Cultural effects on the expression of some fears by Chinese and British female students

To compare the culturally acquired aspects of fears in two different cultures, the author gave an augmented version of the I. M. Marks and A. M. Mathews Fear Scale (1979) to 50 female students in China and 49 female students in England. When the rank ordering of the fears measured in both groups was compared, the author found a high positive correlation, suggesting cross-cultural consistencies in the ranking of fearful objects. Both groups most feared social criticism and appraisal by others, followed by fears of blood, pain, and injury. The students feared least aspects related to agoraphobia. When the expressed levels of fear were compared, the Chinese students had significantly lower fear scores for many items. The reasons for those scores are discussed in terms of lower actual fear levels, moderating response sets, or socialization practices. The fears that showed no cultural differences were the ones that had early biologically relevance, such as fear of the dark and of high places. Only the socially learned fears showed cultural differences.