phobias

Question 1

what is fear?

Answer 1

1 of 6 universal emotions (happiness, anger, disgust, sadness, surprise)

Question 2

what is the purpose of fear?

Answer 2

serves protective purpose activates flight/fight response and keeps our bodies alert and ready for action

Question 3

natural fears from: 0-2 , 3-6 , 7-16

Answer 3

loud noises,imaginary things eg ghosts,realistic fears eg school performance

Question 4

what is classified as a phobia?

Answer 4

fear of the object ,item ,situation and marked persistent which affects person’s functioning
exposure to phobic stimulus immediate response
excessively avoided
present for 6 months

Question 5

How does classical conditioning explain acquisition of phobias?

Answer 5

Scientific explanation as to how behaviours are learnt W&R research shows process of classical conditioning and pairing of unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus can bring about a conditioned emotional response - can be a fear response

Question 6

How does classical conditioning explain maintenance of a phobia?

Answer 6

Pairing between US and NS renewed occasionally eg in W&R research Albert conditioned fear of rat but at 11 months and 20 days found fear of rat was less marked paired rat with US renewed CR to rat CS

Question 7

Evidence against phobias being formed from classical conditioning?

Answer 7

Kleinknecht studied group of members of American tarantula society and those reported fear of tarantulas did not have a direct experience with one

Question 8

Systematic desensitisation

Answer 8

Developed by Wolpe focused on assumption phobia is learnt through pairing of a NS with US until NS becomes CS. Step by step process face feared stimulus in calm manner gradually introduced in vivo or in vitro. Prior taught to relax muscles- progressive muscle relaxation

Question 9

Define systematic

Answer 9

Gradually facing up to phobic objects

Question 10

Define desensitisation

Answer 10

Brought about by relaxation techniques

Question 11

Define in vivo

Answer 11

Being exposed to real object

Question 12

Define in vitro

Answer 12

Being exposed to an imaginary speech

Question 13

Effectiveness of systematic desensisation PEEC

Answer 13

A strength is that systematic desensitisation is regarded to be an effective method to treat phobias and is generalisable to many kinds of specific phobias. For example, fear of spiders, dogs, flying has been researched by Capafons who found it’s an effective for treating fear of flying + McGrath et al 75% individuals w phobias respond to this therapy and it’s preferred treatment in NHS

Question 14

Limitations of systematic desensitisation PEEC

Answer 14

Individual differences must be taken into account and it cannot be applied to people who have more generalised anxiety disorders. It’s also limited by reductionism-all phobias are caused by CC. Ineffective for evolutionary phobias

Question 15

Define flooding

Answer 15

Phobic person are placed in a situation with their feared object/situation for a prolonged period with no means of removing themselves by a rewarding pattern of escape from the situation which causes the extinction of fear response

Question 16

What is the idea of flooding based on?

Answer 16

The individual sees feared objects cause an alarm reaction that gives organisms energy to fight or flee and as the body uses up blood sugar body calms the parasympathetic in turn calming the nervous system which eventually subsides

Question 17

Similarities of flooding and systematic desensitisation

Answer 17

Both exposure therapies involve a patient being exposed to fear, based on classical conditioning, supported by scientific research

Question 18

Differences between flooding and systematic desensitisation

Answer 18

SD is more ethical, flooding faster, flooding doesn’t use a progressive step-by-step approach towards feared stimulus, flooding doesn’t use progressive muscle relaxation to ease feelings of fear

Question 19

Effectiveness of flooding therapy

Answer 19

Faster than any other therapies eg Wolpe carried out an experiment of girl afraid of cars and drove her around for a few hours before she became calm

Question 20

Limitations of flooding therapy

Answer 20

Applications are limited and not useful for other mental health difficulties- some clients report improvement others acquire more anxiety

Question 21

Ethics of flooding therapy

Answer 21

Involves trauma for the patient so not ethical phobic is purposefully put into a situation of distress eg Wolpe girl was hysterical for a large part of the journey but he kept driving her around