Phobias Flashcards
What are phobias
a phobia is a irrational fear of an object or situation
what are the behavioural characteristics of a phobia
Panic - crying, screaming, running away
Avoidance - not interacting with phobic stimulus (form of negative reinforcement)
what are the emotional characteristics of a phobia
Fear - immediate experiences when thinking or in contact with phobia
Anxiety - caused by fear
Unreasonable responses - emotional response may be disproportionate to stimulus
what are the cognitive characteristics of a phobia
Selective attention - hoard to look away or concentrate on something else
Irrational beliefs - about what others think of them or how harmful the stimulus is
what is the behavioural explanation for phobias
MOWER proposed the 2 process model what sates that ‘ phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
what are the treatments for phobias
systemic desensitization and flooding
what is systemic desensitization
behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through counter conditioning
- phobia learnt through stimulus being associated with fear so patients learn to pear stimuli with feeling of being relaxed and reciprocal inhibition occurs
reciprocal inhibition is where its not possible to be relaxed and fearful at the same time so one emotion must be ignored
what processes are involved in systemic desensitization
anxiety hierarchy - put together by patient and therapist, list of fear inducing stimuli arranged in order
relaxation - therapist teaches patient how to relax
exposure - patients uses techniques at each stage of the hierarchy, moving up once they are relaxed in the presence of the stimulus
what is flooding
where patient is immediately exposed to phobic stimulus without a gradual buildup.
this leads to extinction of the fear response as the patient can’t carry out avoidance behaviour. Causing them to learn phobic stimulus wont cause harm and leads to extinction of fear response
