Children's fear reactions to a televised film as a function of perceived immediacy of depicted threat

Before viewing a scary program, children (ages 5 to 8) heard one of four introductions designed to manipulate the perceived likelihood of the events. Because the manipulation was relatively unsuccessful, the design was restructured on the basis of perceived immediacy of threat. Higher levels of fear were reported by children who believed that the threat existed locally than by those who did not. Self‐reported fear correlated with facial and physiological indicators of fear. Implications for understanding media‐induced fear and for selecting effective coping strategies are discussed.