Journal
BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY
Volume 95, Issue -, Pages 42-49Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2017.05.006
Keywords
Child; Fear; Extinction; Anxiety; Counter-conditioning; Vicarious learning
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Funding
- Macquarie University Research Development Grant [9201200309]
- New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry
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Two behavioural strategies for reducing learned fear are extinction and counter-conditioning, and in this study we compared the relative effectiveness of the two procedures at diminishing fear in children. Seventy-three children aged 7-12 years old (M = 9.30, SD = 1.62) were exposed to pictures of two novel animals on a computer screen during the fear acquisition phase. One of these animals was paired with a picture of a scared human face (CS+) while the other was not (CS-). The children were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: counter-conditioning (animal paired with a happy face), extinction (animal without scared face), or control (no fear reduction procedure). Changes in fear beliefs and behavioural avoidance of the animal were measured. Counter-conditioning was more effective at reducing fear to the CS + than extinction. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for behavioural treatments of childhood anxiety disorders. Crown Copyright (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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