Orienting responses to stimuli others fear

Three experiments investigated the magnitudes and habituation rates of electrodermal orienting responses (ORs) to phobic or neutral words or phrases. The experimental 'phobic' material denoted objects or situations feared by members of a student population but of which the students selected as subjects reported no fear. In each experiment, two different groups of subjects were given 12 presentations of either a phobic or a neutral word or phrase. In the first experiment the results did not differentiate the groups. In the second experiment shocks were given to the subjects before the experiment and they were threatened with further shocks; the phobic stimuli then elicited larger responses (P less than 0.05) and took more trials to habituation (P less than 0.05). In the third experiment subjects heard pleasant music and were told they would hear it again. There were no significant differences in magnitudes of responses or trials to habituation. The range of potentially phobic stimuli capable of eliciting larger and more slowly habituating ORs is found to be greater than implied by Ohman. The concept of biological significance is thought to be still applicable but it is argued that its implications for the significance of particular events have to be learned. A state of arousal is necessary to elicit significantly larger responses and there is some evidence that the state must be appropriate rather than non-specific.