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| Research article summary (published 27 Feb 2003): |
The emotional reasoning heuristic in children.
Full Abstract
A previous study by Arntz, Rauner, and Van den Hout (1995; Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 917-925) has shown that adult anxiety patients tend to infer danger not only on the basis of objective danger information, but also on the basis of anxiety response information. The current study examined whether this so-called emotional reasoning phenomenon also occurs in children. Normal primary school children (N = 101) first completed scales tapping anxiety disorders symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and trait anxiety. Next, they were asked to rate danger levels of scripts in which objective danger versus objective safety and anxiety response versus no anxiety response were systematically varied. Evidence was found for a general emotional reasoning effect. That is, children's danger ratings were not only a function of objective danger information, but also, in the case of objective safety scripts, by anxiety response information. This emotional reasoning effect was predicted by levels of anxiety sensitivity and trait anxiety. More specifically, high levels of anxiety sensitivity and trait anxiety were accompanied by a greater tendency to use anxiety-response information as an heuristic for assessing dangerousness of safety scripts. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.
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Author information
Author/s: Muris, P (P); Merckelbach, H (H); van Spauwen, I (I);
Affiliation: Department of Medical, Clinical, and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. p.muris(-atsign-)dep.unimaas.nl
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article
Journal: Behaviour research and therapy (Behav Res Ther), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Mar; vol 41 (issue 3) : pp 261-72
Dates: Created 2003/02/25; Completed 2003/05/20; Revised 2004/11/17;
PMID: 12600398, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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