What is Pediophobia? - Fear of
dolls
Fear of
dolls
The second is the 'social-submissiveness system' which is believed to be tuned to stimuli that enabled early human beings to find their place in the hierarchy of their family or tribal group. Angry or disapproving faces or threatening gestures are the type of stimuli that are thought likely to have been involved. It is suggested that it is this social-submissiveness system which is somehow triggered by an adverse conditioning experience in cases of social phobia.
Example of treatment of Pediophobia
A young boy, aged eleven years, had a phobia about dolls which had been present since infancy. He was successfully treated by means of graduated exposure using a series of dolls and children's model figures, ending up with ones that were quite frightening.
By the end of treatment, he was able to take a figure home with him and play with it and no longer avoided dolls in everyday life.
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