phobias Flashcards
what is a phobia?
an irrational fear of an object or a situation
what is a clinical phobia?
a phobia that is classed as a mental disorder
what phobias does the DSM-5 recognise?
- specific phobias (e.g. of an object or a situation)
- social anxiety (e.g. fear of social situations like using a public toilet)
- agoraphobia (being outside or in a public place)
what are the 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias?
panic
avoidance
endurance
what is the behavioural characteristic ‘panic’?
an individual may panic in response to a phobic stimulus. this is behaviour like running away, crying, screaming, or in a child, being clingy or freezing
what is the behavioural characteristic ‘avoiance’?
it is when an individual goes to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus. this can make it hard to go about daily life.
what is the behavioural characteristic ‘endurance’?
it is when a sufferer may remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continue to experience high levels of anxiety. this may be unavoidable sometimes.
what is the emotional characteristic ‘anxiety’?
phobias are classified as anxiety disorders they involve an emotional response of anxiety and fear. this prevents the sufferer from relaxing and difficult to experience positive emotion. anxiety can be long term, fear is the immediate response to thinking about the phobic stimulus.
what are the cognitive aspects of phobias?
this is about the way people process information- phobias involve someone processing information about the phobic stimuli differently from other objects or situations
what are the 3 cognitive characteristics of phobias?
selective attention to the phobic stimulus
irrational beliefs
cognitive distortions
what is the cognitive characteristic ‘selective attention to the phobic stimulus’?
if a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus, it hard not to look at it. normally, paying attention to a threat or something dangerous is a good thing but not when the fear is irrational
what is the cognitive characteristic ‘irrational beliefs’?
a phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli
what is the cognitive characteristic ‘cognitive distortions’?
perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted
how does the two process model explain phobias?
the two-process model suggests that phobias are acquired but classical conditioning and then continue due to operant conditioning
what is the first part to the two process model ‘acquisition by classical conditioning’?
this involves learning to associate something of which we initially have no fear of (neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear response (an unconditioned stimulus)
what is an example of acquisition by classical conditioning (little albert study)?
- the noise is an unconditioned stimulus that creates an unconditioned response of fear
- when the rat, a neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (noise) are experienced together, the neutral stimulus is associated with the unconditioned stimulus (noise) and both now produce a fear response
- the rat now becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response of fear.
what is the second part of the two-process model maintinence by operant conditioning?
- responses acquired by classical conditioning tend to decline over time, but phobias are often long lasting (due to operant conditioning).
- whenever we avoid a phobic stimulus we escape fear/anxiety, and this enforces the avoidant behaviour, so the phobia is maintained.
AO3: how is ‘real life application’ a strength to the two-process model?
one strength to the two-process model as an explanation of phobias is that is has real life application. this is because this theory has led us to develop behavioural therapies such as systematic desensitisation. this is when individuals are exposed to the phobic stimulus through a hierarchy of the least anxiety inducing to the most anxiety inducing over s range of sessions whilst being taught relaxation techniques to reduce the anxiety. therefore, the two process model has helped us to develop new behavioural therapies that have proven that new emotional responses can be learned by individuals.
AO3: how is ‘supporting evidence’ a strength to the two-process model?
one strength to the two process model as an explanation for phobias is that there is supportive evidence. for example, De Jong found that 73% of those with a dental phobia had experiences a traumatic experience usually within dentistry. they also found that 21% of people who had low dental anxiety had also experienced a traumatic event. this suggests that people do associate negative experiences with something they never initially had a fear of, and they avoid it to avoid the fear that comes with it. therefore, this supports the idea that phobias can be explained by the two-process model.
AO3: how is ‘it has a limited scope’ a limitation to the two process model?
one limitation to the two process model as an explanation for phobias is that it has a limited scope. this means that this explanation doesn’t help us to understand why individuals are more likely to develop phobias of some objects and situations than others. it seems that there is some sort of preparedness to develop phobias to some objects and not other objects. for example, Seligman suggested that we have an innate predisposition to acquire certain fears as some objects were more of a threat to us in our evolutionary history. therefore, this explanation has a limited scope as it doesn’t account for possible biological and evolutionary impacts on our behaviours and development.
AO3: how is ‘partial explanation’ a limitation to the two process model?
one limitation to the two process model as an explanation of phobias is that it is a partial explanation. This is because this explanation doesn’t account for any cognitive aspects of the theory. Research has found that phobias are not simply avoidance responses and instead suggest they have a more significant cognitive component that the two-process model is unable to explain. for example, individuals with phobias tend to hold irrational beliefs about the phobic stimulus or object, which is a cognitive characteristic. therefore, this suggests that there is more to the acquisition and maintinence of phobias than just conditioning of the behaviour.
what are the 2 parts of the behavioural approach to treating phobias?
systematic desensitisation
flooding
what is systematic desensitisation?
it is a behavioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response such as anxiety, this involves drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situations related to a persons phobic stimulus, where the person is taught a selection of relaxation techniques to use before they are exposed to the different hierarchy’s of the phobic stimulus whist maintaining relaxation.
how does systematic desensitisation use counterconditioning?
this is when the individual has to maintain the relaxation whist in the presence of the phobic stimulus as it is impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time (reciprocal inhibition)
