phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia

Answer 1

an irrational fear which is life limiting

situations or objects

Question 2

how can classical conditioning explain a phobia

Answer 2

reflex response to an unconditioned stimulus would somehow become associated with a neutral stimulus present at the same time as the UCS so will become scared
e.g. little albert was conditioned to be scared of rats by hearing a loud bang at the same time as being presented with a rat

Question 3

how can operant conditioning explain phobias

Answer 3

patterns of rewards and punishments. phobia link to the fear of being punished that led to the phobia developing negative reinforcement. to remove the possibility of getting bitten the person removes dogs
eg. skinner made rats learn through placing them in a cage teaching them to press a lever by not stopping an electric current running through the floor until they did

Question 4

how can social learning theory explain phobias

Answer 4

learned to imitate the behaviour that they have seen without any consequence for the model. if a role model is scared of something then someone watching that response will become scared to
eg Mineka made Rhesus monkeys become scared of snakes by getting them to observe wild monkeys being scared of them

Question 5

who developed systematic desensitisation

Answer 5

Wolpe (1958)

Question 6

what is systematic desensitisation

Answer 6

aim = this therapy aims to extinguish an undesirable behaviour fear by replacing it with a more desirable one - relaxation
works through reciprocal inhibition

Question 7

what is reciprocal inhibtion

Answer 7

we cannot feel fear and relaxation at the same time

Question 8

give an example of a hierarchy of fear

Answer 8

e.g. fear of spiders
1- think about spider
2- see picture of spider
3- be in same room as spider in a glass tank
4- sit next to glass tank with the lid closed
5- sit next to a glass tank with the lid open
6- put hand in tank
7- hold spider in hands

Question 9

what are the three main categories of phobias

Answer 9

• specific phobias = animals, events, bodily, situation (13% experience this)
• social phobias = social situations, speaking most common is going to the toilet. onset 15years effects about 40% of which 70% are female
• agoraphobia = public crowded places of leaving safety of home. 60% of phobic patients have this

Question 10

what is the difference between social and agoraphobias

Answer 10

social phobias are fearful of people whereas agoraphobia is fearful of themselves

Question 11

how many people will become phobic at some point

Answer 11

10-20%

Question 12

what did Mowrer find

Answer 12

a two process theory of phobia, the acquisition-maintenance model in which phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning

Question 13

what are the two steps of Mowrer

Answer 13

1- acquisition of a phobias

2- maintenance of a phobias

Question 14

what is the acquisition of a phobia

Answer 14

through classical conditioning - trauma can be experienced directly
though social learning (vicarious) observing a fear in another indirectly

Question 15

what is the maintenance of a phobia

Answer 15

through operant conditioning
approaching phobic object elicits conditioned anxiety response
retreat from phobic object reduces anxiety
this acts as a negative reinforcer so the person avoids the phobia object
others may unwittingly reinforce avoidance
= reduction of anxiety reinforces the avoidance behaviour which increases the likelihood of doing it again and the cycle continues

Question 16

strengths of Mowrer

Answer 16

developed through observing others
reliability = researched and supported on studies for both humans and animals
behaviourism works well for phobias but less well for disorders such as depression and schizophrenia
certain objects or situations are more likely to induce phobic reactions that others. good at explaining specific phobias but not agoraphobia and social phobias

Question 17

weaknesses of Mowrer

Answer 17

doesn’t account for individual differences, not everyone develops phobias in the same situations so can’t explain why some situations are more likely to form phobic responses
classical conditioning suggests there has to be a direct experience for a phobia to occur. the fact that they can be produced in a lab does not prove that this would happen in normal situations
Davy only found that 7% of spiders phobics recall having a traumatic experience with a spider which suggests there could be other explanations

Question 18

evaluation of acquiring phobias

Answer 18

+ classical conditioning has been developed using scientific methods which has research to back it up
+ supports CC and Dollinger et al found that child survivors of lightening strikes showed intense fear of thunder and lightning
+ supports SLT and Mineka described the case of a boy developing a fear of vomiting due to seeing his grandad vomit whilst dying
- against CC - Hekmat investigated a group of students with animal phobias, only 23% had reported direct conditioning experiences therefore suggesting a different method for developing a phobia
- research is difficult to generalise an animal fear and anxiety reactions differ greatly
- artificial environment which is not representative of real life as it doesnt take into account the surroundings and situations a person is in

Question 19

strengths of systematic desensitisation

Answer 19

• wolpe claims that 80-90% of patientts are either cured and much improved after an average of 25-30 sessions, however systematic desensitisation is not effect with disorders such as depression
• McGrath et al found that 75% of individuals with phobias respond to the therapy
• compared to other therapies it is considered ethical as it involves gradual exposure as the individuals own pace
• so has clear theoretical roots which can be explained to people and give them confidence in the therapy working
• Capons found that fear of flying was reduced by a programme of SD
• can achieve results in a relatively short period of time because it targets the specific symptoms
• validity and reliability by using a mixture of methods both the in-depth personalised therapy and the psychometric tests and the fear thermometer (reliable) McGrath gets both qualitative and quantitative data
• Ost et al found that anxiety was reduced in 90% of patents with specific phobias after just one session
• Brosnan and Thorpe used a 10 week programme of 16 technophobe, anxiety levels were significantly reduced

Question 20

weakness of systematic desensitisation

Answer 20

• can only treat certain anxiety disorders. situations or objects have to be clearly identifiable for the therapy to work. so it would be inappropriate for someone with general anxiety disorders
• according to psychodynamic approach the treatment is very superficial and does not get down to the root of the problem
• not reductionist behaviour. McGrath’s research has a cognitive element. there is also biological influence in the form of the deep breathing which reduces the body’s stress response
• generalisability = case studies always have a problem with small unrepresentative samples which make it difficult to generalise to other age groups, genders and levels of significance
• ethical issues as it causes some anxiety. if the patient drops out before the fear has been extinguished anxiety levels will be worse only treats the symptoms not the cause

Question 21

what does in vivo mean

Answer 21

real object

Question 22

what does in vitro mean

Answer 22

imagination

Question 23

what is flooding

Answer 23

placed in situation with feared object
someone can only experience alarm for so long and then it subsides
rapid exposure to the feared object which causes extinction
individual has their senses flooded with thoughts, images and actual experience of the object of their phobia

Question 24

what is continual exposure

Answer 24

eventually see it as less fear producing it is about replacing fear with a calmer response

Question 25

how is the learned response made extinct

Answer 25

as learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus the result is that the conditioned stimulus no longer produces the conditioned response

Question 26

strengths of flooding

Answer 26

• quick process because the alarm reaction cant be maintained for long. for people with a strong phobia it can be more successful than SD because they are not successful in maintaining relaxation
• Wolpe provided evidence for flooding as he took a little girl who was scared of cars and drove her around until she calmed down and it is said it did work, even though they were extremely upset at the start
• rests of strong theory and classical conditioning as well as biological knowledge are used to explain the treatment and why it works. theory is clear and well evidenced

Question 27

weaknesses of flooding

Answer 27

• the treatment can be frightening and perhaps not ethical SD is focused on gradual exposure and is less distressing
• classical conditioning involves extinction and phobias can be extinguished using flooding because the association would no longer be there. but spontaneous recovery can occur and it is more likely in flooding as it is not a gradual exposure so it as strong of a disconnection
• if flooding starts to use imagination rather than the live situation or object it becomes similar to SD. not a weakness but does show that there might be more to it than simple immersing someone in their fear. to help with ethic it turns to a different therapy which is a weakness to the original