Approach behavior as information

- Vignette study: Participants rated scenarios about threat and approach behaviors.
- Spider fearful individuals infer safety from approach behavior.
- The effect was situation-specific for spider-relevant scenarios.
- Data were analyzed using Bayesian statistics.

Background and objectivesAnxious individuals infer danger from information about physiological responses, anxiety responses, and safety behaviors. This study investigated whether anxious individuals also infer safety from approach behavior.Methods325 students rated the danger they perceived in general and spider-relevant scenarios in which information about objective safety versus objective danger, and approach behavior versus no approach behavior, was varied. A high and low spider fearful group was created with a median split on spider fear.ResultsParticipants with a high fear of spiders, compared to participants with low spider fear, rated spider scenarios with approach behavior as safer than spider scenarios without approach behavior. This effect was similar for objectively dangerous and safe spider scenarios. No behavior as information effects were found for general scenarios.LimitationsThe data were collected in a non-clinical student sample.ConclusionsSpider fearful individuals infer safety from approach behavior in spider-relevant scenarios. For spider fearful individuals, approach behavior may add to the beneficial effects of exposure therapy. Future research is needed to investigate whether patients with anxiety disorders also show a tendency to infer safety from approach behavior.