L1 Phobias Flashcards
A phobia is an __________ fear of an _________ ____________ stimulus.
Irrational fear of objectively harmful stimulus
If fear is a response to a ___________ real or perceived _________, then anxiety is the anticipation of a _________ ______
Fear = response to real or perceived immanent threat
Anxiety = anticipation of future threat
According to DSM-V, what 5 categories can phobias be divided into?
Animals
Natural Environment
Blood injection and injury
Situational
Other
Briefly explain the associative learning (conditioning) account of phobias?
A phobic stimulus, harmful (CS) being paired with really frightening, painful or traumatic event (US).
What is the main therapeutic treatment for phobias, and give one example?
Exposure therapy
Example: systematic desensitisation
What are the 3 main steps of systematic desensitisation?
1 Learnt relaxation techniques - steady breathing, meditation
2 Establish hierarchy of fear
3 Use relaxation methods at each step working up the fear hierarchy
What were Rachman’s three main problems with the conditioning account of phobias?
1 Phobics cant always recall when a traumatic experience occurred (when CS paired with US)
2 Trauma doesnt always lead to phobia
3 Phobias can arise without ever experiencing the stimulus
What did Rachman propose as the 3 pathways to fear?
1 Conditioning account
2 Vicarious learning
3 Information/instruction
In Davey et al’s case study (arachnophobia), when did the woman develop her fear of the spider?
A Before she had any experience with the spider
B After the spider crawled across her face in the night
C After her parents showed great fear at her telling them that a spider crawled across her face in the night
D After she saw the spider crawl across her mothers face
C After her parents showed great fear at her telling them that a spider crawled across her face in the night
Davey et al’s case study of the woman who developed a phobia of spiders after her parents telling her how deadly the spider was, is an example of what?
CS inflation/revaluatuon
How did Rescorla et al show CS inflation/revaluation? (3 steps)
1 By conditioning rats with low shock and tone
2 Then presenting different levels of shock - larger than in conditioning
3 Then by presenting tone, fear response largest in group that had largest shock, showing tone was inflated after being learnt about, by the shock
What is an alternate explanation to phobic patients being unable to remmeber the traumatic event pairing with CS, is that it is not _________ ____________ after all, but rather ______-__________ learning, where the thought of the stimulus may lead to ________ itself, without any _________ event need for phobia to arise.
Not classical conditioning
but Stimulus response learning
where stimulus evokes anxiety,
so no traumatic event needed
What are the two main responses to Rachman’s first problem of conditioning accounts of phobias (failure to remember CS-US pairing)?
CS inflation/revaluation
Stimulus response learning rather than stimulus-stimulus
What 2 associative learning phenomena may explain why a phobia doesn’t arise despite CS US pairings (traumatic event)?
Overshadowing
Latent inhibition
Explain how latent inhibition might lead to a phobia not occurring despite CS US pairing?
If phobic stimulus, such as a spider, is already relatively common in someone’s life i.e grew up in Australia, then a spider biter (traumatic event) might not necessarily lead to phobia of spiders - spider is not novel.
Explain how overshadowing might lead to a phobia not occurring despite CS US pairing?
If a second stimulus which is more salient than the CS is present during CS US pairings, then CS not learned about as predictor of US, so no phobia arises.
Why might some phobias occur without ever having experiencing the phobic stimulus? Give an example
Selective associations - some CS US associations are predisposed to be more easily learnt than others.
I.e Light predicts shock, and food predicts illness pairing much easier than food predicts shock and light predicts illness.
Menzies and Clarke suggest that ___________ is not necessary for phobias and many fears arise without ___________ _____________, with __________ associations being an example of this. Learning is not necessary for fear ___________, but is for _____ of fear.
Experience not necessary for phobias and may arise without associative learning, i.e. selective associations.
Learning not necessary for fear acquisition perhaps, but is for loss of fear.
How are phobias formed.
A Phobias can be formed through strong predispositions, or selective associations, meaning phobias arise without any first hand experience
B Phobias are formed through first hand learning and experience.
C Phobias are formed through second hand learning and experience, such as vicarious learning or instruction
D All of the above
D all of above
One main issue with phobia research is that it is nearly all ____________, with it being nearly impossible to carry out ___________ research. This means that some reports of phobias may be ____________
Most research retrospective
cannot carry out prospective
self reports may be distorted
The POQ stands for the ___________ ____________ ________________. It tests how people with phobias __________ their phobia ____________. It contains __ questions, measuring first hand _____________, ____________ learning and ____________.
POQ = phobic origins questionnaire
tests how people with phobias believe a phobia originated.
Has 9 questions, measuring first hand conditioning, vicarious learning and instruction.
Ost (1991) studied injection related phobias, and found that around 50% of phobias originated through _____________, and around 25% due to ___________ ___________. Around 6% originated due to ____________. However, around 17% of phobia origins could not be ____________.
50% due to conditioning
25% due to vicarious learning
6% due to instruction
17% could not recall the origins.
McNally and Skeetee (1985) found what, when interviewing people about the origin of their animal phobias?
A Majority of people could not remember how their phobia originated
B Some people recalled mostly conditioning like origins of their phobias
C Nearly all reported they would experience fear and anxiety if they saw the animal
D All of the above
D all of the above
Himle et al, 1991, studied ___ total phobic patients, with what 4 different phobic subtypes?
89 patients
4 phobic subtypes were:
- animal
- Blood/injury
- Situational
- Choking/vomit
In the 1991 study, based on participants responses, Himle et al classified the origins of the 89 phobic patients into 5 different categories, which were?
Realistic (traumatic S-S event)
Spontaneous (uncued anxiety, S-R)
Vicarious learning
Gradual onset (developed over time)
Lifelong (could not recall when)
What 3 main findings can be taken from Himle et al study on phobia origins?
For all phobia types except situational, realistic S-S events were the origin, with spontaneous onsets being the root of situational phobias
For blood/injury phobias vicarious learning was a big factor.
For blood injury and vomiting phobias, onsets events were always remembered, however for situational and animal phobias, sometimes they were not.
Doogan and Thomas pointed out what main flaw of previous studies assessing the origin of phobias?
There was no control group of people who had experiences but did not form a phobia
DiNardo et al (1988) found no differences in frequency of ___________ experiences between adults with ______ vs ______ fear in dogs.
No differences in aversive experience frequency in adults with high and low fear of dogs.
What advantage does studying kids with phobias have over adults?
A Their phobias are unlikely to have developed
B There will be less memory decay from the time of the phobia origin
C Kids open up more about their phobias
D All of the above
B Less memory decay as closer in time to the experience
Doogan and Thomas (1992) studied _______ vs ________ who had either_____ or ______ _______ in dogs.
Studies kids vs adults with either low or high fear in dogs.
Doogan and Thomas found that for both adults and children with HIGH fear, having _____________________________________________________ was highly common, whereas in low fear people, this was uncommon. This is an example of ___________ ___________.
having little to no prior experience with dogs before frightening encounter was common.
Example of latent inhibition
Doogan and Thomas found what difference (s) or similarities in high vs low fear people (both adults and children).
A High fear and low fear did not significantly differ in their experiences with dogs, such as being bitten or chased
B High and low fear groups did significantly differ in their experiences with dogs, such as being chased
C High and low fear groups did significantly differ in amount who had been frightened by a dog at least once
D Both A and C
D both A and C
Doogan and Thomas found what two main things actually mediate a phobia forming ?
Prior encounters with the phobic stimulus (dog)
Actually experiencing fear/anxiety/fright from experience with dog (S-R experiences)
