Contributing Factors to a Specific Phobia

Question 1

What are the 3 types of biological contributing factors?

Answer 1

• GABA dysfunction
• role of the stress response (FFF response)
• long term potentiation

Question 2

What does GABA dysfunction mean?

Answer 2

low levels of GABA

Question 3

What does GABA do?

Answer 3

• primary inhibitory neurotransmitter

= prevents the firing of the postsynaptic neuron

Question 4

How can GABA dysfunction lead to a specific phobia?

Answer 4

= low levels of GABA = increase in glutamate = increase in anxiety = can trigger a specific phobia

Question 5

What happens to you when you have low levels of anxiety?

Answer 5

GABA is the calming agent to excitatory neurotransmitters

= not enough GABA to regulate anxiety

Question 6

What is the stress response?

Answer 6

Fight, Flight and Freeze response

Question 7

How does the FFF response work?

Answer 7

• provides us with a burst of energy to deal with a danger or threatening situation
  = sympathetic NS = releases adrenalin and nonadrenalin into the bloodstream

Question 8

What will happen to a person with a phobia of spiders in terms of their stress resposne?

Answer 8

will experience FFF response when seeing just an image of a spider

Question 9

What happens to someone with a specific phobia?

Answer 9

trigger an involuntary response to the phobia

Question 10

What are some symptoms of the FFF response for a phobia?

Answer 10

• elevated blood pressure
• increased heart rate
• sweating
• panic attack

Question 11

What do most phobia reactions cause?

Answer 11

• increase in activity = sympathetic NS

- increased blood pressure + heart rate

Question 12

What is long term potentiation?

Answer 12

strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons that allows them to communicate at a faster rate

Question 13

How is long term potentiation linked to specific phobias?

Answer 13

• LTP is linked to learning and memory
• during learning = synaptic connections are strengthened = results are enhanced and transmission of info is strengthened

Question 14

What is the experiment linked to long term potentiation and specific phobias?

Answer 14

Little Albert

= fear conditioning

Question 15

What are the two types of psychological contributing factors?

Answer 15

• behaviour models

- cognitive bias

Question 16

What is a behaviour model?

Answer 16

approach used to understand and treat mental disorders based on the roles of learning and experience

Question 17

What are the two types of learning associated with the behaviour model and specific phobias?

Answer 17

• precipitation through classical conditioning

- perpetuation through operant conditioning

Question 18

What do behaviour models suggest about specific phobias?

Answer 18

specific phobias are developed through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning

Question 19

How is the precipitation of classical conditioning linked to specific phobias?

Answer 19

produces specific phobias

Question 20

What is an example/process of a dental phobia being produced through classical conditioning

Answer 20

NS = dentist produces no response
UCS = pain from needle produces fear to pain (UCR)
Dentist (NS) + pain from needles (USC) = fear of pain (CS)
Dentist (CS) produces fear of pain (CR)

Question 21

What is the phobia and the fear in regards to classical conditioning terms?

Answer 21

phobia = conditioned/neutral nucleus
fear = conditioned response

Question 22

How is the perpetuation of operant conditioning linked to specific phobias?

Answer 22

phobias can be maintained through operant conditioning

Question 23

How can operant conditioning maintain a specific phobia?

Answer 23

avoidance of a phobia = through negative reinforcement

exposure to punishment = strengthens the response of a phobia

Question 24

What is a cognitive bias?

Answer 24

is the tendency to think in an irrational or incorrect way

Question 25

What are the two types of cognitive bias?

Answer 25

• memory bias

- catastrophic thinking

Question 26

What is memory bias?

Answer 26

when a person’s distorted thinking causes the retrieval of a memory to be incorrect or reconstructed

Question 27

What is catastrophic thinking?

Answer 27

type of negative thinking that predicts the worst possible outcome and sees an event, object or thing as more threatening or dangerous than it actually is

Question 28

What are the 2 types of social contributing factors?

Answer 28

• stigma around seeking treatment

- specific environmental triggers

Question 29

What are specific environmental triggers?

Answer 29

development of a specific phobia after a negative experience has been associated with an event or object

Question 30

What are the 3 types of specific environmental triggers?

Answer 30

• direct exposure to the event
• witnessing other people experience the event
• reading or hearing about the event

Question 31

What are some examples of an environmental risk factor?

Answer 31

• parental loss or separation

- physical and sexual abuse

Question 32

What is the stigma around seeking treatment?

Answer 32

• people do not want to seek treatment due to the stigma associated with their phobia
• phobias tend to be irrational = people don’t understand
  = can prevent a person from seeking treatment