Opennessandfear

Francesca “Nicole” Altieri

Justin Dickinson

*Openness and Fear

*Background Research

*Oxytocin is a hormone in the brain and body that is secreted during sexual encounters and social facilitation

*Oxytocin has been positively correlated with openness

*Those who are higher in levels of openness reported having an increased amount of oxytocin

*Background Research

*Missig et al (2010) conducted a study with rats

*When rats were put into a fearful situation, oxytocin was injected to neutralize the fearful response

*There was a negative correlation between amount of oxytocin administered and amount of fear the rat displayed

*There was no significant difference between type of fear and amount of oxytocin administered

*Hypotheses

*There would be a negative correlation between openness and startle fear

*Startle fear: a sudden shock or alarm

*There would be a negative correlation between openness and suspense fear

*Suspense: the uncertainty and building anxiety of a certain outcome

Measures*Heart Rate

*Novelty Seeking

*Harm Avoidance

*Fantasy Scale of Empathy

*Positive Affect

*Negative Affect

*Risky Behavior

Participants & Design

*SONA Systems

*20

*Male and Female

*2 level (Clip: Startle vs. Suspense) between-participant design

*Methods

*Procedure

*Informed Consent

*Cover Story

*Questionnaires

*Fear/Openness

*Risky Behavior

*Video Clip

*Paranormal Activity 3

*PANAS

*Debrief

Independent*Startle vs. Suspense

*Openness

*Novelty Seeking

*Fantasy Scale of Empathy

*Harm Avoidance

Dependent*Heart Rate

*Difference Score = (avg.- max)

*Positive Affect

*Negative Affect

*Risky Behavior

*Variables

Positive* Fantasy Scale of Empathy &

Negative Affect

* (r = .543, p = .016)

* Maximum Heart Rate & Harm Avoidance

* (r = .489, p = .034)

Negative* Novelty Seeking & Harm

Avoidance

* (r = -.570, p = .009)

* Harm Avoidance & Risky Behavior

* (r = -.501, p = .024)

* Heart Rate Increase & Positive Affect

* (r = -.706, p = .015):

* Openness & Maximum Heart Rate

* (r = -.217, p = .372)

*Basic Significant Patterns

* Openness & Clip & Positive Affect

* High Openness= More Positive Affect with Startle

* Low Openness= More Positive Affect with Suspense

* p = .018

*Interaction

high openness low openness0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

startlesuspense

Posit

ive A

ffect

*Discussion

*There was not a significant correlation between openness and maximum heart rate

*However, there were patterns in the expected direction

*Those who were higher in openness responded more positively to the startle clip

*They found it more “fun” or “amusing”

*More open to sudden changes

*Those who reported lower in openness responded more positively in the suspense condition

*This might be because it was a more gradual change

*Applications

*Can be used in therapy to treat phobias

*By identifying the type of fearful response (startle vs. suspense) the therapist can gain useful knowledge about how to overcome the problem through behavioral therapy

*Using startle or suspense as a scare tactic to appeal to a wider audience during horror films

*Limitations/ Future Research

*Some limitations to the study include:

*Small sample size= less variability= less significance

*Personality research typically requires a large amount of variability

*Age; participants were local college students

*Future research should include a larger sample size

*Reference

* Missig, G., Ayers, L.W., Schulkin, J., & Rosen, J.B. (2010). Oxytocin reduces background anxiety in fear-potentiated startle paradigm. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35(13), 2607-2616. doi: 10.1038/npp.2010.155