Phobias

Question 1

Give some behavioural characteristics of phobias.

Answer 1

A person with a phobia may panic in response to the presence of a phobic stimulus. This may involver crying, screaming or running away.
A person will show avoidance and tend to prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus which can make it hard to go about daily life. For example, someone with a fear of public toilets may limit the time they spend outside of their home. This can interfere with work, education and a social life.

Question 2

What is a phobia?

Answer 2

An irrational and persistent fear of an object or situation. The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus.

Question 3

Give some emotional characteristics of phobias.

Answer 3

A person will feel anxiety, an unpleasant state of high arousal. This prevents a person from relaxing and makes iy difficult to experience any positive emotion.
A person may feel fear. This is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about a phobic stimulus. It is usually more intense but experienced for shorter periods than anxiety.

Question 4

Give some cognitive characteristics of phobias.

Answer 4

A person would recognise that the fear is excessive or unreasonable. They are consciously aware that the anxiety levels they are feeling are overstated in relation to the feared object or situation.
The person will have selective attention to the phobic stimulus. If they can see it, it will be hard to look away from it. This is a good thing if it is dangerous however it is not so useful when the fear is irrational. A person with a phobia will struggle to concentrate on what they are doing if the phobia stimulus is present in the room.
A person with a phobia will have irrational thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli which cannot be easily explained or have no basis in reality.

Question 5

What are the three categories of phobias identified by the DSM?

Answer 5

agoraphobia (fear of open spaces)
social phobias (intense fear of a social situation or having to interact with other people)
specific phobias (e.g fear of spiders).

Question 6

Outline the two-process model of explaining phobias.

Answer 6

1) Classical conditioning involves learning to associate something of which we initially have no fear of (a neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear response (unconditioned stimulus).

2) Operant conditioning takes place when our behaviour is reinforced (rewarded) or punished. Reinforcement tends to increase the frequency of behaviour which is true of both negative and positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement means the individual avoids a situation that is unpleasant so the behaviour results in a desirable consequence and will be repeated and maintained.

Question 7

What is the theory behind the two-process model?

Answer 7

Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and then continue due to operant conditioning.

Question 8

Give an example of how a phobia is classically conditioned.

Answer 8

A child with no previous fear of dogs gets bitten by a dog and from this moment onwards associates the dog with fear and pain. Due to the process of generalisation, the child is not just afraid of the dog who bit them, but all dogs.

Question 9

Give a strength of the two-process model. (research support)

Answer 9

There is research support for how classical conditioning leads to the development of phobias. For example, Watson and Rayner created a phobia in a 9-month-old baby called ‘Little Albert’. Albert showed no unusual anxiety at the start of the study and when shown a white rat he tried to play with it. Whenever the rat was presented to Albert, the researchers made a loud, frightening noise by banging an iron bar close to Alberts ear. The noise is an unconditioned stimulus which creates an unconditioned response of fear. When the rat (neutral stimulus) and the UCS become encountered close together, over time they will become associated with each other and produce the fear response. Albert displayed fear when he saw the rat. The rat is now a learned or conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response. This conditioning then generalised to similar objects e.g a non-white rabbit, a fur coat and a Santa Claus beard made of cotton balls. This provides controlled laboratory evidence of the role of associations in phobias.

Question 10

Give a strength of the two-process model. (real-world application).

Answer 10

One strength of the two-process model is its real-world application in exposure therapies. The distinctive element of the two-process model is the idea that phobias are maintained by avoidance of phobic stimuli. This is important in explaining why people with phobias benefit from being exposed to phobic stimuli. Once the avoidance behaviour is prevented, it ceases to be reinforced so the anxiety therefore declines. This shows the value of the two-process model in treating phobias.

Question 11

Give a limitation of the two-process model.

Answer 11

It does not consider biological preparedness. Seligmen suggested that humans may have phobias of things that they have never encountered before. These phobias may have occurred due to their helpfulness in their evolutionary past. For example, individuals avoiding high places would have lived longer. This explains why half of the people with phobias have not experienced an anxious experience related to it.

Question 12

What are the two behaviourist treatments for phobias?

Answer 12

-Flooding
-Systematic de-sensitisation

Question 13

Outline systematic desensitisation.

Answer 13

Systematic de-sensitisation is a behaviour therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of classical conditioning. If a person can learn to remove the fear response of a phobia and substitute a relaxation response, then they will be cured. The therapy is complete once the agreed therapeutic goals are met

Question 14

What is in-vitro systematic de-sensitisation?

Answer 14

The client imagines exposure to the phobic stimulus.

Question 15

What is in-vivo systematic de-sensitisation?

Answer 15

The client is actually exposed to the phobic stimulus.

Question 16

Does in-vitro or in-vivo systematic de-sensitisation have better results?

Answer 16

in-vivo

Question 17

What are the three phases of systematic de-sensitisation?

Answer 17

1.The patient is taught a deep muscle relaxation technique and breathing exercises. When they are relaxed in the presence of lower levels on the hierarchy, they move up the hierarchy so these relaxation techniques are important. Alternatively, this relaxation can be done using drugs.
2. The patient creates a fear hierarchy starting at stimulus that create the least anxiety (fear) and building up in stages to the most fear-provoking images. The list is crucial as it provides a structure to the therapy.
3. The client works their way up the anxiety hierarchy. When they are relaxed in the presence ce of lower levels of the phobic stimulus then they move up the hierarchy. Treatment is successful when the client can stay relaxed in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy.

Question 18

Give a strength of systematic de-sensitisation. (research support)

Answer 18

There is research support for the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation. For example, Rothbaum investigated the use of systematic desensitisation with patients afraid of flying. After treatment, 93% agreed to a trial flight. Anxiety levels were lower than in a control group with no treatment and this was maintained 6 months later.

Question 19

Give a strength of systematic de-sensitisation. (ethics)

Answer 19

Systematic desensitisation can be considered to be more ethical than other forms of therapy such as flooding which involves rapidly exposing a client to their most feared phobia. Instead, each step is conductor slowly and dictheirarchyhe client. The therapist must only attempt to move up the heirarchy when they are completely comfortable.

Question 20

Give a limitation of systematic de-sensitisation.

Answer 20

A limitation is that behavioural therapies may not work with certain phobias as the symptoms are only the tip of the iceberg. If you remove the symptoms, the cause of the phobia still remains so eventually the symptoms will resurface.

Question 21

Outline flooding as a behavioural treatment for phobias.

Answer 21

Flooding involves exposing people with a phobia to their phobic stimulus but without a gradual build-up in an anxiety hierarchy. Flooding involves immediate exposure to a very frightening situation. Flooding sessions are usually longer than systematic desensitisation sessions. Sometimes only one long session is needed to cure a phobia.

Question 22

Give an example of flooding as a cure for a phobia of dogs.

Answer 22

The person with the phobia would be placed in a room with a dog and asked to stroke it straight away.

Question 23

How does flooding cure phobias?

Answer 23

The person is unable to avoid (negatively reinforce) their phobia as they are continously exposed. A learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus (e.g a dog) is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus (being bitten). The result is that the conditioned stimulus no longer produces the conditioned response. In some cases the client may achieve relaxation simply because they become exhausted by their own fear response.

Question 24

Why is fully informed consent vital with flooding as a treatment for phobias?

Answer 24

Flooding is not unethical but it is an unpleasant experience so it is important that the client gives fully informed consent to the traumatic procedure so that they are fully prepared before the session.

Question 25

Give a strength of flooding as a treatment for phobias.

Answer 25

One strength of flooding is that it is highly cost-effective. Clinical effectiveness means how effective a therapy is at tackling symptoms. A therapy is said to be cost-effective if it is clinically effective but not expensive. Flooding can work in as little as one session as opposed to many for systematic desensitisation to achieve the same result. This means that people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than with systematic de-sensitisation or other therapies.

Question 26

Give a limitation of flooding as a treatment for phobias.

Answer 26

One limitation of flooding is that it is a highly unpleasant experience. Confronting one’s phobic stimulus is an extreme form provokes tremendous anxiety. Schumacher found that participants and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than standard de-sensitisation. This raises the ethical issue for psychologists of knowingly causing stress to their clients, although there is not a serious issue provided they obtain informed consent. More seriously, the traumatic nature of flooding means that dropout rates are higher than for SD. This suggests that overall, therapists may avoid using this treatment.