1-3🍎Phobias- Psychopathology PAPER1 Flashcards

Question

Stimulus generalisation in little albert experiment

Answer 1

-in addition to demonstrating that emotional responses coukd be conditioned to humans, also observed that stimulus generalisation had occurred -after conditioning, albert not only scared of white rat, but developed phobia of variety of small white furry objects such as fur coat

Answer 2

-experimental design not carefully constructed, did not develop object means to evaluate albert’s reactions, just relied on own subjective interpretations -unethical, no informed consent, no protection from harm

Answer 3

-good explanatory power which has remained valid since proposal in 1960 and went beyond awarding concept of classical conditioning to provide fuller explanation of phobias -Mowrer explained how phobias coukd be maintained over time and this had important implications for therapies identifying need for exposure -once patient prevented from practising their avoidance behaviour the behaviour ceases to be reinforced and so phobia improved -the application to therapy is a strength of the two process model -

Answer 4

-even if we accept classical and operant conditioning are involved in initiation and maintenance of phobias, some aspects require further explanation -Bouton (2007) points out evolutionary factors have important part in phobias but two process theory does not mention this -eg we easily acquire phobias of things thag have been a source of danger in our evolutionary past such as fears of snakes or dark, adaptive to acquire such fears -Seligman (1971) called this biological preparedness- innate predisposition to acquire certain fears -however more rare to acquire phobia of cars or guns which are more dangerous to us than snakes and dark, mostly because these are modern inventions we are not yet biologically prepared to learn fear responses towards them -problems of evolution and preparedness serious problem for two factor theory because shows more to acquiring phobias than simple conditioning

Answer 5

-two process model is reductionist in its approach -behavioural explanations in general oriented towards explaining behaviour rather than cognition -fails to explain the role of cognition in phobic behaviours -two process model explains maintence of phobias in terms of avoidance -however we know that phobias also have cognitive element -some psychologist say social phobias caused by irrational thinking rather than unpleasant experience (classical conditioning)

Answer 6

-uses counter conditioning to unlearn maladaptive response to situation or object by electing another response (relaxation) COMPONENTS 1. Anxiety hierarchy 2. Relaxation training 3. Exposure

Answer 7

first component -client and therapist work together to develop it -patient ranks phobic situation from least to most terrifying -might start with artificial stimuli and work up to live stimuli

Answer 8

-patient taught relaxation techniques such as: breathing techniques muscle relaxation strategies mental imagery techniques -as it is impossible to be both relaxed and afraid at the same time as one emotion prevent other, this is called reciprocal inhibition

Answer 9

final component -involves exposing patient to phobic situation while relaxed -patient starts at bottom of anxiety hierarchy -when patient can remain remain relaxed in presence of stimulus, they gradually progress onto next level -eventually they are completely relaxed in most feared situation; systematic desensitisation successful

Answer 10

-more extreme behavioural therapy -rather than exposing person to phobic stimulus gradually, exposed to most feared situation immediately -still taught relaxation techniques -person unable to avoid (negatively reinforce) their phobia -without option of avoidance, patient quickly learns thag phobic stimulus is harmless, extinctions occurs -techniques are applied to most feared situation through direct or imagine exposure such as virtual reality

Answer 11

-flooding effecting for simple phobias such as arachnophobia, less effective for complex phobias such as agoraphobia -some psychologists suggest social phobias are caused by irrational thinking and not caused by unpleasant experience (classical conditioning) -therefore more complex phobias cannot be treated by behavioural treatments and msg be more responsive to other forms of treatment such as CBT which treats irrational thinking

Answer 12

-cost effective treatment phobias -research suggested flooding is equally effective as other treatments including systematic desensitisation and cognition therapies, but takes much less time to achieve positive results -strength because patients cure their phobias more quickly and therefore more cost effective for health service providers who do not have to fund longer options

Answer 13

-behavioural therapies is symptom substitution -although one phobia may be successfully removed through counter conditioning, another msg appear in its place -if symptoms treated and removed, underlying cause such as irrational thinking, may remain and simply resurface under new guise -research in this area is mixed however heavily disputed by behaviourists