Comparative Automaticity of Fear

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Lay conceptions of emotion often emphasize the reflexive nature of emotional reactions. An insult, for example, might quickly give rise to anger, seemingly with little deliberation or thought. This view has recently received support in biological, clinical, and social psychology. The current research challenges this view, suggesting that it may apply only for a limited set of emotions. The available evidence indicates both qualitative and quantitative differences between fear and other emotions, with fear being the one emotion that can be triggered in the absence of conscious processing or attention. However, this hypothesis is based on a comparison of separate studies using a diversity of methods. Systematic comparisons among different emotions are virtually nonexistent within the context of the same experiment. Six studies will test differences between fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, and excitement using emotional slides and computerized timing. A variety of behavioral, cognitive, subjective, and physiological measures are included in the analysis. From a biological perspective, it is sensible that people are capable of responding to potential threats as rapidly as possible, irrespective of their prior plans and conscious thoughts. However, rapid responding is less important in other types of emotional situations, and flexible, thoughtful responding tends to be more adaptive when there are no immediate threats to safety. It is therefore proposed that biology has prepared humans to respond rapidly to potential threats, but not to other types of emotional situations. Only careful, controlled studies can provide empirical support for this hypothesis. The results are likely to have major theoretical significance, and may inform future therapeutic interventions.