Phobias Flashcards
what is a specific phobia
phobia of an object, such as an animal
what is a social phobia (social anxiety)
phobia of a social situation such as public speaking
what is agoraphobia
phobia of being outside
give 3 behavourial characteristics of a phobia
- panic
- avoidance
- endurance
explain 3 emotional characteristics of a phobia
- anxiety - unpleasant state of high arousal, this prevents a person from relaxing
- fear - fear is the immediate and unpleasant response
- emotional response is unreasonable - the anxiety or fear is much greater than normal
explain 3 cognitive characteristics of phobias
- selective attention - if a person can see the phobic stimulus then it is hard to look away from it
- irrational beliefs - a person may hold unfound thoughts in relation to the phobic stimuli
- cognitive distortions - the perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate
what is the behavourist approach to explaining phobias
- they see phobias as being learned through experience by the process of association
- they explain this using the two-process model
explain the two-process model in simple terms
a stimulus becomes associated with a response by classical conditioning and is maintened through operant conditioning
explain how phobias are acquired
- classical conditioning
- a natural response which causes fear becomes associated with a neutral stimulus
- therefore, the neutral stimulus causes a fear response
explain how phobias are maintened
- operant conditioning
- avoiding or escaping the feared situation acts as a negative reinforcer
- this reduces the experience of fear
- making it more likely to occur again
what was the study to support that clasicl conditioning induces a phobia
Little Albert white rat study
what was the aim of the little albert study
provide empirical evidence that phobias could be learned through classical conditioning
explain the procedure of the little albert study
- he was presented with various stimuli including a white rat, rabbit and cotton wool and his responses was filmed
- he showed no fear
- a fear reaction was then induced into albert by striking a stell bar with a hammer, making albert cry
- he was then given a white rat to play with and as he reached to touch the rat, the bar and hammer were struck to frighten him
- this was repeated 3 times
what were the findings of the little albert study
- when shown the rat albert would roll over and cry
- he developed a fear towards the white rat
what were the conclusions of the little albert study
- conditioned emotional responses are acquired as a direct result of environmental experiences
what are the two treatments to phobias
- systematic desensitisation
- flooding
systematic desensitisation works on the principle of ——
explain this
- recipricol inhibition
- a person cannot be relaxed and anxious at the same time
explain step 1 of systematic desensitisation
the fear hierarchy
- a list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety are arranged in order from least to most frightening
explain step 2 of systematic desensitisation
relaxation
- the therapost teaches the client to relax as deeply as possible to initiate the principle of reciprocal inhibition
- Eg, breathing techniqes
explain step 3 of systematic desensitisation
exposure
- the client is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state
- this takes place over several sessions, starting at the bottom of the fear hierarchy
- treatment is successful when the client can stay relaxed in situarions high on the hiearchy
explain the study that supports systematic desesensitisation
gilroy et al
- followed up 42 people who has SD for arachnaphobia
- at 3 and 33 months the SD group were less fearful than control group
explain the process of flooding
- exposing people to their phobia without gradual build up
- there is immedite exposure
explain the study that discourages flooding
schumacher et al
- found flooding was rated signficantly more stressful than SD
- this raises an ethical issue
- attrition rates are also high because of this
