title: Reduction of verbally learned fear in children: a comparison between positive information, imagery, and a control condition.
abstract: This study explored the effects of positive information and imagery as ways of reducing a verbally installed fear in children. Seventy-two primary school children aged 9-13 years were first exposed to negative information to induce fear of a novel animal, and were then randomly assigned to three interventions: positive information, imagery, or a control condition. Outcome of various interventions was assessed by means of a standardized scale of fear beliefs and an index of confirmation bias (defined as the tendency to search for threat information in relation to the feared stimulus). Results indicated that both positive information and imagery were more effective in reducing fear than the control condition. Some evidence was also obtained showing that positive information was more effective than imagery, which suggests that this intervention represents the most optimal treatment approach when dealing with verbally acquired fears in children.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. muris@fsw.eur.nl
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muris
authors.forename: Jorg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huijding
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van As
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Alem
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*