Non biological explanation: Behaviourist explanation Flashcards
What is the two process model?
Based on learning theory
Part 1 = Acquisition of fears begins when the neutral stimulus is associated with anxiety through CC.
Part 2 = Obsessions are maintained by avoidance.
Who developed the two process model?
Mowrer (1960)
What is learned helplessness?
People learn to be helpless:
They experience negative situations in childhood from which escape is not possible. E.g. an abusive parent.
The child eventually gives up trying to escape and a pattern of behaviour develops.
This is CC - learning to associate an aversive stimulus with no escape.
Such acceptance creates anxiety and this may be dealt with by creating compulsive rituals.
Who proposed the theory of learned helplessness?
Seligman (1975)
What is a strength for Mowrer’s two process model?
Tracy et al (1999)
Gave students a checklist of OCD symptoms and categorised them from their responses as more or less OCD like.
Those who were identified as more OCD like were more rapidly conditioned on an eye-blink task than those who were less conditioned.
This supports a prediction of the two process model that people with OCD are predisposed to rapid conditioning.
What is a weakness of the non biological explanation of OCD?
Conditioning may not be the real explanation.
The model ignores the meaning of behaviours to the individual. Obsessions may be symptoms of underlying distress, not the consequence of classical conditioning.
Another strength is that research shows compulsions do reduce anxiety.
Who did this research and what did they do?
Rachman and Hodgson (1980) found that delaying compulsive rituals did lead to anxiety, though this anxiety did begin to decline.
How does the behaviourist explanation of OCD provide application value?
It leads to straightforward treatments.
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a therapy based on behaviourist (learning theory) principles.
How does this tie in with issues and debates?
Comparison between ways of explaining behaviour using different themes.
A biological explanation would suggest that genetic factors cause obsessive behaviour. This can be combined with the behaviourist model.
Compared with the learning theories explanation which says the anxiety associated with obsessions may be reduced by performing the compulsions, such compulsions are rewarding and will be repeated.
