Phobias Flashcards
What is a phobia?
An irrational fear of an object or situation
What are behavioural characteristics?
Ways in which people act
What are emotional characteristics?
Ways in which people feel
What are cognitive characteristics?
The process of thinking - knowing, perceiving, believing
What are all phobias characterised by?
Excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place, or situation
Why are phobias irrational?
The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus
What are the three types of phobia?
1) Specific phobia
2) Social anxiety (social phobia)
3) Agoraphobia
What is specific phobia?
Phobia of an object (e.g. animal) or a situation (e.g. flying)
What is social anxiety?
Phobia of a social situation, e.g. public speaking
What is agoraphobia?
Phobia of being outside or in a public place
How do we respond to phobias?
By feeling high levels of anxiety and trying to escape
What are the three behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Panic, avoidance, and endurance
What is panic?
A response to the presence of a phobic stimulus
What are common behaviours of panic in adults and children?
Adults - crying, screaming, running away
Children - freezing, clinging, tantrums
What is avoidance?
Putting in a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus
Why can avoidance make it hard to go about daily life?
Avoiding certain situations can interfere with work. education, and social life
What is endurance?
The alternative to avoidance - remaining in the presence of the phobic stimulus while continuing to experience high anxiety levels
What is the main emotional characteristic of phobias?
Anxiety - phobias are anxiety disorders
What is anxiety?
An unpleasant state of high arousal
Why are phobias classed as anxiety disorders?
They involve an emotional response of anxiety and fear
What is the difference between anxiety and fear?
Anxiety is more long-term and prevents someone relaxing and experiencing positive emotion
Fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response when we encounter a phobic stimulus
Why are emotional responses to phobias unreasonable?
Phobias involve very strong responses to mostly harmless things, which is widely disproportionate to the danger posed
Why do phobias cause cognitive symptoms?
People with phobias process information about phobic stimuli differently from other objects or situations
What are the three cognitive characteristics of phobias?
1) Selective attention to the phobic stimulus
2) Irrational beliefs
3) Cognitive distortions
Why do phobias cause selective attention?
Seeing the phobic stimulus makes it hard to look away - paying attention when seeing something dangerous is good to give us a chance of reacting quickly to threat, but it is not useful when fear is irrational
Why is selective attention bad?
It makes it hard to pay attention to other things and concentrate
What are irrational beliefs?
Illogical ideas about the phobic stimuli, making it seem more justified and scary, and increases pressure
What are cognitive distortions?
Distorted perceptions of the phobic stimulus that make it seem more scary
