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36-432: Bumper boats are an amusement ride in which people drive small boats in a pool or pond and try to crash into each other for fun. In a patent application related to the ride, its inventor wrote, "one of the thrills of operating amusement park boats of this type is to initiate collisions with other similar boat within a relatively confined pool." The small boats can hold one or two people and have oversized fenders that resemble

72-417: A head for heights . A head for heights is advantageous for hiking or climbing in mountainous terrain and also in certain jobs such as steeplejacks or wind turbine mechanics. People with acrophobia can experience a panic attack in high places and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Approximately 2–5% of the general population has acrophobia, with twice as many women affected as men. The term

108-444: A ladder or chair , or even walking up a flight of stairs . It is uncertain if acrophobia is related to the failure to reach a certain developmental stage. Besides associative accounts, a diathetic-stress model is also very appealing for considering both vicarious learning and hereditary factors such as personality traits (i.e., neuroticism). Another possible contributing factor is a dysfunction in maintaining balance. In this case,

144-498: A 0–6 point scale and degree of avoidance on a 0–2 point scale. The Attitude Towards Heights Questionnaires (ATHQ) and Behavioural Avoidance Tests (BAT) are also used. However, acrophobic individuals tend to have biases in self-reporting. They often overestimate the danger and question their abilities of addressing height relevant issues. A Height Interpretation Questionnaire (HIQ) is a self-report to measure these height relevant judgements and interpretations. The Depression Scale of

180-527: A different principal. These are made all of wood. This, if it operates satisfactorily, should prove a very nice boat. Certainly the most elaborate early boat installation was done for the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 . Another elaborate and memorable Dodgem boat installation was constructed six years later for the 1939 New York World's Fair . For this national event, the Dodgem Corporation teamed up with

216-453: A division today. It primarily makes roller coasters. Another idea spawned during the decade of the 1930s was the "Dodgem Motor Boats." Like the Dodgem car, the boats were operator driven and seated two adults. As the Dodgem car had given many a first opportunity to "get behind the wheel of a car," so the boats gave many their first chance to operate a powerboat. Streamlined and slick in appearance,

252-431: A glass floor with a view of a few meters of apparent fall-space below it. Although human infants initially experienced fear when crawling on the visual cliff, most of them overcame the fear through practice, exposure and mastery and retained a level of healthy cautiousness. While an innate cautiousness around heights is helpful for survival, extreme fear can interfere with the activities of everyday life, such as standing on

288-399: A high place, by looking straight up at a high place or tall object, or even by watching something (i.e. a car or a bird) go past at high speed, but this alone does not describe vertigo. True vertigo can be triggered by almost any type of movement (e.g. standing up, sitting down, walking) or change in visual perspective (e.g. squatting down, walking up or down stairs, looking out of the window of

324-429: A lack of exposure to heights in early life. The degree of fear varies, and the term phobia is reserved for those at the extreme end of the spectrum. Researchers have argued that a fear of heights is an instinct found in many mammals, including domestic animals and humans. Experiments using visual cliffs have shown human infants and toddlers , as well as other animals of various ages, to be reluctant in venturing onto

360-409: A large tractor tire inner tube. The boats are powered by either electric or gasoline engines. Edward A. Morgan, co-founder of amusement park ride manufacturer Arrow Development Company , invented bumper boats in the early 1970s. Morgan applied for a U.S. patent on the ride in 1972. The U.S. government granted the patent in 1974. The patent includes detailed design and construction guidelines, including

396-430: A maximum speed of four miles per hour and circular shock absorbers around the boat to protect riders. Bumper boats are similar in concept to the much older and more ubiquitous bumper cars . Like bumper boats, the point of bumper cars is to collide with other cars. Bumper cars date to the early 1920s. Bumper car collisions tend to be more jarring than bumper boats. Arrow Development Company, later known as Arrow Dynamics,

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432-501: A moving car or train). Vertigo is called height vertigo when the sensation of vertigo is triggered by heights. Height vertigo is caused by a conflict between vision, vestibular and somatosensory senses. This occurs when vestibular and somatosensory systems sense a body movement that is not detected by the eyes. More research indicates that this conflict leads to both motion sickness and anxiety. Confusion may arise in differentiating between height vertigo and acrophobia due to

468-571: A number of studies into using virtual reality therapy for acrophobia. Botella and colleagues and Schneider were the first to use VR in treatment. Specifically, Schneider utilised inverted lenses in binoculars to "alter" the reality. Later in the mid-1990s, VR became computer-based and was widely available for therapists. A cheap VR equipment uses a normal PC with head-mounted display (HMD). In contrast, VRET uses an advanced computer automatic virtual environment (CAVE). VR has several advantages over in vivo treatment: (1) therapist can control

504-413: A technique called systematic desensitization to help participants avoid "avoidance". Research results have suggested that even with a decrease in therapeutic contact, desensitization is still very effective. However, other studies have shown that therapists play an essential role in acrophobia treatment. Treatments like reinforced practice and self-efficacy treatments also emerged. There have been

540-454: A traumatic fall. A fear of falling, along with a fear of loud noises , is one of the most commonly suggested inborn or "non-associative" fears. The newer non-association theory is that a fear of heights is an evolved adaptation to a world where falls posed a significant danger. If this fear is inherited, it is possible that people can get rid of it by frequent exposure of heights in habituation. In other words, acrophobia could be associated with

576-431: Is an extreme or irrational fear or phobia of heights, especially when one is not particularly high up. It belongs to a category of specific phobias , called space and motion discomfort, that share similar causes and options for treatment. Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, known as the fear of falling . On the other hand, those who have little fear of such exposure are said to have

612-560: Is from the Greek : ἄκρον , ákron , meaning "peak, summit, edge" and φόβος , phóbos , "fear". The term "hypsophobia" derives from the Greek word ύψος (hypsos), meaning "height". In Greek, the actual term used for this condition is "υψοφοβία" (Hypsophobia). " Vertigo " is often used to describe a fear of heights, but it is more accurately a spinning sensation that occurs when one is not actually spinning. It can be triggered by looking down from

648-481: The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study who had been injured in a fall between the ages of 5 and 9, compared them to children who had no similar injury, and found that at age 18, acrophobia was present in only 2 percent of the subjects who had an injurious fall but was present among 7 percent of subjects who had no injurious fall (with the same sample finding that typical basophobia

684-553: The Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC). Not only did they jointly operate a boat ride but also two Dodgem car rides. Both Dodgem and PTC were to have equal shares. Two buildings valued at $ 27,500 were to be put up by and mortgaged to the PTC, and Dodgem was to supply fifty cars valued at $ 20,000. For the boat ride, PTC was apparently responsible for the construction of a channel. How many boats were constructed or how profitable

720-544: The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales short form (DASS21-DS) is a self report used to examine validity of the HIQ. Traditional treatment of phobias is still in use today. Its underlying theory states that phobic anxiety is conditioned and triggered by a conditional stimulus. By avoiding phobic situations, anxiety is reduced. However, avoidance behaviour is reinforced through negative reinforcement . Wolpe developed

756-411: The alternative view of acrophobia warn that it may be ill-advised to encourage acrophobics to expose themselves to height without first resolving the vestibular issues. Research is underway at several clinics. Recent studies found that participants experienced increased anxiety not only when the height increased, but also when they were required to move sideways at a fixed height. A recombinant model of

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792-399: The anxiety is both well-founded and secondary. The human balance system integrates proprioceptive , vestibular and nearby visual cues to reckon position and motion. As height increases, visual cues recede and balance becomes poorer in people without acrophobia. However, most people respond to such a situation by shifting to more reliance on the proprioceptive and vestibular branches of

828-417: The concepts about surfaces, posture, balance, and movement. Cognitive factors may also contribute to the development of acrophobia. People tend to wrongly interpret visuo-vestibular discrepancies as dizziness and nausea and associate them with a forthcoming fall. Experiencing these cognitive factors while associating them with the idea of falling may be enough to cause the same fear that would be expected after

864-451: The conditions' overlapping symptom pools, including body swaying and dizziness. Further confusion can occur due to height vertigo being a direct symptom of acrophobia. Traditionally, acrophobia has been attributed, like other phobias, to conditioning or a traumatic experience. Recent studies have cast doubt on this explanation. Individuals with acrophobia are found to be lacking in traumatic experiences. Nevertheless, this may be due to

900-443: The design, having acrophobia , or from hearing about accidents involving rides that are similar. For some, the adrenaline associated with riding amusement rides is part of the experience. They are common at most annual events such as fairs , traveling carnivals , and circuses around the world. Sometimes music festivals and concerts also host amusement park rides. Acrophobia Acrophobia , also known as hypsophobia ,

936-399: The development of acrophobia is very possible, in which learning factors, cognitive factors (e.g. interpretations), perceptual factors (e.g. visual dependence), and biological factors (e.g. heredity ) interact to provoke fear or habituation. ICD-10 and DSM-5 are used to diagnose acrophobia. Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ) is a self report that contains 40 items, assessing anxiety level on

972-738: The development of theme parks in the late 1950s and early 1960s began to bring the likes of paddle wheelers and other large craft back to grand-scale manmade waterways. Several companies still make bumper boats today. These companies include Barcachoc bumperboats, J&J Amusements, Foster Manufacturing Corporation and Bumper Boats Inc. Today's bumper boats include some added features, such as mounted water guns for shooting opposing boat drivers. Amusement ride Amusement rides , sometimes called carnival rides , are mechanical devices or structures that move people to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This could be due to

1008-490: The equilibrium system. Some people are known to be more dependent on visual signals than others. People who rely more on visual cues to control body movements are less physically stable. An acrophobic, however, continues to over-rely on visual signals, whether because of inadequate vestibular function or incorrect strategy. Locomotion at a high elevation requires more than normal visual processing. The visual cortex becomes overloaded, resulting in confusion. Some proponents of

1044-415: The failure to recall the experiences, as memory fades as time passes. To address the problems of self report and memory, a large cohort study with 1000 participants was conducted from birth; the results showed that participants with less fear of heights had more injuries because of falling. Psychologists Richie Poulton , Simon Davies, Ross G. Menzies, John D. Langley, and Phil A. Silva sampled subjects from

1080-414: The filthy water that was in the lagoons. . . . Evidence suggests that Dodgem was out of the boat business by the time of the war. An expensive ride to install, outfit, and maintain, especially if a man-made lagoon was required, Dodgem motorboats were not destined to be the stellar performers that the cars proved to be. Elaborate boat rides would not return to the amusement park scene until Walt Disney and

1116-449: The powerboats were designed to give both driver and passenger the feeling of a luxury ride in a lake or lagoon. A brief eyewitness description of the boats constructed for this new ride was written in July 1932: Visited Amesbury with Markey and looked over his new Dodgem boat which is a very nice looking job. It is considerably longer than the water skooter made by Lusse [Company] and built on

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1152-438: The situation better by manipulating the stimuli, in terms of their quality, intensity, duration and frequency; (2) VR can help participants avoid public embarrassment and protect their confidentiality; (3) therapist's office can be well-maintained; (4) VR encourages more people to seek treatment; (5) VR saves time and money, as participants do not need to leave the consulting room. Many different types of medications are used in

1188-443: The three rides were is unclear. As to the popularity of boat rides, William Ford, who worked for Lusse Company after the boat craze had passed, reported: They [boat rides] were very popular up to and after the second world war when operators wanted more space and had to get rid of the required lakes and artificial lagoons. Also, the price of gas went up as well as anti-pollution laws, which were forced on them [park owners] because of

1224-476: The treatment of phobias like fear of heights, including traditional anti-anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines , and newer options such as antidepressants and beta-blockers . Some desensitization treatments produce short-term improvements in symptoms. Long-term treatment success has been elusive. Approximately 2–5% of the general population has acrophobia, with twice as many women affected as men. A related, milder form of visually triggered fear or anxiety

1260-424: Was 7 times less common in subjects at age 18 who had injurious falls as children than subjects that did not). More studies have suggested a possible explanation for acrophobia is that it emerges through accumulation of non-traumatic experiences of falling that are not memorable but can influence behaviours in the future. Also, fear of heights may be acquired when infants learn to crawl. If they fell, they would learn

1296-522: Was the original maker and patent owner of the bumper boats ride. Arrow was founded in 1946 by Edward Morgan and Karl Bacon as a builder of carousels and other rides. The company's fortunes took off when Walt Disney hired it to build many of Disneyland's original rides, such as Snow White's Adventures and Casey Jr. Circus Train . The company gradually became mostly a roller coaster maker over the years. It went bankrupt in 2001. Rival ride maker S&S Power bought Arrow that year and maintains S&S Arrow as

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