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Children's fears learned through observation

March 21, 2005

Psychologists have found evidence which suggests that children can learn to be fearful of something just by observing another's facial expressions.

This is the finding of research by Mr Chris Askew and Dr Andy Field of the University of Sussex, which is being presented at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference at the University of Manchester today, Thursday 31 March 2005.

The study, which aimed to investigate whether children's fear beliefs about a picture of a previously un-encountered animal increased after seeing it together with scared faces, was conducted using a group of 8-9 year olds. Each child was presented with pictures of two Australian marsupials together with either fearful or happy faces. A third animal was also presented, this was not paired with any faces. Fear beliefs about each animal were measured by self-report questionnaires both before and after the viewing the pictures.

The study, which was repeated one week later, found that fear beliefs increased for animals paired with fearful faces and decreased for animals paired with happy faces, compared to the non-paired animal. Significant differences in fear beliefs and attitudes were still present one week later.

Mr Askew said: "Seeing imaginary animals together with fearful faces appears to increase children's fear beliefs and negative attitudes toward the animal. Thus the results show how children's fear beliefs about a previously unknown stimulus can be affected just by observing another's facial expressions. The findings therefore will have implications for both the theory and treatment of fears".

British Psychological Society (BPS)

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