Causes of Phobias Flashcards
NOT FINISHED LOWKEY CBA LOL
How does classical conditioning explain phobias?
Phobias are learned through association. A neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) when paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that naturally causes fear. Over time, the neutral stimulus alone triggers a conditioned fear response (CR).
What is the classic example that supports classical conditioning in phobia development?
The Little Albert study (Watson & Rayner, 1920):
Loud noise = UCS
Fear = UCR
White rabbit = NS → CS
Learned fear of rabbit = CR
How does classical conditioning explain phobias?
Phobias are learned through association. A neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) when paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that naturally causes fear. Over time, the neutral stimulus alone triggers a conditioned fear response (CR).
What is the classic example that supports classical conditioning in phobia development?
The Little Albert study (Watson & Rayner, 1920):
Loud noise = UCS
Fear = UCR
White rabbit = NS → CS
Learned fear of rabbit = CR
What does the social learning explanation of phobias suggest?
- Phobias can develop by observing others (models) showing fear or through hearing about a fearful experience, without direct contact with the feared object.
Who proposed that phobias could be learned through observation?
Bandura (1986) – suggested phobias may develop via observational learning, modelling, and direct reinforcement.
How does operant conditioning apply to this explanation?
- Phobic behaviours can be reinforced through rewards or avoidance (negative reinforcement), maintaining the fear.
What evidence supports modelling in animals?
Mineka et al. (1984) – Monkeys developed a fear of snakes by observing other monkeys’ fearful reactions.
What did Cook & Mineka (1989, 1990) find?
Monkeys developed fears of fear-relevant stimuli (e.g. toy snakes) but not fear-irrelevant ones (e.g. flowers) by watching videotapes of models reacting fearfully.
This shows vicarious conditioning and supports the idea of preparedness.
What is preparedness theory in phobias?
Seligman (1971) proposed that humans are biologically predisposed to fear objects (e.g. spiders, snakes) that posed threats to survival in our evolutionary past.
What did Merckelbach et al. (1996) find?
Modelling and negative information transmission can contribute to phobias like small-animal phobia and blood-injection-injury phobia.
What evidence links parental modelling to social phobias?
Leib et al. (2000) found that children of parents with social phobia were more likely to develop social phobias themselves.
