Characteristic Of Phobias Flashcards
Behavioural characteristics of,phobias?
Avoidance: when faced with the phobic object, the response is to avoid it. This can interfere with everyday life, such as their social and occupational life. People may avoid areas where the phobic object is present
Endurance: when faced with the phobic object, the person may freeze or faint
Panic: When encountering the phobic object, they might panic and maybe show signs of crying, running, screaming p, freezing, collapsing or vomiting.
Emotional characteristics of phobia
Fear: Persistent, excessive and unreasonable worry and distress may be felt in the presence of the phobic object
Anxiety: When encountering the phobic object, the person will feel terror and high amounts of uncertainty about what is going to happen
Cognitive characteristics if phobias?
Selective Attention: When an individual encounters a phobic object, they will be fixated on it, focusing all of their attention on it due to their irrational beliefs about the danger posed
Irrational Belief: the persons thought about their phobia do not make logical sense, they will resist any logical argument against it. E.g someone with fear of flying will ignore “flying is one of the safest modes of transport”
Insight: The individual knows that their fear is excessive but they cannot help fearing it.
Cognitive distortions: the person will have a distorted perception of the stimulus, for example a person with arachnophobia may think that all spiders in the UK are dangerous and deadly.
