Behavioural Explanations Of Phobias Flashcards
Two process model
Initiated - classical conditioning - associates INVOLUNTARY response w a STIMULUS
Maintained - operant conditioning - associates a VOLUNTARY behaviour and a CONSEQUENCE
Classical conditioning AO1
- learning thru association.
- stimulus produces same response as another bc they have consistently presented at the same time
- the stimulus the person is afraid of had been associated with antler frightening stimulus before
WATSON AND RAYNER (1920)
- gave little albert a phobia of a white rat
- initially albert was keen to play ether rat but they strikes a metal bar behind his head everytime he reached for the rat, the loud noise made him cry and then he was scared of white fluffy objects
Loud noise was ‘unconditioned stimulus’ and produces the reflex of fear as an ‘unconditioned response’
White rat was ‘neutral stimulus’ bc produce no reflexes. BUT overtime it became associated with loud noise and BECAME ‘conditioned stimulus’ that produces fear as a ‘conditioned response’
The fear response can be GENERALISED to other objects white and fluffy.
Operant conditioning AO1
- learning thru CONSEQUENCES of one’s behaviour
Positive reinforcement: behaviour leads to reward
Negative reinforcement: behaviour stops sum unpleasant
Punishment: leads to sum unpleasant
An example of negative reinforcement is avoiding a phobic object
Evaluation of two process model
+ doesn’t label people with the stigma of being mentally E labels can be challenging, instead the model is positive and shows that phobias can be corrected
+ king (1998) reviewed a lot of cases and found that phobias come after traumatic experiences with phobic objects, supports that they are learned thru classical conditioning.
_ classical conditioning doesn’t explain how all phobias develop, like not all traumatic experiences lead to phobia
_ the model focuses on learning and environment but doesn’t take into account biological factors, like some people can be genetically vulnerab
