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Experiments Done on Fear of Heights

Phobias are the irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. People with a fear of heights, or acrophobia, experience anxiety and fear when presented with a situation such as a tall office building, bridges or looking over a cliff. Symptoms of a phobia can cause panic, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and an intense desire to get away from the situation. Many different studies have looked at phobias, including the fear of heights.

  1. Disturbed Balance System

    • A 2009 study published in "Behavior Research and Therapy" compared 20 individuals with a fear of heights to 20 non-phobic individuals. They sought to test whether a disturbed balance system caused individuals with a fear of heights to rely more strongly on visual information they received. The 40 participants were exposed to nine different visual stimuli displayed through a mounted display on their heads. The individuals stood on a force plate to measure body sway. The results showed that those with a fear of heights felt more anxiety and dizziness with the stimulus and also showed stronger body-sway movement. This showed that a simple visual stimulus was enough to induce the fear even when the visual information contradicted the balance information. This balance dysfunction, the researchers hypothesize, may contribute to a fear of heights.

    Abnormal Balance Control

    • Another study from 2009 published in the "European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences" also looks at a connection between the fear of heights and an abnormal balance issue. Looking at 31 participants with a fear of heights and 31 without a fear, researchers conducted dynamic posturography, or testing postural stability, and manual tracking tasks. They discovered that those with a fear of heights showed poor performance in both tests, suggesting that there is a physiologic abnormality and that the use of vestibular physical therapy can be useful in the treatment of acrophobia.

    Theme Park Fear of Heights

    • A 2008 study published in the "Journal of Anxiety Disorders" looked at the exposure to a height 52 feet above the ground and the level of fear, dizziness and body sway test subjects displayed. They looked at 35 participants and had them stand on a force plate to measure sway before, during and after exposure to the height change. An individual's anticipated fear before exposure reliably predicted how much body sway the individual would have during exposure, leading researchers to believe that anticipatory anxiety and an overestimation of bodily symptoms play a role in a person's fear of heights.

    Virtual Reality Therapy

    • Many studies have looked at different ways to treat a fear of heights. A 2002 study published in "IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine" looked at the use of virtual reality therapy and its effectiveness in treating a fear of heights. Researchers created a low-cost and more realistic natural environment than previously available models by using a personal computer and a virtual scene of a bungee-jumping tower in the middle of a large city. They determined that it was effective in helping people overcome acrophobia and that the participants reported that the virtual environment was more effective than the real situation.

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