title: Approach behavior as information.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anxious individuals infer danger from information about physiological responses, anxiety responses, and safety behaviors. This study investigated whether anxious individuals also infer safety from approach behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  325 students rated the danger they perceived in general and spider-relevant scenarios in which information about objective safety versus objective danger, and approach behavior versus no approach behavior, was varied. A high and low spider fearful group was created with a median split on spider fear.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants with a high fear of spiders, compared to participants with low spider fear, rated spider scenarios with approach behavior as safer than spider scenarios without approach behavior. This effect was similar for objectively dangerous and safe spider scenarios. No behavior as information effects were found for general scenarios.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data were collected in a non-clinical student sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Spider fearful individuals infer safety from approach behavior in spider-relevant scenarios. For spider fearful individuals, approach behavior may add to the beneficial effects of exposure therapy. Future research is needed to investigate whether patients with anxiety disorders also show a tendency to infer safety from approach behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Electronic address: s.l.vanuijen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Sophie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: van Uijen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.a.vandenhout@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Marcel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van den Hout
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Electronic address: i.m.engelhard@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Iris M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Engelhard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety disorders; Approach behavior; Behavior as information; Spider phobia