Lesson 5+6: The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias + Two Process Model

Question 1

Behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 1

Panic
Avoidance
Disruption of functioning
Endurance

Question 2

Emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 2

Fear- persistent, excessive and unreasonable fear might be felt in the presence of the stimulus

Panic and anxiety- person might feel highly anxious and feel unpleasant

Question 3

Cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 3

Irrational thoughts

Insight- “i know it is silly to fear balloons, but i cannot help it”

Cognitive distortions- distorted view of the stimulus (view them negatively)

Selective attention- they focus all attention on stimulus when they encounter it

Question 4

The two process model

Answer 4

• phobia is learnt through classical conditioning or social learning
• phobia is maintained by operant conditioning

Question 5

Classical conditioning

Answer 5

Building up an association between two different stimuli so that learning takes place.

Question 6

Advantages of classical conditioning

Answer 6

• King (1998) supports ideas proposed by classical conditioning. He reviewed case studies and found that children who have traumatic experiences with a phobic object tend to develop a phobia of that object.

Question 7

Disadvantages of classical conditioning

Answer 7

• Little Albert study was only conducted once and findings cannot be repeated so the findings can be questioned. Can’t be repeated nowadays due to ethical concerns.
• Some people have traumatic experiences but do not develop phobias so classical conditioning does not explain all phobias. Also, some people have phobias, but have never had a negative experience with the phobic object.
• Menzies criticises the behavioural model, especially classical conditioning. Studied people with hydrophobia and found that only 2% had a negative experience with water. So 98% had from other causes that weren’t explained by classical conditioning.

Question 8

Social learning theory

Answer 8

• based on observational learning whereby young children might observe a reaction that their parents or family have to a particular situation, and the child may copy this behaviour
• e.g. watch someone get bitten by a dog and start screaming then imitate this behaviour
• minneka found that when one monkey in a cage showed a fear response to snakes, the other monkeys coped this response and also showed a fear to snakes- can be applied to humans

Question 9

Operant conditioning AO1

Answer 9

Explains how phobias can be maintained.

Negative reinforcement- person will avoid their phobia in order to reduce the risk that they will feel fear
Positive reinforcement- by avoiding phobia and not feeling fear, this is rewarding and so the avoidance continues

Question 10

Advantages of the two process model

Answer 10

• Bandura supports the idea of social learning theory. Research was conducted whereby a person acted as if they were in pain when a buzzer sounded, and pps had to watch this reaction. Later on, when pps were given a chance to hear the sound of the buzzer they showed the same response and acted in pain. Therefore, social learning is effective in learning to develop a phobia.
• Received praise because it involves two clear steps that highlights how phobias are learned and then maintained. The process seems to be an accurate way in explaining how phobias can be learnt overall.

Question 11

Weaknesses of the two process model

Answer 11

• It is limited as it ignores other factors that could cause phobias. The behavioural model focuses on learning and the environment, but would not take into account biological or evolutionary factors that could cause phobias. Some ppl may have more of a genetic vulnerability to develop phobias than others but the behavioural model would ignore this.
• Social learning theory can be successful in explaining how learning a phobia can occur in animals and young children, but doesn’t provide a strong explanation for how adults develop phobias.