Effects of predictable behavioral patterns on anxiety dynamics
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat
Published on: September 12, 2014
Martin Lang1, Jan Krátký2, Dimitris Xygalatas3,4
1LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. martinlang@mail.muni.cz.
Abstract:
People face stressors that are beyond their control and that maladaptively perpetuate anxiety. In these contexts, rituals emerge as a natural coping strategy helping decrease excessive anxiety. However, mechanisms facilitating these purported effects have rarely been studied. We hypothesized that repetitive and rigid ritual sequences help the human cognitive-behavioral system to return to low-entropy states and assuage anxiety. This study reports a pre-registered test of this hypothesis using a Czech student sample (n = 268). Participants were exposed to an anxiety induction and then randomly assigned to perform one of three actions: ritualized, control, and neutral (no-activity). We assessed the effects of this manipulation on cognitive and physiological anxiety, finding that ritualized action positively affected anxiety decrease, but this decrease was only slightly larger than in the other two conditions. Nevertheless, the between-condition differences in the reduction of physiological anxiety were well-estimated in participants more susceptible to anxiety induction.
Related Concept Videos
Behavior Therapy
Exposure therapy is a cornerstone of behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. It involves systematic exposure to feared stimuli, either in real...
Anxiety: Overview
Individuals with anxiety often experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including sweating, trembling, tachycardia, and disturbances in sleep patterns. These symptoms vary in intensity and frequency but are generally disruptive and distressing.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Theory of Romantic Attachment in Adulthood
Operant Conditioning Intervention
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...

