Schotanus, Susanne (2025) Unconscious Interventions for Spider Phobia: Investigating Very Brief Counterconditioning vs. Very Brief Exposure Using Backward Masking. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
|
Text
Bachelorthesis-S5162610.pdf Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Spider phobia is highly prevalent and often difficult to treat with standard exposure therapy due to intense fear responses. Masked interventions such as very brief exposure (VBE) and very brief counterconditioning (VBC) reduce emotional responses without conscious distress. This study investigated the effectiveness of VBC – pairing masked spider images with positive animal stimuli – in altering affective evaluations of spiders, compared to VBE, where masked spider images were followed by neutral letter arrays, and a neutral control condition (CTL), which replaced spider images with a blank screen followed by the mask and positive animal stimuli. A total of 151 female university students rated spider valence before (T0), after the first (T1), and after the second block of trials (T2). A significant time-by-condition interaction showed modest valence increases in VBC and VBE groups, contrasted with a decline in CTL. This suggests the interaction effect was driven by both improvements in the intervention groups and a decline in the CTL. For a second, non-conditioned spider stimulus, only a main effect of time emerged, likely driven by VBE. These findings align with prior studies (Masselman et al., 2024; De Jong et al., 2000), showing no consistent advantage of VBC over VBE. Limitations include a non-clinical, homogeneous sample and brief masked procedures. Future research should explore longer or repeated interventions in clinical populations and incorporate unmasked presentations alongside behavioral or physiological measures. Overall, VBC may influence affective evaluations but is unlikely to produce meaningful clinical benefits without more intensive or sustained approaches.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Masselman, I. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Jul 2025 09:31 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jul 2025 09:31 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5630 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |