The Fear Survey Schedule: Response Styles to Fear-Arousing Stimuli

Summary —The Fear Survey Schedule is administered to 90 college Ss, of whom 17 were selected for further investigation of response style to neutral and fear-arousing stimuli. The results indicate that: (a) an individual's reported response to a stimulus is a function of both his perception of the stimulus as either neutral or threatening (external determinant) and his personal degree of general fear arousal (internal determinant), (b) individuals are more likely to move "Away" or "Against" feared stimuli than neutral stimuli, although they will usually move "Toward" neutral stimuli, and (c) the schedule is a reliable instrument for assessing a person's response to various situations. An analysis of normative data was presented which generally supports previous research with this schedule.