Phobias

Question 1

Behavioural characteristics

Answer 1

Panic - scream or run away.
Avoidance - conscious effort to avoid.
Endurance - may stay and bear it.

Question 2

Emotional characteristics

Answer 2

Anxiety - unpleasant state of high arousal, disproportionate to threat.
Fear - short-lasting, more intense.
Emotional response is unreasonable/ disproportionate to threat.

Question 3

Cognitive characteristics

Answer 3

Selective attention - can’t look away.
Irrational beliefs - unfounded beliefs.
Cognitive distortions - unrealistic

Question 4

Two- process model (Mowrer): Acquisition by classical conditioning
EXPLANATION

Answer 4

Unconditioned stimulus linked to neutral stimulus, then both produce unconditioned response (fear), now called the conditioned response.
E.g. Little Albert played with rat (NS), heard loud noise (UCS), then rat (now CS) produces fear response (now CR).

Question 5

Two process model (Mowrer): Maintenance by operant conditioning
EXPLANATION

Answer 5

Avoidance of phobic stimulus negatively reinforced by anxiety reduction, so the phobia is maintained.

Question 6

Two process model EVALUATION

Answer 6

• Real world application - Phobias successfully treated by preventing avoidance, as suggested by the model.
• Cognitive aspects of phobias -> Fails to account for cognitive aspects of phobias, e.g. irrational fears.
• Phobias and traumatic experiences -> 73% of people with a dental phobia had past trauma, in control group with no phobia only 21% had trauma (De Jongh et al).
  Counterpoint -> not all cases of phobias follow bad experiences and vice versa.
• Learning and evolution -> Two process model explains individual phobias, but evolutionary approach explains general aspects of phobias.

Question 7

Systematic desensitisation: Anxiety hierarchy
TREATMENT

Answer 7

A list of situations ranked for how much anxiety they produce.

Question 8

Systematic desensitisation: Relaxation
TREATMENT

Answer 8

Reciprocal inhibition - relaxation and anxiety can’t happen at the same time. Relaxation includes imagery and/or breathing techniques.

Question 9

Systematic desensitisation: Exposure
TREATMENT

Answer 9

Exposed to phobic stimulus whilst relaxed at each level of the anxiety hierarchy.

Question 10

Systematic desensitisation EVALUATION

Answer 10

• Evidence of effectiveness -> More effective than relaxation alone after 33 months (Gilroy et al) and effective for a range of phobias.
• People with learning disabilities -> SD best - cognitive therapy requires complex rational thought, flooding is traumatic.
• SD in virtual reality -> Avoids dangerous situations and is cost-effective, but lacks realism.

Question 11

Flooding TREATMENT

Answer 11

Exposes clients to a very frightening situation without a build-up.
Works by extinction of the conditioned fear response.
Clients must give informed consent and be prepared for flooding.

Question 12

Flooding EVALUATION

Answer 12

• Cost-effective -> Clinically effective and not expensive, may take only 1-3 sessions.
• Traumatic -> Rated as more stressful than SD, lack of informed consent and higher attrition rates.
• Symptom substitution-> Occurs if cause of phobia is not tackled, but only evidence is from case studies so may not generalise.