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Fear Learning in Infancy: An Evolutionary Developmental Perspective

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Evolutionary Perspectives on Infancy

Part of the book series: Evolutionary Psychology ((EVOLPSYCH))

Abstract

Fear is ubiquitous among humans and has an evolved function to generate physiological and behavioral responses to threats that were adaptive for our ancestors. In this chapter, I outline the three main theories of fear acquisition—the traditional, nonassociative, and prepared-learning models. I then summarize my theory of fear learning in infants for recurrent threat—a perceptual template that orients infants to recurrent threats and a rapid and privileged associative-learning mechanism—and review the experimental literature that supports this model. The experimental evidence described here offers strong support not only for the prepared-learning model but also for the notion that infants’ fear mechanism drives them to detect recurrent threats such as snakes and spiders and then learn the appropriate emotional response to them. Limitations and future directions of fear learning research are also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    David H. Rakison

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Correspondence to David H. Rakison .

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  1. Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Sybil L. Hart

  2. Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    David F. Bjorklund

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Rakison, D.H. (2022). Fear Learning in Infancy: An Evolutionary Developmental Perspective. In: Hart, S.L., Bjorklund, D.F. (eds) Evolutionary Perspectives on Infancy. Evolutionary Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76000-7_14

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