Bennett-Levy & Marteau

Front 1

Evolutionary Psychology

Back 1

Suggest that phobias are adaptive behaviours which helped our ancestors survive. If we are fearful of an animal we stay away from and it is unlikely to get hurt so they are passed to us

Front 2

Seligman

Back 2

Believes thay humans are biologically predisposed to fear certain animals such as snakes. Two out of 4 shocks were enough to induce fear of spiders and snakes whilst morr shocks needed for flowers

Front 3

Mineaka et al

Back 3

Wild reared monkeys showed fear of real, model and snakes whereas lab monkeys showed mild fear therefore mineka concluded that observational conditioning is involved in origins of many fears. BL&M challenge this as lab monkeys have most fear of real snakes it is due to movement

Front 4

Aim of benett-levy and Marteau

Back 4

Aimed to investigate if human beings are biologically prepare to fear certain stimulus configurations in animals such as rapid/abrupt movements and discrepancies from human form ratings related to fear and avoidance

Front 5

Sample size

Back 5

113 participants attending a health centre gained from opportunity sample and asked to fill one of two questionnaire. Both provided quantitative data and distributed equally

Front 6

Groups of participants

Back 6

Group 1 completed questionnaire 1 which had 64 participants (34 females and 30 males) and group 2 completed questionnaire 2 and had 49 (25 females and 24 males) both questionnaire asked same questions about the 29 species

Front 7

Participants instructed to

Back 7

Imagine that although some animals are hard to pick up in reality they should assume that the animal is injured so it is easier to pick up and they were also told that the animals are not dangerous

Front 8

Questionnaire 1

Back 8

Assessed participant fear and avoidance of 29 animals. Fear measured on a 3 point likert scale from 1 being not afraid to 3 very afraid and avoidance was rated on a 5 point scale from 1 being enjoyed picking it up to 5 being moving 6 feet away = measured phobia

Front 9

Questionnaire 2

Back 9

Asked about the characteristics of the species. A 3 point likert scale was used from 1 being not and 3 being very. Asked to rate ugliness, slimness, speediness and suddenness of movement. Later took part in informal interview

Front 10

Findings first para

Back 10

Rats most feared animal with fear rating of 2.08 and scored 3.90 on nearness scale. From interview it was found that the reason for these findings was that despite calling them harmless participants could not forget dangerous associated with it

Front 11

Findings second para

Back 11

In nearness scale it was found that women were less willing to pick up or go near 10 of the animals than men. 0.90 correlation however fear scale for both was different suggesting that men tried to conceal feaf of animals and there were notable difference in ugliness, slimness, speediness and suddenness

Front 12

Findings third para

Back 12

Ugliness and fear strongly correlated at 0.82 whereas slimy and fear had a moderate correlation at 0.61 and these were shown in the nearness scale as ugly and nearness correlated at 0.87 also showing a strong correlation and slimy and nearness correlates at 0.77

Front 13

Findings fourth para

Back 13

These findings support the aims and context as it proved that discrepancies were key when seeing how much we fear an animal. This is because participants judgement was based on ugliness, slimness etc also helps support aversive stimulus configuration as speed and abrupt movement also correlated

Front 14

Method of bennet levy

Back 14

Questionnaire good because study and question a large sample e.g. 113. Time efficient as it was a opportunity sample from health centre. Easy to understand as people don't need much assistance filling it out

High chance of dishonesty due to social desirability bias as notable gender difference had emerged between men and women as men said they weren't scared but won't go near the animal

Front 15

Reliability of bennet levy

Back 15

Highly reliable as it is reliable as replicated by cook and mineka to give similar finding and correlation is not subjective proving that the study has consistency. However correlation does not mean causation and they are not conclusive as there is both negative and positively correlation

Front 16

Validity bennet levy

Back 16

Lacks internal validity as extraneous variables as not being able to forget that animals are harmful as participants had negative association e.g. rats had a fear rating of 2.08.

Also lacks external validity as it is culture bias as only British men and women chosen so can't generalise to other culture e.g. developing countries may have more contact with these animals

Front 17

Sample benet levy

Back 17

Is representative in terms of gender aa there were 59 females and 54 males so fairly proportionate. Culturally not representative

Front 18

Ethics bennet levy

Back 18

Is ethically good as confidentiality and informed consent given as if was a opportunity sample Questionnaire is anonymous. No physical or mental harm. No animals used so no cruelty