phobias Flashcards
phobias definition
overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, animal, feeling or situation - type of anxiety disorder - can think about phobia and experince distress (anticipatory anxiety)
behavioural characteristics of phobias
avoidance - freezing or fainting which is triggered by acute/sudden stress - may prevent from executing everyday tasks
cognitive characteristics of phobias
characterised by irrational nature of a persons thinking and their resistance to rational arguments about their fear, person recognises their fear is excessive, person may have selective attention to phobic stimulus
emotional characteristics of phobias
fear that is persistant, visible, excessive and unreasonable - anxiety and panic about the possibility of coming into contact, emotions can be exhibited in presence of stimulus but also anticipation of stimulus
what is the behavioural explanation of phobias
the two-process model of phobias
two-process model of phobias step one explanation
- step one - initiation, phobias created due to classical conditioning, neutral stimulus paired with unconditioned stimulus which causes fear, an association is formed the NS becomes the conditioned stimulus which causes conditoned response