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2 DO SAFETY BEHAVIORS PRESERVE THREAT BELIEFS? 55 GENERAL DISCUSSION The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the negative effects of safety behavior on fear extinction depend on whether safety behavior precludes the occurrence of threat. In Experiment 1 and 2, we replicated Lovibond et al.’s (2009) finding that safety behavior that precludes the occurrence of threat prevents fear extinction. In line with our hypothesis, threat expectancy ratings for C in the Test phase were higher in the Full avoidance condition than in the Subtle safety behavior and Control condition. This is depicted in Figure 1 for Experiment 1 and in Figure 3 for Experiment 2 by the red dots (C-) in the Test phase that are higher in the Full avoidance condition (upper panel of Figure 1 and 3) than in the Subtle safety behavior (middle panel of Figure 3) and Control condition (bottom panel of Figure 1 and 3). Furthermore, in Experiment 2, it seemed that safety behavior that minimized threat severity, but did not preclude the occurrence of threat (subtle safety behavior) did not prevent extinction. Threat expectancy was lower for C than for the danger stimulus A in the Subtle safety behavior and Control condition, which was in line with our hypothesis. This is depicted in Figure 3 by the red dot (C-) that is lower than the blue dot (A+) in the middle panel for the Subtle safety behavior condition and in the bottom panel for the Control condition. However, a closer look at the data showed that extinction occurred for approximately half of the participants in the Subtle safety behavior condition, but did not occur for the other half. At the debriefing, participants whose threat expectancy had decreased described that they had learned that C was no longer followed by the loud noise, irrespective of whether they could use subtle safety behavior. Participants whose threat expectancy had not decreased explained that they had learned that C was followed by the loud noise, except on trials when they could use subtle safety behavior. The current findings replicate the findings of Lovibond et al. (2009), and together they indicate that, generally, safety behaviors aimed at preventing the occurrence of threat prevent fear extinction, and may thus be detrimental to the