L7: Acquisition Of Fear

Question 1

How many people are affected by anxiety disorders worldwide

Answer 1

1/14

Question 2

Explain the little Albert experiment

Answer 2

Loud noise was made whenever baby began to play with a white rat, they trained the baby to fear the rat in this way

Question 3

Explain what 6 stimuli/responses there are and what in the little Albert experiment they are

Answer 3

• neutral stimulus; white rat
• orientation response; looking/feeling
• unconditioned stimulus; aversive loud noise
• unconditioned response; startle reflex, fear
• conditioned stimulus; white rat
• conditioned response; startle reflex, fear

Question 4

What association is learned during conditioning; original view vs contemporary view

Answer 4

OV: CS-CR association
CV: CS-US association

Question 5

Deconditioning

Answer 5

Pairing the fear with a positive stimulus —> fear unlearning

Question 6

Explain the two-process model

Answer 6

Fear acquisition; classical conditioning
Maintenance of fear; operant conditioning

Avoidance feared object (CS) —> decrease of fear —> increase avoidance behavior —> prevents learning that fear of CS is unnecessary —> fear persists

Question 7

Operant conditioning

Answer 7

If you perform a certain behavior and it leads to a positive outcome, you are more likely to do this behavior again (and vice versa)

Question 8

Fear-relevant stimuli

Answer 8

Stimuli that already evoke some sort of fear response, usually out of evolutionary reasons

Question 9

What is the fear potentiated startle reflex and why is it important

Answer 9

= universal startle reflex to loud noise
Important because it can detect fear even when you know nothing can harm you —> even though you know nothing can hurt you, you still show this reflex in response to a loud noise

Question 10

Differential (fear) response

Answer 10

= difference between results of the CS+ and CS-

Question 11

What part of the brain was shown in animal research to be important in fear learning

Answer 11

The amygdala

Question 12

What are the 4 important criticisms to traditional learning theory and how are they accounted for by contemporary learning theory

Answer 12

1. direct US experience is not necessary for fear learning; three pathways of fear learning
2. US not sufficient for fear learning; differences in genetic predispositions/traits and differences in learning history
3. Selectivity of phobias; belongingness (if aversive outcome is naturally linked to the stimulus, fear acquisition is easier/faster), preparedness (evolutionary relevant stimuli are most easily feared and harder to extinguish), fear-relevant stimuli (fears for these are learned faster)
4. CR does not always equal UR; CS-US association instead of CS-CR association

Question 13

What are the 3 pathways of fear learning

Answer 13

• trauma; direct learning
• vicarious learning; observational/modeling
• information transfer; learning by instruction

Question 14

What are 3 maladaptive processes in clinical fear/anxiety

Answer 14

• generalization of fear conditioning
• avoidance of conditioned fear
• resistance to extinction

Question 15

Inflation effect

Answer 15

Person exposed to more trauma after conditioning of a mild fear is more likely to show increase in fear of CS

Question 16

Explain exteroceptive conditioning and interoceptive conditioning

Answer 16

EC = CSs impinge on external sensory receptors (eg. Eyes, ears)
IC = CSs are the body’s own internal sensations

Question 17

How do EC and IC work in relation to Panic Disorder

Answer 17

initial attacks become associated with initially neutral inter/exteroceptive CSs through conditioning —> both panic attacks and anxiety become conditioned to these CSs

Question 18

What are 2 risk factors of panic disorder and why

Answer 18

• gender
• unemployment
  = because both generally lead to being at home more and not having to face the situations one fears

Question 19

What are the 3 phases of PTSD

Answer 19

• trauma phase = how person responds to trauma
• pretrauma phase = prior uncontrollable stress may sensitize an organism to harmful effects of trauma
• posttrauma phase = severity of re-experiencing, inflation/re-evaluation, reinstatement of fear

Question 20

Thought-action fusion

Answer 20

The belief that thoughts etc are morally equivalent to actions or that they increase the probability of a certain event

Question 21

What is the degree of fear learning during an aversive event influenced by (4)

Answer 21

1. Individual differences in genetic predisposition and psychological traits
2. Low expression of 5-HTT gene
3. High trait anxiety
4. Latent inhibition; prior positive experiences with the CS usually lead to less fear

Question 22

Prospective validity

Answer 22

The fact that the differentiation of individuals who show similar rates of fear aqcuisition to the CS+ and the CS- and have elevated responses to the CS- predicts anxiety development six months later