Psychopathology - Behaviourak Explanation Of Phobias Flashcards
Who designed the two process model?
Mowrer
The two process model
- phobia is initiated through classical conditioning or social learning
- phobia is maintained through operant conditioning
Classical conditioning
- learning through association
- stimulus produces same response as another because both have been constantly presented at the same time
- could be how phobias develop
How can phobias develop due to classical conditioning?
Stimulus the person is afraid of has previously been associated with another stimulus
Who conducted the little Albert experiment?
Watson and Raynor (1920)
What was the little Albert experiment?
- giving an infant a phobia of white rats through classical conditioning
- first Albert was fine with the rat
- whenever Albert would reach for the rat, Watson and Raynor would strike a metal bar behind his head
- the loud noise startled him and made him cry
- eventually he cried every time he saw the rat and became afraid of other white fluffy objects
Loud noise and it’s reflex are…
Stimulus of a loud noise = unconditioned stimulus
Produces reflex of fear = unconditioned response
Aka didn’t need to be learnt to have this effect
What stimulus was the white rat initially?
Neutral stimulus = produces no reflexes
After associating the white rat with the unconditioned stimulus, what stimulus did the white rat become?
- white rat = conditioned stimulus
- fear response = conditioned response
Fear response of white rat relation to other things
Can be generalised to other objects or situations e,g, anything white or fluffy
Classical conditioning negative - no repeats
- study was only conducted once and findings have not been repeated = not very reliable
- would the same results be gained if the study was repeated?
- study can’t be repeated due to ethical concerns
Classical conditioning negative - other study
- Menzies (psychologist) did a study of people with hydrophobia.
- only 2% had a previous negative experience with water (classical conditioning)
- 98% had not learnt to be frightened of water via classical conditioning
- same study for dogs but 50% people
Classical conditioning negative - trauma
- some people have traumatic experiences but don’t go on to develop a phobia e.g. car accidents
Social learning
- young children observe a reaction from their parents or family in a particular situation and copy this behaviour
observational learning
if you see someone else have a traumatic experience, you might imitate and also develop phobia
Psychologist study for social learning
- Minneka found when one monkey in a cage showed a fear response to snakes, the other monkeys in the cage copied the response and also showed fear response
Operant conditioning
- Learning through the consequences of someone’s behaviour
- negative and positive reinforcement + punishment
Positive reinforcement
Behaviour leads to a reward
Negative reinforcement
Behaviour stops something unpleasant
Punishment
Behaviour leads to something unpleasant
Negative reinforcement related to phobia
- avoiding phobic object reduces fear + is reinforcing
2 process model negative - factors
- ignores other factors which could cause phobias
- focuses on learning and the environment
- doesn’t take biological and evolutionary factors into account
2 process model negative - adult phobias
- social learning theory = successful explaining phobia for young children + animals
- not strong for how adults learn phobias
- limited idea
2 process model positive - buzzer thing
- Bandura supports
- research conducted = person acted as if they were in pain when a buzzer sounded + participants watched this reaction
- participants then heard the sound of the buzzer and showed the same response (as if in pain)
