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Two studies were conducted to explore whether the addition of animal movement would influence the intensity of emotional reactions towards that animal. Both studies compared self-reported emotional reactions with still images and videos for six animal categories (snakes, spiders, rodents, hoofed animals, animals with flippers, and turtles). In Study 1, participants reported fear and disgust to the animal stimuli, which were averaged into a single negative emotion rating. In Study 2, participants reported either fear and disgust or joy and affection to the animal stimuli, which were averaged into either a single negative or positive emotion rating. Upon combining the reported emotions from the two studies, movement was found to increase negative emotion reported to snakes and spiders and decrease negative emotion reported to rodents, hoofed animals, and animals with flippers. Results from Study 2 indicated that movement increased reported positive emotions to all six animal categories. Our findings suggest that animal movement is an important component of emotional reactions to animals.

Three studies examined associations between spider phobic distress and two individual difference characteristics, disgust propensity (sensitivity to disgust elicitation) and fear propensity (sensitivity to fear elicitation). Although the relative contributions of trait anxiety and disgust propensity have been examined, researchers have yet to compare the parallel constructs of disgust and fear propensity. Two studies examined associations cross-sectionally, and a third longitudinal study examined associations of fear and disgust propensity with changes in distress and avoidance over time. In the first cross-sectional study, animal and non-animal fear propensity were independently associated with spider distress and disgust propensity was not. In the other two studies, animal fear propensity and animal disgust propensity were independently related to spider distress and non-animal scores were not. Fear propensity, but not disgust propensity, was predictive of decreased avoidance over time. The results suggest that disgust and fear propensity independently contribute to spider distress vulnerability.

We used a naturalistic method to examine the causes of changes in individuals' reactions to, and feelings about, spiders and insects. In this descriptive retrospective study, 50 college students who reported substantial changes in their attitudes toward spiders and/or insects (in the absence of professional treatment) underwent telephone interviews about the change process. We found that individuals frequently describe the role of positive experiences and expectations in positive change and some individuals report sudden changes. Further, descriptions of the important role of disgust in the change process were common. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the etiology and treatment of spider and insect distress and make a case for the usefulness of naturalistic methods in expanding scientific knowledge.

Treatment of phobias is sometimes followed by a return of fear. Animal and human research has shown that changes in external and internal contexts between the time of treatment and follow-up tests often enhance return of fear. The present study examined whether shifts in caffeine (C) state would enhance return of fear. Participants who were highly afraid of spiders (n = 43) were treated in 1-session exposure-based therapy and tested for follow-up 1 week later. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups and received either placebo (P) or C at treatment and follow-up sessions: CC, PP, CP, and PC. Results demonstrated state-dependent learning. Participants experiencing incongruent drug states during treatment and follow-up (CP and PC) exhibited greater return of fear than those experiencing congruent drug states (CC and PP).