing intervention that asks individuals to reflect on experiences in which they faced their fears (thus demonstrating courage) to determine if such reflection would promote more approach-oriented cognition (Study 1) and behavioral intentions (Study 2). As expected, when asked to decide if they could/would engage in various approach behaviors related to their fear, participants in the courage condition chose ‘yes’ more often and were comparatively faster to choose ‘yes’ and slower to choose ‘no.’ Furthermore, participants in the courage condition demonstrated greater intentions of approach behavior toward feared situations in the laboratory. These results, though small in effect, suggest that the writing intervention can activate a ‘courageous mindset’ and can promote more courageous behavioral intentions.     

Affective states leak into movement execution: Automatic avoidance of threatening stimuli in fear of spider is visible in reach trajectories

Approach-like actions are initiated faster with stimuli of positive valence. Conversely, avoidance-like actions are initiated faster with threatening stimuli of negative valence. We went beyond reaction time measures and investigated whether threatening stimuli also affect the way in which an action is carried out. Participants moved their hand either away from the picture of a spider (avoidance) or they moved their hand toward the picture of a spider (approach). We compared spider-fearful participants to non-anxious participants. When reaching away from the threatening spider picture, spider-fearful participants moved more directly to the target than controls. When reaching toward the threatening spider, spider-fearful participants moved less directly to the target than controls. Some conditions that showed clear differences in movement trajectories between spider-fearful and control participants were devoid of differences in reaction time. The deviation away from threatening stimuli provides evidence for the claim that affective states like fear leak into movement programming and produce deviations away from threatening stimuli in movement execution. Avoidance of threatening stimuli is rapidly integrated into ongoing motor behaviour in order to increase the distance between the participant's body and the threatening stimulus.     

Effects of safety behaviors on fear reduction during exposure

The use of safety behaviors has been considered one of the primary maintaining mechanisms of anxiety disorders; however, evidence suggests that they are not always detrimental to treatment success (Milosevic & Radomsky, 2008). This study examined the effects of safety behaviors on behavioral, cognitive, and subjective indicators of fear during exposure for fear of spiders. A two-stage design was used to examine fear reduction and approach distance during an in vivo exposure task for participants (N = 43) assigned to either a safety behavior use (SBU) or no safety behavior use (NSB) condition. Overall, both groups reported significant and comparable reductions in self-reported anxiety and negative beliefs about spiders at posttest and 1-week follow-up. Participants in the SBU group approached the spider more quickly than did participants in the NSB condition; however, participants in the SBU condition showed a small but significant decrease in approach distance at follow-up. These results call for a reconceptualization of the impact of safety behaviors on in vivo exposure.     

The left side of courage: Three exploratory studies on the antecedents of social courage

Abstract

Courage has been linked to important workplace outcomes, but little is known about the antecedents of courage. To identify possible methods to develop a more courageous workforce, the current article provides initial evidence regarding the antecedents of behavioral social courage from five broad categories: personality, job characteristics, leadership, culture, and demographic characteristics. Three exploratory studies show that certain antecedents from these categories have a significant relationship with behavioral social courage, including grit, proactive personality (personality), social support (job characteristics), empowering leadership (leadership), power distance (culture), and age (demographics). Perceived courage benefits and risks did not mediate the effect of most antecedents on behavioral social courage. These results suggest that certain antecedents may influence behavioral social courage, but the mediators of these relationships remain unknown. Further implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Interrelationships between spider fear associations,attentional disengagement and self-reported fear: A preliminary test of a dual-systems model

Recent conceptualisations of anxiety posit that equivocal findings related to the time-course of disengaging from threat-relevant stimuli may be attributable to individual differences in associative and rule-based processing. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that strength of spider-fear associations would indirectly predict reported spider fear via impaired disengagement. One hundred and thirty-one undergraduate volunteer participants completed the Go/No-go Association Task, a visual search task, and self-report spider fear questionnaires. Stronger spider-fear associations were associated with reduced disengagement accuracy, whereas higher levels of reported spider fear were related to faster engagement with and disengagement from spiders. Bootstrapping multiple mediation analyses demonstrated that stronger-spider fear associations evidenced an indirect relationship with reported spider fear via reduced disengagement accuracy, highlighting the importance of fine-grained analyses of different aspects of cognitive bias. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive models of anxiety.     

权力对压力应对行为倾向的影响：认知评估的中介作用

摘 要 采用实验法探讨权力对压力应对行为的影响以及认知评估在二者关系中的作用。实验一通过回忆法操纵权力,测量被试在压力情境下的认知评估和行为倾向。结果发现,权力水平影响压力下的生理反应,高权力者产生挑战,低权力者产生威胁;认知评估在权力和压力应对行为倾向间起中介作用。实验二进一步探究了权力对压力应对行为的影响,结果发现认知评估中介权力和压力应对行为倾向,且不同权力水平者的压力应对行为存在显著差异。     

Fear and disgust processing during repeated exposure to threat-relevant stimuli in spider phobia

Although disgust plays a significant role in the etiology of spider phobia, there remains a paucity of research examining the role of disgust in the treatment of spider phobia. Spider fearful participants (N = 46) were randomly assigned to a disgust (view vomit images) or neutral activation (view inanimate objects) condition. They were then repeatedly exposed to a videotaped tarantula, during which time their fear, disgust, and physiological levels were assessed repeatedly. Growth curve analyses indicated that repeated exposure led to significant declines in fear and disgust with no statistically significant differences between the two conditions. However, there was marginal evidence for decreased physiological arousal during repeated exposure among spider fearful participants in the disgust activation condition compared to those in the neutral condition. Reduction in disgust during exposure in the disgust activation condition remained significant after controlling for change in fear, whereas change in fear was no longer significant after controlling for change in disgust. However, the opposite pattern of relations between change in fear and disgust was observed in the neutral activation condition. Higher fear and disgust activation during exposure was also associated with higher fear and disgust responding on a subsequent behavioral task and higher spider fear and disgust at 3-month follow-up. Baseline trait disgust propensity also predicted fear and disgust parameters during repeated exposure. The implications of these findings for the role of disgust in the treatment of spider phobia are discussed.     

Applying the approach/avoidance framework to understand the relationships between social courage,workplace outcomes,and well-being outcomes

ABSTRACT

The current article heeds three prior calls to advance the study of courage. First, we replicate prior findings regarding the relationship of social courage and work outcomes, but we also investigate, for the first time, the relationship between social courage and well-being outcomes. Second, we apply the approach/avoidance framework to understand how social courage influences these outcomes. Third, approach and avoidance motivations are tested as mediators of the relationships of social courage with outcomes while controlling for established aspects of personality, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Two longitudinal studies show that approach motivation is a robust mediator between courage and both workplace and well-being outcomes, suggesting that courageous individuals achieve positive outcomes because they particularly value the benefits in such actions. Avoidance motivation was a less consistent mediator. Implications are discussed, but it should be emphasized that broader relationships of social courage can now be identified by applying the approach/avoidance framework.     

Erratum

Abstract

Recent research has highlighted the central role of disgust in the etiology and maintenance of contamination aversion (CA). Data would also suggest that, although amendable to the treatment of choice for CA (exposure and response prevention [ERP]), disgust is resistant to habituation. However, with regard to CA, it is not yet known if disgust's resistance to habituation is an artifact of the emotion or the disorder. Specifically, research has not yet indicated if severity of CA moderates the effect of ERP on disgust. Utilizing an undergraduate convenience sample (n=33), the present study compared emotional responding (disgust and fear) with repeated exposure to a disgusting contamination-relevant stimulus between participants who are high in contamination aversion (HCA; n=17) and low in contamination aversion (LCA; n=16). Results indicated that, habituation of disgust was slower than fear within the HCA group but not the LCA group. Contrasts revealed that the decay of fear across trials was faster for HCA participants when compared with LCA participants, although decay of disgust was similar between groups. These results indicate that habituation of disgust is slower than fear when elevated CA is present.     

The relationship between self-reported animal fear and ERP modulation: Evidence for enhanced processing and fear of harmless invertebrates in snake- and spider-fearful individuals

The present study used ERPs to compare processing of fear-relevant (FR) animals (snakes and spiders) and non-fear-relevant (NFR) animals similar in appearance (worms and beetles). EEG was recorded from 18 undergraduate participants (10 females) as they completed two animal-viewing tasks that required simple categorization decisions. Participants were divided on a post hoc basis into low snake/spider fear and high snake/spider fear groups. Overall, FR animals were rated higher on fear and elicited a larger LPC. However, individual differences qualified these effects. Participants in the low fear group showed clear differentiation between FR and NFR animals on subjective ratings of fear and LPC modulation. In contrast, participants in the high fear group did not show such differentiation between FR and NFR animals. These findings suggest that the salience of feared-FR animals may generalize on both a behavioural and electro-cortical level to other animals of similar appearance but of a non-harmful nature.     

The Effect of d-Cycloserine on Subliminal Cue Exposure in Spider Fearful Individuals

Research on d-cycloserine (DCS) has demonstrated a significant effect on symptom reduction in human studies that utilized conventional exposure-based approaches. Recent studies have offered promising results for targeting fears through subliminal paradigms. In this double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study, 45 spider fearful individuals received DCS or placebo pills prior to completing a subliminal cue exposure task to images of spiders. Participants completed self-report questionnaires and a behavioral approach task to a live caged tarantula. After repeated exposure to subliminal spider cues, participants in the DCS group reported a greater reduction in disgust than individuals in the placebo group. No difference was observed in fear ratings. These findings suggest that DCS augments the reduction in disgust in spider fearful subjects after subliminal exposure to spider cues.     

The Death of Socrates

Abstract

In Phaedo, Plato shows the grace of a true courage which can affirm life even in death. Socrates’ courage is not that of the martyr, grounded on a belief in divine reward; his is the courage of the philosopher who knows that he does not know. In his self-reflexive striving to be a person who strives for wisdom, Socrates dissipates the fear of death by dissolving the presumption on which this fear is based, and reframing death as an opportunity for knowledge. Socrates’ courage is therefore founded on an epistemic hope that is embodied in the very activity of philosophy.     

自恋双面性与行为系统的关系：性别的调节作用

为探索不同自恋得分的个体对奖赏与惩罚的敏感性及性别在其中的作用,本研究采用钦佩–竞争自恋问卷(NARQ)、BIS/BAS量表在483名在校大学生中进行调查。对数据进行共同方法偏差检验、相关分析以及基于多元回归的调节效应检验,结果发现：(1)钦佩性自恋与行为趋近系统存在显著正相关,与行为抑制系统存在显著负相关;(2)竞争性自恋与行为抑制系统存在显著正相关,而与行为趋近系统的相关不显著;(3)性别在自恋双面性与行为系统之间起调节作用。结果表明,女性自恋双面性得分越高,对奖赏和惩罚均越敏感;在男性被试中未表现出这种模式。     

Depth of processing and recall of threat material in fearful and nonfearful individuals

Abstract

Although many studies have examined the nature of memory distortions in anxious individuals, few have considered biases in specific memory processes, such as encoding or retrieval. To investigate whether the presentation of threat material facilitates encoding biases, spider fearful (n=63), blood fearful (n=73), and nonfearful (n=75) participants encoded spider related, blood related, and neutral words as a function of three levels of processing (i.e., structural, semantic, and self referent). Participants subsequently completed either a free recall or a recognition task. All participants demonstrated a partial depth of processing effect, such that they recalled more words encoded in the self referent condition than in the other two conditions, but groups did not differ in their recall of stimuli as a function of word type. Relative to participants in the other groups, spider fearful participants had fewer spider related intrusions in the recall condition, and they made fewer errors in responding to structural and semantic encoding questions when spider related words were presented. These results contribute to an increasingly large body of literature suggesting that anxious individuals are not characterized by a memory bias toward threat, and they raise the possibility that individuals with spider fears process threat-relevant information differently than individuals with blood fears.     

Graduated in Vivo Exposure with a Severe Spider Phobic

Abstract

A treatment procedure involving graduate in vivo exposure was employed with a severe spider phobic. A Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT) was used to assess approach behavior and subjective fear level (SUDS) before, during, and after treatment. During the baseline BAT's, the subject could approach no closer than Iwo feet from a spider in a jar while experiencing a SUDS level of 100. After treatment, the subject could kill spiders (the teriiiinal BAT step) with a Suds level of only 35. Pre and posttreatriient interviews indicated that the subject had terniinated previously performed spider avoidance activities.     

Fear and Courage in Children: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

This study further investigated the construct of courage in children. Children aged 8–13 years (n = 51) were interviewed about the most courageous action that they had ever performed during their life, and to retrospectively rate their level of fear and courage experienced during that event. On a separate occasion, children also completed the Courage Measure for Children (CM-C) as an index of children’s general level of personal courage, as well as scales for assessing anxiety symptoms and sensation seeking. Results indicated that almost all children (i.e., 94%) indicated that they had carried out a courageous action at some point during their life, although the levels of fear and courage associated with these acts varied considerably. Further, there was no relation between fear and courage reported for the courageous action, but these variables were significantly correlated with respectively anxiety symptoms and personal courage as indexed by the CM-C. Finally, a significant positive correlation was observed between sensation seeking and personal courage, indicating that children who are more thrill and adventure seeking are generally also more courageous. It is concluded that fear and courage in children are largely unrelated and not just two sides of the same coin. The implications of these results for the etiology and treatment of childhood anxiety problems are discussed.     

The Courage of Conviction: Andreia as Precondition for Philosophic Examination in Plato's Protagoras and Republic

There are at least two apparently conflicting views of courage found in Plato's dialogues: the intellectualist view exemplified by Socrates’s identification of courage with wisdom as found in the Protagoras; and the dispositional view of courage as a natural temperament to overcome fear in situations of danger, the necessary qualification for the auxiliary class in the Republic. In this paper I argue that these views are complementary, dispositional courage being a necessary precondition for the pursuit of the proper human excellence of wisdom. I demonstrate this by considering the role opinion plays in each understanding of courage, showing both that dispositional courage is necessary to ensure that proper opinions be retained in the pursuit of wisdom and that wisdom is necessary to guarantee these opinions are the proper ones. Finally, I argue that not only is this relationship of the two understandings of courage present in the Republic, but even in the Protagoras Socrates’s method of conducting the elenchus betrays awareness on his part of the importance of dispositional courage in the pursuit of wisdom     

Comparing thought suppression and mindfulness as coping techniques for spider fear

The current study compared thought suppression, focused attention (mindfulness) and unfocused attention as strategies for managing spider fear. Spider fearful participants were exposed to a strategy induction before completing a Behavioural Approach Test (BAT). The BAT is a 10 step measurement of how close participants are willing to move towards a spider. Participants were instructed to use what they learned in the pre-BAT induction to help them advance through the steps of the BAT. The results of the study indicated that participants given the thought suppression or the unfocused attention induction moved through significantly less steps of the BAT than did those given the focused attention (mindful) induction. Additionally, the thought suppression group felt significantly more anxious than the focused and unfocused attention groups following completion of the BAT. These results are discussed in terms of the impact of thought suppression on avoidance behaviour in phobias.     

Characteristics of individuals with fear of spiders

Abstract

This paper reports the results of two studies which investigated some of the factors that differentiated individuals with fear of spiders from those without such fears. The main results suggested that (a) there was little evidence that fear of spiders in nonclinical subjects is normally acquired through direct conditioning experiences; (b) there was some evidence for a familial component to spider fears; (c) there was no support for the view that individuals reporting a fear of spiders were especially sensitized to the movement cues possessed by spiders; (d) fear of spiders was not associated either with higher levels of trait anxiety or with an increased predisposition to other fears in general; but (e) fear of spiders did appear to be associated with increased fear of other animals, but only animals that are normally considered fear-evoking or disgust-evoking. These results provide little support for a traditional conditioning view of spider fears, and they are not entirely consistent with some preparedness accounts of the acquisition of specific fears. However, the results do suggest that fear of spiders is part of a functionally integrated set of animal fears, and it is argued that the present results could be better understood by attempting to integrate predator-defence and disease-avoidance models of animal fears.     

Enduring without avoiding: Pauses and verbal dysfluencies in public speaking fear

Direct measures of overt behavior have been underutilized in speech and other social fear, anxiety, and phobia research. This study demonstrates the usefulness of such variables in the evaluation of public speaking fear. A molecular behavioral assessment methodology was used to examine pauses and verbal dysfluencies of individuals with circumscribed speech fear (n=8) or general social anxiety (n=8), as well as nonanxious control participants (n=16), during an impromptu speech behavior test. Speech fear and generally social anxious individuals paused more often and for a longer duration than the nonanxious group. Results also indicated greater increases in state anxiety during the speech in the circumscribed speech fear sample, relative to the generalized social anxiety and control groups. Taken together with other research, these findings provide evidence that circumscribed speech fear is a meaningful subtype and can be independent of generalized social anxiety. The utility of measuring pausing and verbal dysfluencies in the behavioral assessment of speech fear and other social anxiety and phobia is discussed.