SNK

Wariness Around Snakes

Class: I - Natural Selection

EPA Total Score: 37 /100

Tomarken, A. J., Sutton, S. K., & Mineka, S. (1995). Fear-relevant illusory correlations: What types of associations promote judgmental bias? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 312–326.

Abstract: A. J. Tomarken, S. Mineka, and M. Cook (see record 1990-11527-001) found that high-fear individuals markedly overestimated the covariation between fear-relevant stimuli and aversive outcomes. The authors assessed what features of stimulus–outcome associations promote illusory correlations. In Experiment 1, participants with high snake fear exhibited significant covariation bias for slides of snakes and shocks, but not for slides of damaged electric outlets (DEOs) and shocks. In Experiment 2, individuals with high and low snake fear rated DEOs and shocks as belonging together better than snakes and shocks. However, the shapes of high-fear individuals' affective response profiles to snakes and shocks were more similar than their profile shapes involving other pairings. In addition, their affective responses to snakes and snake–shock profile similarity predicted snake–shock belongingness ratings. These results suggest the importance of emotional responses and emotional profile similarity in mediating illusory correlations involving fear-relevant stimuli.

DJGlass


Supporting Evidence

30/100

Submitted by niruban

10/100

Submitted by DJGlass

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any supporting Medical evidence for this EPA.

30/100

Submitted by niruban

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any supporting Cross-Cultural evidence for this EPA.

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any supporting Genetic evidence for this EPA.

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Supporting Evidence is evidence that suggests that this trait is an Evolved Psychological Adaptation (EPA) - i.e., that it has been shaped by natural selection to solve a particular adaptive problem.

Challenging Evidence

0/100

Submitted by niruban

0/100

Submitted by DJGlass

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any challenging Medical evidence for this EPA.

0/100

Submitted by niruban

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any challenging Cross-Cultural evidence for this EPA.

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any challenging Genetic evidence for this EPA.

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any challenging Phylogenetic evidence for this EPA.

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any challenging Hunter-Gatherer evidence for this EPA.

Challenging Evidence is evidence that suggests that this trait is not an EPA - e.g., that it is a product of cultural learning or genetic drift, or maybe it does not exist at all. However over each line of evidence for a description.