Behavioural Explanation of Phobias

Question 1

Social Phobia

Answer 1

Phobia of a social situation, such as public speaking.

Question 2

Simple Phobia

Answer 2

Fears about specific objects, animals, situations, or activities.

Question 3

Agoraphobia

Answer 3

Phobia of being outside, or a public place.

Question 4

Irrational Beliefs

Answer 4

Illogical, incorrect, distorted ideas firmly held by someone despite evidence against the idea.

Question 5

Two-Process Model

Answer 5

Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning.

Question 6

Who proposed the Two-Process Model?

Answer 6

Mowrer (1960).

Question 7

How are phobias acquired through classical conditioning?

Answer 7

A neutral stimulus is associated with something that causes fear. Over time, the neutral stimulus will become the conditioned stimulus, producing the conditioned response of fear.

Question 8

Watson and Raynor - Little Albert (1921) - Aim

Answer 8

To provide empirical evidence that phobias could be learnt through classical conditioning.

Question 9

Watson and Raynor - Little Albert (1921) - Procedure

Answer 9

11-month-old Albert was tested with multiple stimuli, such as a white rat, and none produced a fear response. A fear response was produced by banging a steel bar behind his head. Then, Albert was allowed to play with the white rat. Each time he went to touch it, the metal bar was struck; this was repeated multiple times.

Question 10

Watson and Raynor - Little Albert (1921) - Findings

Answer 10

Whenever Albert was shown the white rat, he would cry and crawl away. The white rat was now a phobia.

Question 11

What type of operant conditioning maintain phobias?

Answer 11

Negative reinforcement.

Question 12

How are phobias maintained by negative reinforcement?

Answer 12

A characteristic of phobias is avoidance. When a person avoids their phobia, that phobia has therefore been removed from the situation. This makes the person feel calmer - a positive response. This conditions the person to feel positive when there is no phobia, and negative when the phobia is present.

Question 13

Two-Process Model - Strengths

Answer 13

• Supporting evidence from Watson and Raynor (1920) - Little Albert clearly demonstrated how classical conditioning can cause phobias.
• Useful applications in treating phobias. When treating phobias with systematic desensitisation, the same process is used, but backwards. Classical conditioning is used to treat the phobia too.

Question 14

Two-Process Model - Limitations

Answer 14

• Alternative ways to explain phobias - the cognitive explanation may be better. The behavioural explanation fails to take into account cognitive processes involved in phobias, such as irrational thoughts.
• The biological explanation is also neglected. This theory suggests that phobias may be pre-disposed to us, not learned.