Learning theories

Question 1

what is systematic desensitisation

Answer 1

a behaviour therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response to a stimulus by counterconditioning through the principle of classical conditioning

Question 2

why is systematic desensitisation successful

Answer 2

• as it follows the principle of classical conditioning so the individual will counter condition there fear so their stimulus will be re-associated with a more relaxing response
• it also follows reciprocal inhibition which is where it is impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time

Question 3

process of systematic desensitisation

Answer 3

1) FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS - where the trigger of the phobia are discussed before any interventions takes place
ANXIETY HEIRARCHY - the client and the therapist construct an anxiety hierarchy listed from the least frightening situations to the most frightening
2) RELAXATION TRAINING - where the therapist teaches the client to relax as deeply as possible, which can involve breathing exercises or training the client to imagine relaxing situations
3) GRADUAL EXPOSURE - this is where the client is exposed to the phobic stimulus when they are in their relaxed state, this starts at the bottom of their hierarchy. When the client can stay relaxed in the presence of the phobic stimulus they move up the hierarchy.

Question 4

Strengths of systematic desensitisation

Answer 4

• it is ethical as the patient dictated the pace of progression and therefore does not cause psychological harm
• supporting studies for success:
  Gil roy et al - compared 42 clients who suffered from a fear of spiders. 21 of them received 45 min sessions using SD and the other 12 didn’t. Their phobic level was measured using a questionnaire and by observations of the patient when they encountered a spider. After the treatment the group that used SD showed less fear than the control group. Showing that SD reduces levels of anxiety in phobias.

Question 5

Weakness of systematic desensitisation

Answer 5

• time consuming as patients may take a long time to progress to the next step in the hierarchy and therefore can be expensive as more sessions would be required
• it is not effective in all cases as SD only tackles behavioural symptoms and not the source of the phobia itself so is not effective for people who have phobias linked to trauma

Question 6

what is exposure therapy

Answer 6

its a vivo process which involves presenting the phobic sufferer with the object they fear and forcing them to confront it

Question 7

what is the alarm stage

Answer 7

when the heart beats so fast perspiration and adrenaline is released

Question 8

what is flooding therapy

Answer 8

a behavioural therapy in which a phobic client is exposed to an extreme form of a phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus

Question 9

how does flooding therapy work

Answer 9

It follows the principle of classical conditioning by extinction. As It takes away the option of avoidance behaviour, causing the clients alarm phase to come to an end, so that they feel emotionally drained but unafraid. This results in the conditioned stimulus to no longer produce the conditioned response (fear) as they will associated their lack of emotion with the feared object

Question 10

strengths of flooding therapy

Answer 10

more cost effective as it is more quicker and effective
e.g Keane et al (1989)
- where 24 Vietnam soldiers with PTSD received flooding therapy and were tested 6 months before and after for symptoms of PTSD. They found that the soldiers who received therapy had less symptoms of PTSD after the 6 months

Question 11

weakness of flooding therapy

Answer 11

• may not be effective for social phobias as social phobias have cognitive aspects. This means that flooding therapy cannot be the sole treatment on offer for phobias as it only tackles behavioural responses.
• patients may find it distressing so can cause psychological harm so unethical

Question 12

What model explains how phobias obtained (learning explanation of phobais)

Answer 12

• the two process model proposed by mower (1960) which is based on the learning theory to explain how phobias are acquisitions and maintained.
• It states that phobais can be acquired by classical conditioning and then maintained through operant conditioning

Question 13

Explain the acquisition of phobias by classical conditioning (learning explanation of phobais)

Answer 13

• classical conditioning of a phobia involves learning to associate the neutral stimulus which initially creates no fear to the unconditioned stimulus which triggers a fear response and through associated the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response of fear
• this explains how people develop phobias

Question 14

Explain the maintenance of phobias by operant conditioning (learning explanation of phobais)

Answer 14

• operant conditioning takes place when a behaviour is reinforced or punished
• reinforcement (positive or negative) increases the frequency of the behaviour
• negative reinforcement takes place when a behaviour is rewarded by the removal of something unpleasant
• when someone with a conditioned phobia responds by avoiding the fear provoking stimulus, their anxiety decreases, providing a negative reinforcement for the avoidance behaviour. Mowers states that this avoidance and its negative reinforcement is what maintains phobias

Question 15

Explain the acquisition of phobias through social learning (learning explanation of phobais)

Answer 15

• Cook and Mineka (1989) suggest that the acquisition of phobias could be due to observational learning.
• they demonstrated that rhesus monkeys who watched adult monkeys display fear against toy snakes and crocodiles acquired fear against those toys
• They concluded that humans similarly acquired phobias by imitating the fear responses modelled by others which can explain gender differences in phobias as men traditionally show less visible fear than women and so are less likely to acquire phobias than daughters