Phobias

Question 1

What is a phobia

Answer 1

An irrational fear of an object or situation where you commonly experience excessive fear or anxiety by the stimuli. The extent of that fear is out of proportion to any real danger the stimuli possesses

Question 2

What are the 3 categories of phobia that the DSM-5 recognizes

Answer 2

Specific phobias (object or situation
Social anxiety (social situations)
Agoraphobia (being outside)

Question 3

Behavioral characteristics of phobias

Answer 3

Panic-crying screaming running
Avoidance-trying not to come into contact with stimuli make everyday life tricky if the stimuli is common

Question 4

Emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 4

Fear
Anxiety
Unreasonable responses - disproportionate reactions

Question 5

Cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 5

Selective attention - hard to look away from stimulus and concentrate on anything else
Irrational beliefs - about other people’s thoughts or the amount of harm the stimulus can cause them

Question 6

Classical conditioning is learning through ______

Answer 6

Association

Question 7

Classical conditioning _______ behavior

Answer 7

Establishes

Question 8

Operant conditioning is learning through _______

Answer 8

Consequences

Question 9

Operant conditioning ________ behavior

Answer 9

Maintains

Question 10

What is the 2 process model

Answer 10

Mowrer
Argues that phobias are learned through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning (negative reinforcement)

Question 11

Acquisition through classical conditioning

Answer 11

1. The UCS triggers a fear response UCR
   Being bitten by a dog making you scared
   2.The NS becomes associated with the UCS
   The dog is the neutral stimulus
   3.The NS becomes a CS producing a fear response CR
   Seeing a dog now creates fear

Question 12

Little Albert case study proves that

Answer 12

Fear can be generalized to other stimuli. Other stimuli with similar characteristics to the CS can still create a fear response CR

Question 13

How does operant conditioning reinforce phobias

Answer 13

By avoiding the fear and anxiety that the phobia would cause, you reinforce your avoidant behavior
Neg reinforcement

Question 14

Behavioral explanations for phobias pos

Answer 14

Real world application
Develops therapies for people suffering with phobias by preventing avoidance
Educate
Treat / manage
Improve quality of life
Usefull

Question 15

Behavioral explanations for phobias pos

Answer 15

Research support
Jongh et Al
73% of people with fear of dental treatment had a traumatic past experience and in the control group with no phobia 21% had a traumatic incident

Question 16

Behavioral explanations for phobias counter

Answer 16

Not all phobias follow bad experiences
27% of Jongh et als participants did not have traumatic experiences meaning the link between trauma and phobia is not as strong a suggested

Question 17

What are the two types of behavioral treatments for phobias

Answer 17

Systematic desensitisation and flooding

Question 18

What does systematic desensatisation do

Answer 18

Gradually reduces anxiety using counter conditioning by replacing the CR of fear with a different CR, the feeling of relaxation
This is called reciprocal inhibition which is where it’s not possible to feel both fearful and relaxed at the same time so one must be ignored

Question 19

How does systematic desensatisation deal with anxiety

Answer 19

The patient and doctor will create an anxiety hierarchy from least to most anxiety inducing stimuli and the patient uses deep breathing or meditation to help overcome each of their challenges. This happens over several sessions and is successfully when the person is able to stay calm in the highest fear scenario

Question 20

What is the flooding method

Answer 20

When the patient is immediately exposed to the stimuli without a gradual build up of stimuli. This leads to the extinction of the fear response due to the participant being unable to carry out their avoidance behavior and exhaust their fear response

Question 21

Systematic desensitisation pos

Answer 21

Research support
Gilroy et al
42 patients with treated arachnophobia where assessed with questionnaire and exposure. 3 years later the systematic desensatisation where less fearful than the control group

Question 22

Systematic desensitisation pos

Answer 22

Suitable for most people
Eg.people with learning disabilities may find flooding much more traumatic than others

Question 23

what are the stages of sysematic desensatisation

Answer 23

1-relaxation training
2-hierachy of fears
3-gradual exposure

Question 24

Systematic d and flooding neg

Answer 24

It doesnt be generalised to all phobias as it was found to actually increase the amount of fear in social phobias