Situation-specific scripts for threat in two specific phobias

The present study applied a script methodology from cognitive psychology to investigate schema content for threat in samples of individuals with spide r phobia (n = 17), individuals with blood/injury phobia (n = 17), and nonan xious individuals (n = 30). Participants listed prototypical sequences of e vents, or scripts, that most people experience in threatening situations in volving spiders or blood Phobic participants generally listed similar event s as nonanxious participants, although some deviant events characterized th e aggregated script for the blood situation composed by spider phobics and the aggregated script for the spider situation composed by blood/injury pho bics. Scripts for the scenario that corresponded to phobic participants' pr imary domain of fear reflected more discomfort than scripts composed by ind ividuals in the other two groups. The results generally suggest that indivi duals with specific phobias have normative knowledge for feared situations, although underlying phobia proneness may facilitate the reporting of devia nt schema content and affective tone in mildly threatening situations.