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Such beliefs are intriguing because many fearful people express them, but acknowledge they are untrue in reality. While previous research indicates fearful individuals may not wholly endorse their beliefs about objective threats (e.g., the spider will bite), expectations of negative <jats:italic>subjective<\/jats:italic> consequences (e.g., I will feel terrible) are also likely to be important. We investigated the extent to which participants\u2019 expectations of objective and subjective threats were sensitive to manipulations that encouraged them to consider whether their expectations were likely to happen in reality. Across five online experiments (N\u2009=\u2009560, or 727 with more liberal inclusion criteria), such manipulations produced lower expectancy ratings for objective but not subjective threats (versus participants who gave ratings without the manipulation). Most participants reported that anticipation of negative feelings was more concerning than actual danger. Hence, numerous fear-relevant expectations about objective threat\u2014considered central in understanding why people are irrationally afraid\u2014respond to small cognitive manipulations. Additionally, expectations of negative subjective experiences during fear-provoking encounters appear to be more consistently endorsed, and feature prominently in fearful individuals\u2019 concerns about what will happen in a fear-relevant situation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-021-00317-3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,21]],"date-time":"2021-10-21T10:04:42Z","timestamp":1634810682000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Expectations of objective threats and aversive feelings in specific fears"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"James W. 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