Table of Contents

Instructions:

Please response do the following questions.

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree
I do not like worms.	1	2	3	4
I turn away from the sight of blood.	1	2	3	4
I do not like to have people watch me eat.	1	2	3	4
Rats and mice really bother me.	1	2	3	4
I get nervous and uneasy during thunderstorms.	1	2	3	4
I often am afraid of looking foolish.	1	2	3	4
Watching gory movies makes me queasy.	1	2	3	4
I hate the feeling of being trapped in the middle of a big crowd.	1	2	3	4
I am very afraid of suffocating.	1	2	3	4
I often worry about natural disasters.	1	2	3	4
I do not like riding in crowded buses.	1	2	3	4
I would never hold a spider.	1	2	3	4
I hate getting needles.	1	2	3	4

It would not bother me to hold a snake.	1	2	3	4

It would be hard for me to prick my own finger.	1	2	3	4

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree
I dislike the feeling of being watched by others.	1	2	3	4
I feel faint at the sight of blood.	1	2	3	4
Public speaking makes me very nervous.	1	2	3	4
I do not like to look at hypodermic needles.	1	2	3	4
I am terrified at the thought of being buried alive.	1	2	3	4
I really dislike being in very crowded airplanes.	1	2	3	4
Witnessing childbirth would probably make me feel faint.	1	2	3	4
I am uncomfortable in tight, enclosed spaces.	1	2	3	4
I would never swim in deep water, even if someone were with me.	1	2	3	4
I dislike crowded places.	1	2	3	4
I hate sitting in the middle of a long row of people so that it is difficult to get in and out.	1	2	3	4
I tend to be uncomfortable around people I find attractive.	1	2	3	4
I get nervous when I know that people are watching me.	1	2	3	4
I would not like to hold a lizard.	1	2	3	4
I would hate to have an IV stuck in my arm.	1	2	3	4
I worry that someone close to me will contract a terminal illness.	1	2	3	4
The sight of blood used to really upset me when I was a child.	1	2	3	4
I hate to be places in which I do not know anyone.	1	2	3	4
I can’t perform well if I know that others are watching me.	1	2	3	4

	Strongly Agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
I am generally not shy around people I’ve just met.	1	2	3	4

I am very concerned that I might contract HIV.	1	2	3	4
I would not like to hold a snail or a slug.	1	2	3	4
One of my greatest fears is that I will suffer an early, untimely death.	1	2	3	4
When in a new situation, I feel that everyone is watching me.	1	2	3	4
It would be terrifying for me to be locked in a small, dark room.	1	2	3	4
Watching an animal dissection would make me woozy.	1	2	3	4
It terrifies me to be outside when lightning is striking.	1	2	3	4
One of my greatest fears is that I will be diagnosed with cancer.	1	2	3	4
I would hate to touch a cockroach.	1	2	3	4
I dislike being in strange, unfamiliar places.	1	2	3	4
I really dislike handling slimy things.	1	2	3	4

Description

The Phobic Stimuli Response Scale (PSRS) is a 46-item self-report scale measuring five subtypes of common phobic fears: – blood-injection (trypanophobia) – bodily harm (traumatophobia) – social (social phobia) – animal (zoophobia) – confinement (claustrophobia) The PSRS assesses the “cognitive and emotional components of the fear response” (Cutshall & Watson, 2004). It is useful for tracking symptoms of one of more of the above phobias over time.

Validity and Reliability

This measure has been validated with an undergraduate sample. All five subscales of the PSRS have excellent internal consistency, ranging from 0.80 to 0.87. Convergent validity of the blood-injection and social subscales is demonstrated by their strong positive correlations with similar subscales from the Fear Questionnaire (Cutshall & Watson, 2004). Two subscales (blood-injection and animal) are consistent with the DSM-5 classifications. Data used for interpretive purposes are based on an undergraduate sample of 248 people (Ashton et al. 2008).

Interpretation

Scores are presented as raw scores for each phobic fear, a mean score and a percentile. The mean score is the raw score divided by the number of items, which represents the average response. The percentiles are derived from Ashton and colleague’s (2008) undergraduate sample (n = 248), where a percentile of 50 represents normal and healthly levels of fear, while percentiles above 75 indicate fear that may interfere with daily life. Percentiles should not be used as the primary method for interpretation as the sample data was skewed. Scoring for the following scales is computed by adding the following items: Blood-Injection Scale: 2, 7, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 30, 32, 41 Bodily Harm Scale: 5, 10, 24, 31, 36, 38, 42, 43 Social Scale: 3, 6, 16, 18, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 39, 45 Animal Scale: 1, 4, 12, 14, 29, 37, 44, 46 Physical Confinement Scale: 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 40

Developer

Cutshall, C. & Watson, D. (2004). The Phobic Stimuli Response Scales: A new self-report measure of fear. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1193-1201. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.003

Number Of Questions

References

Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., Visser, B. A., & Pozzebon, J. A. (2008). Phobic tendency within the five-factor and HEXACO models of personality structure. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(3), 734-746. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.10.001

Developer Reference:

Cutshall, C. & Watson, D. (2004). The Phobic Stimuli Response Scales: A new self-report measure of fear. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1193-1201. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.003

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