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This article explores weather fearful individuals be instructed to proceed quickly or cautiously. Controversy surrounds precisely which elements in the approach situation are of importance in determining outcome. For example, many proponents of systematic desensitization include procedures to maintain muscular relaxation in the individual. In the present study, the efficacy of these different instructional sets was compared by providing Ss who were afraid to handle a snake or a cockroach with an opportunity to approach a live specimen under conditions that emphasized caution, speed, or self-determination of pace.