psychopathology - phobias

Question 1

emotional symptoms of phobias

Answer 1

Persistent and unreasonable fear.
Anxiety and panic.
Cued by phobic object and emotions are extreme

Question 2

Cognitive symptoms of phobias

Answer 2

Irrational thinking e.g., ‘we will die on the plane’
cognitive distortions
selective attention

Question 3

Behavioural symptoms of phobias

Answer 3

Avoidance
Freeze/faint
Fight/flight
Endurance
Panic

Question 4

who came up with the behaviourist explanation for developing phobias

Answer 4

Mowrer 1974 two-process model

Question 5

how does Mowrer think phobias are attained

Answer 5

Mowrer took this teaching and applied them to his model. In the first stage there is the acquisition of the phobia through classical conditioning. A negative experience (unconditioned stimulus) occurs creating unconditioned response of fear. When a neutral stimulus occurs with the unconditioned stimulus this begins to associate them together. After this the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and creates a conditioned response of fear.

Question 6

how does Mowrer think phobias are maintained

Answer 6

• through operant conditioning, - specifically negative since the person is trying to remove something negative (phobia or unpleasant situation).
• When we avoid the phobic stimulus, we escape the fear and anxiety.
• this reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behavior and so the phobia is maintained

Question 7

evaluate mowrers two process model

Answer 7

Research support from Watson and Reiner
Practical applications, systematic desensitisation + flooding
Refuting research from DiNardo who found that 50% of non-dog phobic had a bad encounter with them
Individual differences/limits of PA – Clarke found only 2% of water phobics had a bad experiencing suggesting it is not learned for all thus therapy wouldn’t work.

Question 8

what is Systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias

Answer 8

 Behavioural therapy designed to gradually expose a person to their phobia and reduce anxiety
 They will learn to relax in the presence of their phobia. This learning is called counterconditioning.

Question 9

what are the three stages of Systematic desensitisation

Answer 9

1. Anxiety hierarchy – list of situations with the phobia in order from least to most frightening
2. Relaxation – therapist teaches the patient to relax
3. Exposure to phobia in relaxed state working through the hierarchy.

Question 10

evaluate Systematic desensitisation

Answer 10

 Less traumatic than flooding so more appropriate for patients
 Research support from Gilroy WHO HAD 42PATIENTS USE SD AND THEYFELT LESS FEARFUL 3 AND 33 MONTHS LATER THAN PP WHO USED ONLY RELAXATION
 Only shows it is useful for one of many phobias
 Individual differences may not work for everyone

Question 11

what Flooding as a treatment for phobias

Answer 11

 Exposing people to their phobia
 Immediate exposure for example a person with arachnophobia may have a spider crawl on their arm
 It works because without the option of avoidance behaviour the person quickly learns the phobia is harmless
 This is called extinction
 In some cases, the person reaches a relaxed state as we cannot stay at a high level of anxiety for a prolonged period

Question 12

evaluate flooding

Answer 12

 Time and cost effective can be done in one treatment
 Some people don’t like it and quit or never start treatment because it is an unpleasant treatment meaning time is wasted and they’re not cured
 Not effective for all phobias such as social

Question 13

explain extinction in classical conditioning terms

Answer 13

extinction happens when the conditioned stimulus (phobia) is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus. Since, it did not produce a conditioned response, the learned response is extinguished.