Vulnerability representation: the role of perceived dangerousness, uncontrollability, unpredictability and disgustingness in spider fear

Abstract

It was proposed that cognitive vulnerability representations relating to the perceived uncontrollability, unpredictability, dangerousness and disgustingness of spiders are important factors in the fear of spiders. One-hundred and ninety-two first-year psychology students completed a questionnaire measuring the four vulnerability variables, spider fear and learning history. It was found that fear of spiders was highly correlated with each of the four vulnerability variables. In addition, greater fear of spiders was found for females in comparison with males and this was associated with differential perceptions of spiders as uncontrollable, unpredictable, dangerous and disgusting. Finally, the vulnerability variables accounted for significantly more variance in fear scores than the experience of a number of classical conditioning, vicarious and informational learning events. It is argued that there is value in considering a person's perception of the uncontrollability, unpredictability, dangerousness and disgustingness of spiders in order to better understand individual differences in spider fear.