Behavioural approach to phobias

Question 1

what do behaviourists argue?

Answer 1

they argue that phobias are learnt in the same way that all behaviours are learnt - classical and operant conditioning

Question 2

what happens during classical conditioning?

Answer 2

in classical conditioning a natural reflex is produced in response to a previously neutral stimulus - phobias can be created when the natural fear response becomes associated with a particular stimulus

Question 3

what is an example of a study which conditioned a phobia upon someone?

Answer 3

Watson and Raynor ‘little albert’ study

Question 4

what happens during operant conditioning?

Answer 4

learning from consequences of actions
actions which have a good outcome will be repeated
actions which have a bad outcome will not be repeated

Question 5

what does the two process model explain?

Answer 5

explain how phobias are produced and maintained

Question 6

how do people develop specific phobias?

Answer 6

through classical conditioning

Question 7

how do people develop phobias through classical conditioning?

Answer 7

when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditional stimulus to produce a conditioned response

Question 8

once people developed a phobias how is it maintained?

Answer 8

through operant conditioning - people get anxious around the phobic stimulus and avoid it. this prevents the anxiety which acts as negative reinforcement

Question 9

what are the strengths of the behavioural explanations for phobias?

Answer 9

Barlow and Durand
-showed that in cases of individuals with a severe fear of driving 50% had been involved in a road traffic accident - through CC the road accident has turned drivcing into a conditional response to those with the phobia

-behavioural therapies = effective in treating phobias by getting the person to change their response to the stimulus

Question 10

what are the weaknesses of the behaviour explanation for phobias?

Answer 10

Davey 1992
found that only 7% of spider phobics recalled having a traumatic experience with a spider

this suggests there could be other explanations e.g biological factors

Question 11

behavioural treatments for phobias are based on classical conditioning what are the 2 treatments?

Answer 11

• systematic desensitisation

- flooding

Question 12

how does systematic desensitization work?

Answer 12

works by counter-conditioning so that the person learns to associate the phobic stimulus with relaxation rather than fear

Question 13

what are the steps of systematic desensitization? (5 steps)

Answer 13

1. first the phobic person makes a fear hierarchy. (list is a list of feared event from least feared to most feare)
2. they are then taught relaxation techniques
3. the patient then imagines the anxiety-provoking situations starting with least stressful
4. relaxation and anxiety cannot occur at the same time so when they become relaxed and calm they are no longer scared
5. this processes is repeated for every event

Question 14

what is flooding (2 points)

Answer 14

1. involves exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus straight away without any relaxation or build up this can be done in real life or the patient can be asked to visualise it
2. the patient is kept in the situation until the anxiety they feel at first has worn off. they realise this time nothing bad has happened and their fear shoukd be extinguished

Question 15

what are the advantages of behavioral therapy?

Answer 15

1. it is very effective in treating specific phobias
   zimbarg et al found that systematic desentisisation was the most effective of currently known methods for treating phobias
   2.it works very quickly
   ost et al found that anxiety was reduced by 90% after just one therapy session

Question 16

what are the disadvantages of behavioural therapy?

Answer 16

1. there are ethical issues regarding behavioural therapy - especially flooding as it causes patients sever anxiety
2. if patients drop out of flooding as a therapy before the fear has distinguished it can end up causing more anxiety
3. therapy only treats symptoms of the disorder other therapies tackle the cause e.g CBT