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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neuropsychologia. 2010 Dec 28;49(5):1105–1127. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.12.032

Table 1.

Examples of physical danger and social evaluation situations used in the experiment.

Examples of Physical Danger Situations
 Full Version
 (P1) You’re driving home after staying out drinking all night. (S1) The long stretch of road in front of you seems to go on forever. (P2A) You close your eyes for a moment. (P2C) The car begins to skid. (S2) You jerk awake. (S3) You feel the steering wheel slip in your hands.
 Core Version
 (P1) You’re driving home after staying out drinking all night.
 (P2) You close your eyes for a moment, and the car begins to skid.
 Full Version
 (P1) You’re standing by a very shallow swimming pool. (S1) Because you can see that bottom is so close to the surface of the water, you realize that diving in could be dangerous. (P2A) You dive in anyway. (P2C) Your head bangs hard on concrete bottom. (S2) You put out your hands to push away. (S3) You feel yourself swallowing water.
 Core Version
 (P1) You’re standing by a very shallow swimming pool.
 (P2) You dive in anyway, and your head bangs hard on the concrete bottom.
Examples of Social Evaluation Situations
 Full Version
 (P1) You’re at a dinner party with friends. (S1) A debate about a contentious issue arises that gets everyone at the table talking. (P2A) You alone bravely defend the unpopular view. (P2C) Your comments are met with sudden uncomfortable silence. (S2) Your friends are looking down at their plates, avoiding eye contact with you. (S3) Your feel you chest tighten.
 Core Version
 (P1) You’re at a dinner party with friends.
 (P2) You alone bravely defend the unpopular view, and your comments are met with sudden uncomfortable silence.
 Full Version
 (P1) You’re checking e-mail during your morning routine. (S1) You hear a familiar ping, indicating that a new e-mail has arrived. (P2A) A friend has posted a blatantly false message about you on Facebook. (P2C) It’s about your love life. (S2) The lower right corner of the website shows 1,000 hits already. (S3) You feel yourself finally exhale after holding in a breath.
 Core Version
 (P1) You’re checking e-mail during your morning routine.
 (P2) A friend has posted a blatantly false message on Facebook about your love life.

Note. On complete trials in the scanner, each situation was followed once by each of the four concepts (anger, fear, observe, plan). On catch trials, each situation appeared alone. The label preceding each sentence (e.g., P1) designates its role in the situation, as described in the Supplemental Materials.