Individual Differences In Fear Research Articles

Revisiting the bounded generalized reciprocity model: Ingroup favoritism and concerns about negative evaluation

The bounded generalized reciprocity (BGR) model, grounded in reputation management, predicts that the motivation underlying ingroup favoritism (favoring one's own group over other groups) is driven by avoiding a negative reputation within one's own group. This research conducted two economic games with minimal groups in which reputational concerns (partners' knowledge of participants' group membership) were manipulated. We aimed to verify the replicability of the experimental results in support of the BGR model. A study (N = 394) using a dictator game (in which participants unilaterally determined their partners' payoffs) indicated the following: (1) participants were more likely to behave cooperatively with ingroup partners than with outgroup partners, regardless of whether their partners knew the participants' group membership; and (2) individual differences in fear of negative evaluation by others were not associated with cooperation toward the ingroup. Similar results were found in another study (N = 429) using a prisoner's dilemma game (in which participants' payoffs were determined by their partners). However, while sharing knowledge about group membership facilitated cooperation with the outgroup in the dictator game, no such tendency was observed in the prisoner's dilemma game. These findings suggest that concerns about a bad reputation may not play a relatively important role in ingroup favoritism, and that generosity toward outgroup members is influenced by the presence or absence of interdependence (i.e., whether the partner's behavior affects the participant's payoffs). This research proposes a reconsideration of the motivations behind cooperation within or between groups.

How fear of Covid‐19 predicts differential attitudes between nonphysician healthcare workers and other essential occupations

AbstractWe examine two competing hypotheses about how individual differences in fear of Covid‐19 influence attitudes toward nurses, hospital janitors and garbage collectors. On one hand, fear of Covid‐19 can predict less warmth toward nurses because fear may lead to avoidance and contempt. On the other hand, fear of Covid‐19 can predict greater warmth toward nurses because greater fear of Covid‐19 could alternatively imply greater cognizance of the contribution that nurses make, and the risk they undertake. Also, we hypothesize that fear of Covid‐19 does not predict greater warmth toward hospital janitors or garbage collectors. Findings of two studies (cross‐sectional and longitudinal) generally showed that increased fear of Covid‐19 (mainly on the psychological dimension) predicted greater warmth toward nurses, but not toward hospital janitors and garbage collectors. In the pandemic context, it appears that healthcare workers directly involved in patient care are not so much stigmatized, as appreciated, for their risk and contribution. However, other essential workers that are not involved in direct patient care appear less valued.

Behavioral and genetic architecture of fear conditioning and related phenotypes

Contextual fear conditioning is a form of Pavlovian learning during which an organism learns to fear previously neutral stimuli following their close temporal presentation with an aversive stimulus. In mouse models, freezing behavior is typically used to quantify learned fear. This dependent variable is the sum of multiple processes, including associative/configural learning, fear and anxiety, and general activity. To explore phenotypic constructs underlying contextual fear conditioning and correlated behaviors, as well as factors that may contribute to individual differences in learning and mental health, we tested BXD recombinant inbred strains previously found to show extreme contextual fear conditioning phenotypes and BXD parental strains, C57BL/6J and DBA/2J, in a series of tests including locomotor, anxiety, contextual/cued fear conditioning and non-associative hippocampus-dependent learning behaviors. Hippocampal expression of two previously identified candidate genes for contextual fear conditioning was also quantified. Behavioral and gene expression data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which suggested five unique constructs representing activity/anxiety/exploration, associative fear learning, anxiety, post-shock freezing, and open field activity phenotypes. Associative fear learning and expression of one candidate gene, Hacd4, clusteredas a construct withinthefactor analysis. Post-shock freezingduring fear conditioning and expression of candidate gene Ptprd emerged as another unique construct, highlighting theindependenceof freezing after footshock from other fear conditioning variables in the current dataset.EFA results additionally suggest shared phenotypic variance in adaptive murine behaviors related to anxiety, general activity, and exploration. These findings inform understanding of fear learning and underlying biological mechanisms that may interact to produce individual differences in fear- and learning-related behaviors in mice.

Individual differences in fear and self-distancing predict information processing via problem construal

In two preregistered online studies (NTotal = 984; Prolific), we examined how individual differences in fear and self-distancing predict information processing in decision-making involving risk in a business scenario. Dispositional fear was positively related to intuitive processing and negatively related to analytical processing, whereas self-distancing was positively related to analytical processing. These relations occurred indirectly via problem construal (i.e., concreteness and vividness of mental imagery). Dispositional fear predicted less concrete problem construal, which in turn predicted more urgent intuitive processing and less analytical processing. In contrast, habitual self-distancing predicted more concrete problem construal, which in turn predicted more analytical processing and less urgent intuitive processing. Overall, these findings suggest that, in contrast to emotionally regulated decision-makers, fearful decision-makers' tendency to construe problems less concretely (i.e., more abstractly) might hinder their ability to concretize and analyze problems involving risk.

Classification and assessment of fear and anxiety in personality and psychopathology

We examine fear and anxiety in the context of structural models of personality (the five-factor model, or FFM) and psychopathology (the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology, or HiTOP); we also highlight important issues related to their assessment. Anxiety is a sustained, future-oriented response to potential threat. Trait measures of anxiety represent a core facet within the broader domain of neuroticism in the FFM. Anxiety-related symptoms are indicators of the distress subfactor within the internalizing spectrum in HiTOP. In contrast, fear is a brief, present-focused response to an acute threat. We distinguish between two ways of assessing individual differences in fear. The first type assesses phobic responses to specific stimuli. Phobia measures are moderately correlated with measures of neuroticism in the FFM and define the fear subfactor of internalizing in HiTOP. The second type assesses individual differences in harm avoidance versus risk taking. Measures of risk taking (i.e., low fear) are moderately related to disinhibition/low conscientiousness and antagonism/low agreeableness in the FFM and are indicators of the externalizing superspectrum in HiTOP.

Fear of Missing out (FOMO): Implications for Employees and Job Performance

Recently, there has been growing interest in how individual differences in FOMO affect personal and individual outcomes. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding the impact of FOMO in the workplace. The current study examined whether individual differences in fear of missing out (FOMO) affect employee job performance. This was accomplished by investigating the mediating role of burnout and social media engagement (SME). Furthermore, we also examined whether amotivation moderates the mediation process. Data were gathered from 214 Israeli employees by using the following scales: Fear of Missing Out (FOMOs), Burnout, Social Media Engagement (SME), Multidimensional Work Motivation (MWMS), and Job Performance. The results indicated that individual differences in FOMO are associated with relatively low levels of job performance. The relationship is mediated by burnout but not by SME. Amotivation was found to moderate the mediation effect of burnout. Interpretation of these results and practical implications are discussed.

Amygdala DCX and blood Cdk14 are implicated as cross-species indicators of individual differences in fear, extinction, and resilience to trauma exposure.

Doublecortin (DCX) has long been implicated in, and employed as a marker for, neurogenesis, yet little is known about its function in non-neurogenic brain regions, including the amygdala. This study sought first to explore, in rodents, whether fear learning and extinction modulate amygdala DCX expression and, second, to assess the utility of peripheral DCX correlates as predictive biomarkers of trauma response in rodents and humans. Pavlovian conditioning was found to alter DCX protein levels in mice 24 hours later, resulting in higher DCX expression associated with enhanced learning in paradigms examining both the acquisition and extinction of fear (p < 0.001). This, in turn, is associated with differences in freezing on subsequent fear expression tests, and the same relationship between DCX and fear extinction was replicated in rats (p < 0.001), with higher amygdala DCX levels associated with more rapid extinction of fear. RNAseq of amygdala and blood from mice identified 388 amygdala genes that correlated with DCX (q < 0.001) and which gene ontology analyses revealed were significantly over-represented for neurodevelopmental processes. In blood, DCX-correlated genes included the Wnt signaling molecule Cdk14 which was found to predict freezing during both fear acquisition (p < 0.05) and brief extinction protocols (p < 0.001). High Cdk14 measured in blood immediately after testing was also associated with less freezing during fear expression testing (p < 0.01). Finally, in humans, Cdk14 expression in blood taken shortly after trauma was found to predict resilience in males for up to a year post-trauma (p < 0.0001). These data implicate amygdala DCX in fear learning and suggest that Cdk14 may serve as a predictive biomarker of trauma response.

Effect of Individual Differences in Fear and Anxiety on Face Perception of Human and Android Agents

People process human faces configurally—as a Gestalt or integrated whole—but perceive objects in terms of their individual features. As a result, faces—but not objects—are more difficult to process when presented upside down versus upright. Previous research demonstrates that this inversion effect is not observed when recognizing previously seen android faces, suggesting they are processed more like objects, perhaps due to a lack of perceptual experience and/or motivation to recognize android faces. The current study aimed to determine whether negative emotions, particularly fear of androids, may lessen configural processing of android faces compared to human faces. While the current study replicated previous research showing a greater inversion effect for human compared to android faces, we did not find evidence that negative emotions—such as fear—towards androids influenced the face inversion effect. We discuss the implications of this study and opportunities for future research.

Individual Differences in Conditioned Fear and Extinction in Female Rats.

The inability to extinguish a traumatic memory is a key aspect of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While PTSD affects 10–20% of individuals who experience a trauma, women are particularly susceptible to developing the disorder. Despite this notable female vulnerability, few studies have investigated this particular resistance to fear extinction observed in females. Similar to humans, rodent models of Pavlovian fear learning and extinction show a wide range of individual differences in fear learning and extinction, although female rodents are considerably understudied. Therefore, the present study examined individual differences in fear responses, including freezing behavior and ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), of female Long–Evans rats during acquisition of fear conditioning and cued fear extinction. Similar to prior studies in males, female rats displayed individual variation in freezing during cued fear extinction and were divided into extinction competent (EC) and extinction resistant (ER) phenotypes. Differences in freezing between ER and EC females were accompanied by shifts in rearing during extinction, but no darting was seen in any trial. Freezing behavior during fear learning did not differ between the EC and ER females. Vocalizations emitted in the 22 and 50 kHz ranges during fear learning and extinction were also examined. Unlike vocalizations seen in previous studies in males, very few 22 kHz distress vocalizations were emitted by female rats during fear acquisition and extinction, with no difference between ER and EC groups. Interestingly, all female rats produced significant levels of 50 kHz USVs, and EC females emitted significantly more 50 kHz USVs than ER rats. This difference in 50 kHz USVs was most apparent during initial exposure to the testing environment. These results suggest that like males, female rodents show individual differences in both freezing and USVs during fear extinction, although females appear to vocalize more in the 50 kHz range, especially during initial periods of exposure to the testing environment, and emit very few of the 22 kHz distress calls that are typically observed in males during fear learning or extinction paradigms. Overall, these findings show that female rodents display fear behavior repertoires divergent from males.

Anxiety associated with COVID-19 and concerns about death: Impacts on psychological well-being

Situations of public calamity, such as that caused by COVID-19 pandemic, strongly impact mental health, especially among people who feel most anxious about the imminence of death, as highlighted by the Terror Management Theory. In this research, we investigated how and under which conditions concerns about death itself and anxiety are related to psychological well-being. Specifically, we assessed the role of fear caused by the prominence of death (contextual and dispositional) in anxiety and well-being during the pandemic. Participants were 352 Brazilians, who answered a measurement of fear of death and read a news story about COVID-19. The manipulated news brought the idea of death to prominence (vs. non-prominence). After reading the news, the participants answered scales of anxiety and psychological well-being. The results showed that individual differences in fear of death related to well-being, and that this relationship was mediated by anxiety in face of COVID-19. Contrastingly, the manipulation of the salience of death in the news did not affect this relationship. These results contribute to the understanding of a psychological process related with fluctuations in individuals' well-being during the pandemic, offering insights for future studies that can promote better coping conditions during this period of world crisis.

Individual differences in Fear of Missing Out (FoMO): Age, gender, and the Big Five personality trait domains, facets, and items

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), or the anxiety of missing out on exciting or interesting events happening, has received substantial attention over the past years, but its associations with age, gender, and personality are less researched. The aim of this work was to investigate these relationships. 3370 German participants completed the 10-item FoMO scale and the 45-item German Big Five Inventory in 2018. The results showed no gender differences in experiencing FoMO. Younger people had higher FoMO scores. Neuroticism domain, its facets, and items robustly positively correlated with FoMO, while Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were negatively associated with FoMO on the domain-level (with small correlations). In addition to Neuroticism, Conscientiousness had consistent negative (yet small) links with FoMO on domain-, facet-, and item-level data. This study contributes to the field by outlining individual differences in FoMO as well as by emphasizing the need to investigate personality-outcome associations on a more detailed level.

Cholinergic neurotransmission in the basolateral amygdala during cued fear extinction

Cholinergic neuromodulation plays an important role in numerous cognitive functions including regulating arousal and attention, as well as associative learning and extinction processes. Further, studies demonstrate that cholinergic inputs from the basal forebrain cholinergic system influence physiological responses in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) as well as fear extinction processes. Since rodent models display individual differences in conditioned fear and extinction responses, this study investigated if cholinergic transmission in the BLA during fear extinction could contribute to differences between extinction resistant and extinction competent phenotypes in outbred Long-Evans male rats. Experiment 1 used in vivo microdialysis to test the hypothesis that acetylcholine (ACH) efflux in the BLA would increase with presentation of an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS+) during extinction learning. Acetylcholine efflux was compared in rats exposed to the CS+, a CS- (the tone never paired with a footshock), or to a context shift alone (without CS+ tone presentation). Consistent with acetylcholine's role in attention and arousal, ACH efflux in the BLA was increased in all three groups (CS+, CS-, Shift Alone) by the initial context shift into the extinction learning chamber, but returned more rapidly to baseline levels in the Shift Alone group (no CS+). In contrast, in the group exposed to the CS+, ACH efflux in the BLA remained elevated during continued presentation of conditioned cues and returned to baseline more slowly, leading to an overall increase in ACH efflux compared with the Shift Alone group. Based on the very dense staining in the BLA for acetylcholinesterase (ACHE), Experiment 2 examined if individual differences in fear extinction were associated with differences in cholinesterase enzyme activity (CHE) in the BLA and/or plasma with a separate cohort of animals. Cholinesterase activity (post-testing) in both the BLA and plasma was higher in extinction competent rats versus rats resistant to extinction learning. There was also a significant negative correlation between BLA CHE activity and freezing during extinction learning. Taken together, our results support a role for ACH efflux in the BLA during cued fear extinction that may be modulated by individual differences in ACHE activity, and are associated with behavioral responses during fear extinction. These findings implicate individual differences in cholinergic regulation in the susceptibility to disorders with dysregulation of extinction learning, such post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in humans.

The Role of Personality, Political Attitudes and Socio-Demographic Characteristics in Explaining Individual Differences in Fear of Coronavirus: A Comparison Over Time and Across Countries.

Since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in December 2019 about 500,000 people died within the first 6 months. The virus itself, as well as the related political decisions, intensified an increasing feeling of fear in billions of people worldwide. However, while some people remained unperturbed, others experienced panic over the current situation. In order to investigate individual differences in the perceptions, emotions and behaviors in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, an online survey was conducted between 6th and 27th of March 2020. Participants included 7309 individuals from 96 countries, who provided information on socio-demographics, personality, political orientation and general life satisfaction. To determine the specificity of fear of Coronavirus, we also investigated fear related to two other current political issues: the refugee and the climate crises. Overall, in parallel with the escalation of the pandemic, fear of Coronavirus increased significantly over the 22-day period, with the strongest predictors being the personality variable neuroticism, as well as education, sex and being an at-risk person. A detailed longitudinal analysis of the largest sample, Germany, revealed that political orientation was also an important predictor of fear of Coronavirus. Specifically, conservatives were more afraid of Coronavirus than liberals. However, as the perceived threat of the virus increased, the influence of political orientation disappeared, whereas personality remained a stable predictor. The pattern of results regarding the perceived threat of the refugee and climate crises painted a different picture: political orientation was by far the best predictor, more important even than personality. Conservatives were more worried about the refugees, and liberals about climate change. Cross-cultural analyses showed pronounced differences between countries, dependent on the crisis. Nonetheless, the importance of personality for the prediction of fear of Coronavirus remained stable over time and across the world within the investigated 22-day period.

Predicting trait-like individual differences in fear of pain in the healthy state using gray matter volume

Fear of pain (FOP) can be considered as a product of evolution from overstated negative interpretations of pain and sometimes may cause more damage than the actual pain itself. While trait-like measures of FOP have emerged as predictors for the inception and development of chronic pain, its neural underpinnings are not well understood. To investigate the relationship between gray matter volumes (GMV) and trait-like individual differences in FOP, we analyzed structural magnetic resonance imaging data in a sample of healthy young adults. Regression analysis results showed that individuals with higher FOP scores displayed higher GMV in brain regions important for the regulation of pain and fear. These brain areas include the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the anterior part of the dorsal ACC, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the adjacent pre-supplementary motor area. Furthermore, cross-validation analysis confirmed that the identified regional GMV offered a reliable neural signature of trait-like FOP. Our findings shed more light on the neuroanatomical architecture of FOP in currently pain-free people, which may be helpful to guide early interventions to prevent FOP from becoming chronic.

Pessimism and fearfulness in dairy calves

Animals that experience situations likely to induce negative emotions show changes in judgment associated with pessimism. Few studies have focused on whether animals express stable differences in pessimism and whether these differences are related to personality traits. The first aim of this study was to explore if dairy calves are consistent over time in making judgments under ambiguous situations. Our second aim was to determine whether individual differences in judgment bias are related to conventional personality traits assessed using four standardized tests (Open field, Novel object, Human reactivity and Social motivation test). We subjected animals to two sessions of judgment bias and personality trait tests at 25 and 50 d of age. Individual differences in judgment bias were consistent over time with some animals persistently making more pessimistic choices compared to others. Two main dimensions of personality (Fearfulness and Sociability), obtained through principal component analysis, were also highly consistent over time. Pessimism was related to fearfulness, with more fearful calves making more pessimistic judgments. We conclude that dairy calves differ in the way they perceive and react to ambiguity and that this relates to individual differences in fearfulness.

Fear of donation-related stimuli is reported across different levels of donation experience.

This study aimed to characterize the extent of donation-related fears among donors with different levels of donation experience. A sample of 1054 recent donors (48.3% female; mean±SD age 33.1±9.8 years) completed an anonymous, online survey of their fear of donation-related stimuli, including blood, needles, pain, and fainting. Respondents also provided information regarding demographics, pain, and vasovagal symptoms associated with their recent donation and confidence and intention with respect to a future donation. The sample was divided into four donation history subgroups, including one, two or three, four or five, or six or more prior donations. A significant negative relationship was observed between donation history and each of the assessed fears, indicating less fear with more experience. However, at least one-third of even the most experienced donors reported some fear for each of the stimuli. Further, greater fear was associated with more pain (r=0.35-0.56, all p<0.001) and more intense vasovagal symptom reports (r=0.41-0.61, all p<0.001). Finally, greater fear was associated with less donor confidence (r=-0.24 to -0.33, all p<0.001) and lower intentions of donating again (r=-0.14 to -0.20, all p<0.001). These data provide novel evidence that fear persists for many donors, despite increasing experience, and suggest that a greater appreciation of individual differences in fear is needed to address these concerns and promote long-term donor motivation.

Do metaphors in health messages work? Exploring emotional and cognitive factors

Health communicators publicize messages that use metaphors to compare abstract health-related concepts to concrete concepts in other domains. Such messages aim to change health attitudes and behavior, but do they work? According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphors can shape thought by transferring personalized knowledge of a concrete concept to understand and relate to an abstraction, despite their superficial differences. The authors extend this claim to specify emotional and cognitive factors potentially moderating the productivity (and counter-productivity) of metaphoric health messages. A source resonance hypothesis predicts that when a message frames a health risk metaphorically in terms of a concrete hazard (versus literally), individual differences in fear surrounding that particular hazard will differentially predict risk-related worry and thus prevention intentions. A metaphoric fit hypothesis predicts that a risk metaphor will be more persuasive when the recommended prevention response is itself framed metaphorically as addressing the concrete hazard (versus literally). These hypotheses were supported in three experiments conducted with online, undergraduate, and community samples (N=539). With skin cancer as a case study, the studies tested the impact of messages framing sun exposure and sun-safe practices with or without metaphors of enemy combat. Findings illuminate how, when, and for whom metaphoric messages are persuasive, with theoretical and practical implications for health communication and metaphoric construal.

Are you Watching Me? Interacting Effects of Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Context on Cognitive Performance

Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether this is due to trait differences in abilities or effects of the experimental context. This study sought to determine how social context, individual differences in fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and task difficulty interact to influence working memory performance as indicated by effectiveness (accuracy) and efficiency (reaction times). Participants (N = 61) performed the n-back task at 2-back and 3-back difficulty levels under three conditions: alone (“Anonymous”), in presence of a non-evaluative experimenter (“Presence”), and under explicit performance evaluation by the experimenter (“Threat”). Overall, participants showed improved accuracy during Threat, but only on 2-back trials. FNE was positively associated with longer reaction times during Threat on 3-back trials. FNE did not relate to accuracy, suggesting that threat-related impairments tied to social anxiety may alter efficiency rather than effectiveness. Thus, social anxiety may elicit cognitive performance impairments even in minimally evaluative environments.

Television and anti-immigrant sentiments: the mediating role of fear of crime and perceived ethnic diversity

ABSTRACTPrevious research has established a correlation between fear of crime and anti-immigrant sentiments. In this paper, we explore the role of television in explaining individual differences in fear of crime, perceived ethnic diversity and anti-immigrant sentiments. We use the ‘Social Cohesion Indicators in Flanders’ data, a representative survey in the Flemish region of Belgium, combined with real-life indicators of ethnic diversity and crime at the community level. Results of a multilevel structural equation model suggest that watching television is positively associated with fear of crime and perceived ethnic diversity, which in turn is associated with anti-immigrant sentiments. Preference for public television is, however, associated with lower anti-immigrant sentiments, perceived ethnic diversity and fear of crime levels. Real crime and ethnic diversity levels are only weakly related to anti-immigrant sentiments. We conclude that especially perceptions are important in influencing anti-immigrant sentiments and that television use is associated with these perceptions.

Fear and coping styles of outdoor-preferring, moderate-outdoor and indoor-preferring free-range laying hens

Free-range systems are increasing in popularity as outdoor access is perceived to improve hen welfare, but radio-frequency identification tracking of individuals shows not all hens access the range daily with some hens never going outside. The individual variation in range use may be correlated with individual differences in fear and coping styles. In this study, tests of tonic immobility, manual restraint (coupled with plasma corticosterone responses) and open field were applied to ISA Brown hens (Gallus gallus domesticus: n=104) at 37–39 weeks of age. Focal hens were selected as categorised into three different range access groups based on the percentage of available days across the trial period that they went outdoors: indoor-preferring (accessed the range on 0–10% of available days), moderate-outdoor (accessed the range on 30–60% of available days), and outdoor-preferring (accessed the range on 100% of available days). The indoor-preferring hens produced fewer vocalisations during manual restraint compared to the moderate-outdoor and outdoor-preferring hens (P=0.004) and tended to be slower to vocalise (P=0.08) but no differences were found in latency to first struggle (P=0.55), number of struggles (P=0.44) or plasma corticosterone responses (P=0.82). During the open field tests, the indoor-preferring and moderate-outdoor hens showed longer latencies to move and fewer squares were crossed compared to outdoor-preferring hens (P≤0.009) but no differences were found in latency to first vocalise (P=0.72) and total number of vocalisations (P=0.91). There were no differences between range access groups in duration of tonic immobility (P=0.14). These results show indoor-preferring hens have elevated fear levels, and a possible behavioural indication of a different coping style compared to outdoor-preferring hens, but the inconsistent results within the moderate-outdoor range access group warrant further investigation.