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7 ACTIVE APPROACH DOES NOT ADD TO THE EFFECTS OF IN VIVO EXPOSURE 169 individuals on fear of spiders. The scale shows good reliability (Cronbach’s α = .91) and validity (Rinck et al., 2002). In this sample, Cronbach’s α = .77. Fear of spiders questionnaire (FSQ) The FSQ (Szymanski & O'Donohue, 1995) was used as a dependent variable and to check for pre-test differences in spider fear. It consists of 18 statements measuring self-reported spider fear that are rated on a 0 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree) scale (range 0-126). It shows good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .92; Szymanski & O'Donohue, 1995; in this sample Cronbach’s α = .90). It differentiates between phobic and non-phobic subjects, is sensitive to therapeutic change, and correlates with other measures of spider fear, such as a BAT (Muris & Merckelbach, 1996). Disgust scale revised (DS-R) The DS-R (Haidt, McCauley, & Rozin, 1994; revised by Olatunji et al., 2007) is a 27 item (rated on a 0 [completely disagree/not disgusting at all] to 4 [completely agree/extremely disgusting] scale) self-report measure for individual differences in disgust sensitivity. It shows good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .87) and validity (Van Overveld, de Jong, Peters, & Schouten, 2011). In this sample, Cronbach’s α = .71. It was used to check for pretest group differences in disgust sensitivity, because this is an important feature of spider fear (Mulkens, de Jong, & Merckelbach, 1996). Behavioral approach test (BAT) As a dependent variable and behavioral measure of spider fear, participants were instructed to pull the cart with the jar with the spider from the starting point (3.17 m from the participant) to a “non- or hardly frightening” distance, where they would tolerate it for 90 sec without feeling much distress (cf. De Jong, Merckelbach, & Arntz, 1991; see also Nelissen, Muris, & Merckelbach, 1995) using the construction described in the Procedure. Before each step, the experimenter asked: “Would you feel fearful if you would perform [description of step]?”. If not, the participant was asked to execute the step (De Jong, Vorage, & van den Hout, 2000). If they indicated

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