phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia

Answer 1

• An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something
• Often characterised by avoidance behaviour and extreme reactions

Question 2

how cc causes phobias

Answer 2

• Classical conditioning assumes learning is by association
• Natural reflexes are paired with neutral stimuli
• Repeated association of the UCS and NS lead to the NS becoming the CS which causes
  the CR
• E.g. pain causes fear as a natural reaction (UCS →UCR), if someone is bitten by a dog
  the person associates the pain with the dog (UCS +NS)…the dog is the NS since it doesn’t
  naturally cause a reaction
• Eventually the dog is enough to cause fear (CS →CR

Question 3

how operant conditioning keeps phobias going

Answer 3

• You are positively reinforced to run away from the thing you are scared of, when you
  run away you get a reward= the feeling of relief
• You could also call it negative reinforcement- the fear you feel when exposed to the
  stimuli is reduced (the negative goes away) when you run away from it
• Positive punishment is where you are given a negative which decreases a behaviour…whenever you try to face your fear you panic….this is a punishment for
  ‘facing your fear’ so you never do

Question 4

how SLT causes phobias

Answer 4

• Social learning theory holds that people learn through observation i.e. observing
  someone being scared of a stimuli. Social learning is about behaviour being modelled
  and then repeated.
• There is imitation of role models (in this case the person scared of whatever is the
  stimuli).
• There are features to social learning such as paying attention to the fear behaviour
• Role models will be people like them in some way, people they admire and look up to,
  or of the same gender (Identification).
• This is often enough to explain the phobia- you’ve seen someone else respond in a
  fearful way and so you do too
• We are motivated to repeat these behaviours by the actual or perceived reward they bring.
• Vicarious reinforcement occurs when role models are seen to be gaining the reward
  desired by the young person. (it can also be direct)
• i.e. if the scared person gets attention it makes you more likely to copy

Question 5

what is implosion in flooding

Answer 5

The person is hypothetically put into a situation with their feared object from a prolonged period of timewhere escape is not possible. where you
think of the situation intensely/imagine yourself in it.

Question 6

what is in flooding

Answer 6

the understanding that fear cannot be maintained for a long period of time (your
body becomes exhausted) so will eventually disappear

Question 7

systematic desensitisation

Answer 7

• Systematic desensitisation begins with a client and therapist undertaking a functional analysis, where the triggers of the phobia are discussed before any intervention takes place.
• Prior to treatment a hierarchy is created going from the least feared type of contact with the phobic object/situation to the most feared e.g. a picture of a spider all the way up to a spider being on the persons face
• A client and therapist would construct a fear hierarchy that ranks the fear stimuli from least fearful to most fearful.
• The therapist will teach the client relaxation techniques, such as breathing skills, muscle relaxation, mindfulness, grounding techniques and other methods to calm the heart rate.
• Patients learn in stages to associate fear responses with feelings of calm (USING THE CLASSICAL CONDITIONING FORMULA).

Question 8

flooding process

Answer 8

1.teach relaxation techniques eg deep breathing
2.based on reciprocal inhibition, can’t feel fear and calm at same time so stay in heightened fear state forever
3.client is exposed to phobic stimuli directly and use relaxation techniques they’ve learnt
.or if therapist can’t put them in situation
3.. where you think of the phobic situation intensely/imagine yourself in it.
4.eventually will calm down and replace fear with a calm response