Lesson 5: Characteristics Of Phobias

Question 1

What are phobias?

Answer 1

• all phobias are categorised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by an object, place or situation. The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by this phobic stimulus.
• a traumatic experience especially in early life, leads to the conditioning of fear to that particular situation or object , this fear then generalises to similar objects or situations.

Question 2

Behavioural characteristic of Phobia (panic)

Answer 2

Panic - a phobic person May panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus. Panicked behaviours May include crying, screaming or running away.

Question 3

Behavioural characteristic of phobias (Avoidance)

Answer 3

Avoidance - when faced with the phobic object the response is to evade the object. This can interfere with the person’s normal daily life.

Question 4

Behavioural characteristics of phobias (Endurance)

Answer 4

Endurance - the person may remain in the presence of the phobic object frozen and unable to move

Question 5

Emotional characteristics of phobias (fear)

Answer 5

Fear - persistent, excessive and unreasonable worry and distress might be felt in the presence of the phobic object

Question 6

Emotional characteristics of phobias (anxiety)

Answer 6

Anxiety - when they encounter their phobic object the person will feel terror and be uncertain and apprehensive about what is going to happen

Question 7

Emotional characteristics of phobias (unreasonable responses)

Answer 7

Emotional responses are unreasonable - the emotional responses that we experience in relation to phobic material go beyond what is reasonable. For example, a person with a phobia for spiders will show a strong emotional response to seeing even a tiny spider.

Question 8

Cognitive characteristics of phobias (selective attention)

Answer 8

Selective attention to the Phobic stimulus - if a sufferer can see the Phobos stimulus it is hard to look away from it. You may struggle to focus on what is really important if the phobic stimulus is present.

Question 9

Cognitive characteristics of phobias (irrational beliefs)

Answer 9

Irrational beliefs - a phobic May hold irrational beliefs in relation to the phobic stimulus. For example, social phobias can hold beliefs such as they ‘must always sound intelligent’ which increases pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations.

Question 10

Cognitive characteristics of phobias (cognitive distortions)

Answer 10

Cognitive distortions - the phobic’s perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted - this means that the thoughts about their phobias are unpleasant and misrepresented for example an arachnophobic May see spiders as ugly and disgusting

Question 11

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 11

Panic, avoidance, endurance

Question 12

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

Answer 12

Anxiety, fear, emotional responses are unreasonable

Question 13

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 13

Selective attention to stimulus, irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions