Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-vmclg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-15T14:07:57.270Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social learning and the adaptiveness of expressing and perceiving fearfulness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2023

Karsten Olsen Open the ORCID record for Karsten Olsen [Opens in a new window]  and
Ida Selbing Open the ORCID record for Ida Selbing [Opens in a new window]
Karsten Olsen
Affiliation:
Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark [email protected]
Ida Selbing
Affiliation:
Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark [email protected] Department of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, 171 65 Solna, Sweden [email protected]; www.emotionlab.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The fearful ape hypothesis revolves around our ability to express and perceive fearfulness. Here, we address these abilities from a social learning perspective which casts fearfulness in a slightly different light. Our commentary argues that any theory that characterizes a (human) social signal as being adaptive, needs to address the role of social learning as an alternative candidate explanation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e74
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aktar, E., Nikolić, M., & Bögels, S. M. (2022). Environmental transmission of generalized anxiety disorder from parents to children: Worries, experiential avoidance, and intolerance of uncertainty. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(2), 137–147. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/eaktarCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Askew, C., & Field, A. P. (2008). The vicarious learning pathway to fear 40 years on. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(7), 1249–1265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2008.05.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azarian, B., Esser, E. G, & Peterson, M. S. (2016). Watch out! Directional threat-related postures cue attention and the eyes. Cognition and Emotion, 30(3), 561–569. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2015.1013089CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bebbington, K., MacLeod, C., Ellison, T. M., & Fay, N. (2017). The sky is falling: Evidence of a negativity bias in the social transmission of information. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(1), 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.07.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. J. (1985). Culture and the evolutionary process. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Creswell, C., Apetroaia, A., Murray, L., & Cooper, P. (2012). Cognitive, affective and behavioural characteristics of mothers with anxiety disorders in the context of child anxiety disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(1), 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029516CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Debiec, J., & Olsson, A. (2017). Social fear learning: From animal models to human function. Trends in Cognitive Science, 21(7), 546–555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.04.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eley, T. C., McAdams, T. A., Rijsdijk, F. V., Lichtenstein, P., Narusyte, J., Reiss, D., … Neiderhiser, J. M. (2015). The intergenerational transmission of anxiety: A children-of-twins study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 172(7), 630–637. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.14070818CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gadarian, S. K., & Albertson, B. (2014). Anxiety, immigration, and the search for information. Political Psychology, 35, 133–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12034CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grillon, C., Ameli, R., Merikangas, K., Woods, S. W., & Davis, M. (1993). Measuring the time course of anticipatory anxiety using the fear-potentiated startle reflex. Psychophysiology, 30(4), 340–346. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1993.tb02055.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heyes, C. (2016). Who knows? Metacognitive social learning strategies. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(3), 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.12.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoppitt, W., & Laland, K. N. (2013). Social learning: An introduction to mechanisms, methods, and models. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M., Little, A. C., Watkins, C. D., & Feinberg, D. R. (2011). “Eavesdropping” and perceived male dominance rank in humans. Animal Behaviour, 81(6), 1203–1208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.03.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendal, R. L., Boogert, N. J., Rendell, L., Laland, K. N., Webster, N., & Jones, P. L. (2018). Social learning strategies: Bridge-building between fields. Trend in Cognitive Sciences, 22(7), 651–665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kline, M. A. (2015). How to learn about teaching: An evolutionary framework for the study of teaching behavior in humans and other animals. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 38, 1–17. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X14000090CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebowitz, E. R., Shic, F., Campbell, D., MacLeod, J., & Silverman, W. K. (2015). Avoidance moderates the association between mothers’ and children's fears: Findings from a novel motion-tracking behavioral assessment. Depression and Anxiety, 32, 91–98. doi:10.1002/da.22333CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, D. H., Susskind, J. M., & Anderson, A. K. (2013). Social transmission of the sensory benefits of eye widening in fear expressions. Psychological Science, 24(6), 957–965. doi: 10.1177/0956797612464500CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindström, B., Selbing, I., & Olsson, A. (2016). Co-evolution of social learning and evolutionary preparedness in dangerous environments. PLoS ONE, 11(8), e0160245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mertens, G., Boddez, Y., Sevenster, D., Engelhard, I. M., & De Houwer, J. (2018). A review on the effects of verbal instructions in human fear conditioning: Empirical findings, theoretical considerations, and future directions. Biological Psychology, 137, 49–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.07.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mineka, S., Davidsson, M., Cook, M., & Keir, R. (1984). Observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93(4), 355–372. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.93.4.355CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Öhman, A. (1985). Face the beast and fear the face: Animal and social fears as prototypes for evolutionary analyses of emotion, Psychophysiology, 23(2), 123–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsson, A., & Phelps, E. (2007). Social learning of fear. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 1095–1102. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1968CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Öst, L. G., & Hugdahl, K. (1981). Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19(5), 439–447. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(81)90134-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S. (1977). The conditioning theory of fear-acquisition: A critical examination. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 15(5), 375–387. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(77)90041-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rendell, L., Fogarty, L., Hoppitt, W. J. E., Morgan, T. J. H., Webster, M. M., & Laland, K. N. (2011). Cognitive culture: Theoretical and empirical insights into social learning strategies. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(2), 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.12.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, G., Field, A. P., & Askew, C. (2014). Effect of vicarious fear learning on children's heart rate responses and attentional bias for novel animals. Emotion, 14(5), 995–1006. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037225CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selbing, I., & Olsson, A. (2019). Anxious behaviour in a demonstrator affects observational learning. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45613-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsugawa, S., & Ohsaki, H. (2017). On the relation between message sentiment and its virality on social media. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 7(19), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-017-0439-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vieira, J. B., Schellhaas, S., Enström, E., & Olsson, A. (2020). Help or flight? Increased threat imminence promotes defensive helping in humans. Proceedings Royal Society B, 287(20201473), 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1473Google ScholarPubMed