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4 SAFETY BEHAVIOR INCREASES OBSESSION-RELATED COGNITIONS 113 their checking behavior. However, more research is needed to investigate this. The present study only involved checking many objects “once more than typical” in several situations, to create ritualistic behavior similar to checking behavior observed in patients with OCD (i.e., OCD checkers may display a ritual of checking many items once in a particular order before leaving the house for instance). However, many patients with OCD also perform more repetitive compulsive behavior, such as checking the stove or the light switches many times in a row. Therefore, future research could, for instance, focus on fewer checking tasks to check more often (e.g., the ones that are most frequently used by patients with OCD) to further investigate how compulsive checking behavior influences obsessive cognitions. Our findings provide further insight into the role of checking behavior in the maintenance and development of OCD. The finding that increased checking behavior causes an increase in OCD-related cognitions about the severity of threat fits with Rachman’s (2002) self-perpetuating mechanism of compulsive checking. It was recently found that people with OCD have the tendency to engage in more checking behavior in mildly uncertain situations (Toffolo et al., 2014; Toffolo et al., 2013). This may thus not only increase uncertainty levels (van den Hout & Kindt, 2003), but also directly increase threat beliefs. Because these results were obtained in a sample of healthy subjects, it seems plausible that pre-compulsive (i.e., normal) episodes of checking contribute to the development of compulsive checking by increasing uncertainty and perceived threat (Rachman, 2002). A possible limitation of the study is that the main findings were measured with a self-constructed and therefore non-validated questionnaire (the CCS). The checking behavior manipulation and manipulation check (i.e., the items of the Checklist) were created for the present study as well. However, both lists were developed by the authors who have clinical and research expertise with OCD and anxiety disorders, and in close collaboration with a highly experienced clinical psychologist. The questions were based on cognitions frequently reported by patients with OCD in the clinical practice. Reliability of both measures was good: the CCS and Checklist