THE PERCEIVED-THREAT BEHAVIORAL APPROACH TEST (PT-BAT): MEASURING AVOIDANCE IN HIGH-, MID-, AND LOW-SPIDER-FEARFUL PARTICIPANTS

One hundred twenty female participants, with varying levels of spider fear were asked 10 complele an automated 8-step perceived-threat behavioral approach test (T-BAT). The steps involved asking the participants if they were willing to put their hand into a number of opaque jars with an incrementally increasing risk of contact with a spider (none of the jars actually contained a spider). There was a negative correlation between the number of steps completed and self-reported spider fear as measured with the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ). Additionally, the task discriminated between high, mid, and low fear on 2 behavioral measures: (a) the number of steps completed and (b) reported willingness to return and repeat the task. The automated procedure provides a psychological challenge with a high level of experimental control.