Taxonomic and thematic generalization of safety behaviors

Fear generalization refers to the spread of fear to novel stimuli. Recent evidence suggests that fear generalization is linked with inductive reasoning. In the inductive reasoning literature, inferences are stronger to taxonomically related stimuli that share conceptual features with the target stimulus (e.g., duck and swan), compared to thematically related stimuli that often co-occur with the target stimulus (e.g., duck and pond). Preliminary evidence also shows greater fear generalization to taxonomically related stimuli compared to thematically related stimuli in a fear conditioning framework. The current study aimed to extend this pattern to safety behavior, a behavioral response that minimizes the onset of an expected threat. In a fear and avoidance conditioning framework, participants (N = 74) first acquired stronger safety behaviors to a threat predicting conditioned stimulus (CS+) than to a safety predicting conditioned stimulus (CS-). In a following generalization test, participants showed stronger generalized safety behaviors to novel generalization stimuli (GSs) that were taxonomically related to the CS + compared to those thematically related to the CS+. Low distress tolerance, a risk factor for clinical anxiety, was associated with less differentiated generalized safety behaviors to the GSs. The findings suggest that taxonomic generalization of safety behaviors is stronger than thematic generalization of safety behaviors.