Behavioral avoidance test (BAT)

Construct:Behavioral Avoidance Purpose:The purpose of the Behavioral Avoidance Test is to assess actual avoidance of spiders in spider phobic individuals. Administration Method: Other Summary: Constructed in the course of a study investigating the efficacy of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and exposure in the treatment of spider phobia in children, the Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT; Muris et al., 1998) was developed to assess actual avoidance of spiders. The BAT procedure is as follows: Participants enter a room in which a table is located, approximately 3 m in front of them. A closed jar containing a medium-size living spider is placed on the table. Then, participants are asked to approach the spider in a stepwise manner (i.e., in 10 steps). The experimenter demand during the BAT is low, that is, the experimenter does not encourage participants to carry out each step. BAT performance is scored on a 10-point scale, ranging from 1 (spider at 2-m distance) to 10 (spider walking on the hand).

Other

English

Peter Muris
Harald Merckelbach
Irit Holdrinet
Madelon Sijsenaar

Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Holdrinet, I., & Sijsenaar, M. (1998). Behavioral avoidance test (BAT). Author; APA PsychTESTs Database. doi:10.1037/t11195-000