Behavioural approach to explaining phobias Flashcards
What is the two process model?
- Acquisition of phobias occurs through classical conditioning.
- Maintain phobias through operant conditioning- avoidance of stimulus acts as negative reinforcer (reward=reduction of anxiety), this then reinforces the avoidance response.
What is the case of Little Albert?
-John Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) created a phobia of rats in a 9 month old baby: “little Albert”
- Albert showed no signs of distress before experiment
- Researchers associated rat (NS) with fear (UCR)by making banging noises (UCS) when the rat was present so that he associated rat (CS) with the noise (CR)
-phobia generalised to similar objects such as non-white rabbit and fur coat
What are the strengths of the behaviourist approach explaining Phobias?
-Real world application: used in exposure therapy(flooding and systematic densitisation) which explains why preventing operant conditioning and negative reinforcement is beneficial for overcoming phobia
-Phobias and traumatic events: Little Albert study shows how trauma causes Phobias
-Ad de Jongh et al. (2006): 73% of people with phobia of dentistry had experienced a traumatic event involving dentistry compared to a control group where only 21% of people had a traumatic event but no phobia of dentistry
HOWEVER: not always trauma many people have phobias of snakes but never encounter snakes so not all phobias stem from traumatic experience
What are the weaknesses of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias?
-Cognitive aspects of phobias: two process model ignores cognitive aspects of phobias: phobias are irrational beliefs about the phobic stimulus - believing small spider is harmful and dangerous so does not give an adequate explanation of cognitive aspects of phobias
-Biological preparedness: phobias of dangers in our evolutionary past such as snakes and darkness(Seligman 1971)
