Fear is the kind-killer? The relationship between ecological harshness and fear expression

Cunningham, Katja

Publication

Fear is the kind-killer? The relationship between ecological harshness and fear expression

Cunningham, Katja

Date

2022-07-26

Abstract

Fear expression is thought to elicit solely prosocial responses from others. However, no research has yet examined the possibility that fear may also elicit harmful, opportunistic responses, despite sound theoretical grounds to expect this motivation in some. The current work sought to address this gap by examining the impact of childhood exposure to ecological harshness – a factor known to influence prosocial behavior – on the relationship between fear expression and prosocially or opportunistic responding. I predicted that perceivers from harsh environments would behave more opportunistically and less prosocially toward fearful people, and that fearful people would express less fear toward an observer from a harsh versus benign ecology. Results revealed that although fear elicited opportunistic responses in some cases (Study 1 and 2), behavior toward fearful people was not moderated by ecology. Additionally, fearful people expressed less fear in the presence of harsh versus benign observers.