EVIDENCE FOR A NONASSOCIATIVE MODEL OF THE ACQUISITION OF A FEAR OF HEIGHTS

Theories that fear results from previous traumatic experience (i.e. co nditioning theories) have enjoyed widespread support for over half a c entury. Recent research, however, has cast doubt on the validity of th ese models in some specific phobias. Two studies on the etiology of he ight phobia have obtained findings consistent with a non-associative, evolutionary explanation of fear acquisition (Menzies and Clarke, 1993 a, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 355-365; Menzies and Clarke, 19 95a, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 795-805). Unfortunately, the retrospective nature of these studies limits the conclusions that can be drawn from these data. Like all retrospective research, these studi es depend on adult subjects imperfect ability to recall conditioning e vents that may have occurred many years earlier. The present investiga tion overcomes these methodological shortcomings by examining the rela tionship between putative conditioning events before the age of 9 yr a nd the presence of height fear at ages 11 and 18 yr in a large birth c ohort studied longitudinally. To our knowledge this is the first study that has prospectively examined the relationship between relevant tra umatic events early in life and the onset of height fear in late adole scence. No positive relationship was found between a history of falls resulting in injury (i.e. fracture, dislocation, intracranial injury o r laceration) before the age of 9 and fear of heights at age 11 or 18, Interestingly, falls resulting in injury between the ages of 5 and 9 occurred more frequently in those without a fear of heights at 18 (P < 0.01)-a finding in the opposite direction to that predicted by condit ioning theory but consistent with non-associative theories of fear acq uisition. In general, the results provide strong support for non-assoc iative models of fear and are difficult to reconcile with conditioning theories. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.