behavioural explanation for phobias

Question 1

strength:there is research support

Answer 1

E:in the little Albert experiment ,researchers repeatedly paired a rat with a loud noise which led to the child (Albert) developing a fear response towards rats.
E:this provides support for the behavioural explanation for phobias as it shows how phobias can be aquired through classical conditioning.At first Albert showed no fear response to rats meaning rats were a neutral stimulus. but by pairing together the rat and the loud noise led to an association leading to developing the phobia. the researchers also found that Albert developed a fear response to other stimuli( e.g. white rabbits) further supporting the behaviourist claim of stimulus generalisation .
L:therefore this study provides support for the behaviourist explanation for phobias -the two process model-

Question 2

limitation:evolutionary explanations for phobias challenge the behaviourist approach

Answer 2

E:evolutionary psychologists argue that some fears such as heights and snakes have been inherited from our ancient ancsetors . having these fears gave them a survival advantage meaning genes linked to these fears were naturally selected.
E:this challenges the behavioural explanation as it suggests that people can be born with some phobias rather than acquiring them from classical conditioning. this also goes against the behaviourist belief that we are born a blank slate.[however the evolutionary approach cannot account for all phobias such as the fear of clowns which is difficult to be hardwired through evolution]
L:therefore the evolutionary explanation does suggest that the two process model is invalid for all phobias but can be used for some.