SNK
Wariness Around Snakes
Class: I - Natural Selection
EPA Total Score: 37 /100
Cook, E. W., Hodes, R. L., & Lang, P. J. (1986). Preparedness and phobia: Effects of stimulus content on human visceral conditioning. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 195–207.
Abstract: Conducted 6 experiments to test M. Seligman's (see PA, Vols 45:1675 and 48:1326) preparedness theory of phobia in human classical conditioning of skin conductance and heart rate responses with approximately 12 undergraduates. Conditioned stimuli (CSs) were photographs of plants, human artifacts, and phobia-relevant animals. Both aversive tactile and auditory unconditioned stimuli (UCSs) were assessed. Combined present results indicate that, consistent with results obtained by A. Ohman and colleagues in research conducted between 1975 and 1985 to test Seligman's theory, electrodermal extinction was slower to phobia-relevant stimuli than to other stimuli (and in the present study, was shown to depend on a tactile UCS); however, unlike the findings of Ohman and colleagues, when Ss were told that shocks would be discontinued, phobic CSs extinguished as readily as unprepared CSs. New evidence was obtained for a preparedness effect during acquisition trials: Only Ss receiving phobia-relevant stimuli developed an acceleratory cardiac conditioned response (CR). This acquisition effect was more reliable across experiments than the electrodermal extinction findings and showed less influence of CS—UCS "belongingness." Findings suggest that the preparedness effect is complexly determined and provide evidence that phobic stimuli occasion a unique pattern of conditioned visceral response.
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10/100
Submitted by DJGlass
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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.
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0/100
Submitted by DJGlass
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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.