Social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender, social concern, and the presence of real vs virtual agents

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265782
  • The presence of a partner can attenuate physiological fear responses, a phenomenon known as social buffering. However, not all individuals are equally sociable. Here we investigated whether social buffering of fear is shaped by sensitivity to social anxiety (social concern) and whether these effects are different in females and males. We collected skin conductance responses (SCRs) and affect ratings of female and male participants when they experienced aversive and neutral sounds alone (alone treatment) or in the presence of an unknown personThe presence of a partner can attenuate physiological fear responses, a phenomenon known as social buffering. However, not all individuals are equally sociable. Here we investigated whether social buffering of fear is shaped by sensitivity to social anxiety (social concern) and whether these effects are different in females and males. We collected skin conductance responses (SCRs) and affect ratings of female and male participants when they experienced aversive and neutral sounds alone (alone treatment) or in the presence of an unknown person of the same gender (social treatment). Individual differences in social concern were assessed based on a well-established questionnaire. Our results showed that social concern had a stronger effect on social buffering in females than in males. The lower females scored on social concern, the stronger the SCRs reduction in the social compared to the alone treatment. The effect of social concern on social buffering of fear in females disappeared if participants were paired with a virtual agent instead of a real person. Together, these results showed that social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender and social concern. In females, the presence of virtual agents can buffer fear, irrespective of individual differences in social concern. These findings specify factors that shape the social modulation of human fear, and thus might be relevant for the treatment of anxiety disorders.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author: Yanyan QiORCiD, Dorothee Bruch, Philipp KropORCiD, Martin J. HerrmannORCiD, Marc E. Latoschik, Jürgen Deckert, Grit HeinORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265782
Document Type:Journal article
Faculties:Fakultät für Mathematik und Informatik / Institut für Informatik
Medizinische Fakultät / Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie
Language:English
Parent Title (English):Translational Psychiatry
Year of Completion:2021
Volume:11
Article Number:641
Source:Translational Psychiatry (2021) 11:641. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01761-5
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01761-5
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Tag:human behaviour; physiology
Release Date:2022/05/03
Open-Access-Publikationsfonds / Förderzeitraum 2021
Licence (German):License LogoCC BY: Creative-Commons-Lizenz: Namensnennung 4.0 International