Psychopathology - Phobias

Question 1

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias (action)?

Answer 1

• avoidance
  
• endurance
  
• disruption of functioning
  
• panic
  -

Question 2

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias (feelings)?

Answer 2

• fear
  
• panic/anxiety
  -

Question 3

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias (thinking)?

Answer 3

• irrational
  
• insight
  
• cognitive distortions
  
• selective attention
  -

Question 4

What is the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?

Answer 4

• the two process model
  
  • classical conditioning/social learning
  • operant conditioning

Question 5

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 5

• where a phobia is learnt through association (Little Albert Study)
  
  • a white rat (neutral stimulus) was presented to Little Albert on its own
  • a loud banging noise (unconditioned stimulus) was then presented to him on its own which caused an emotional response
  • when the two stimuli were paired together multiple times, an association had been established
  • then when the white rat (conditioned stimulus) was presented to him alone, this triggered an emotional response (conditioned response) from Little Albert
• ** this fear was then generalised to all white and fluffy objects/animals **

Question 6

What are the strengths of classical conditioning?

Answer 6

• supporting studies
  
  • King (1998) supports the ideas proposed by classical conditioning
  • he reviewed many case studies and found that children often acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences with their phobic object
  • e.g. getting bitten by a dog leads to a phobia of dogs

Question 7

What are the weaknesses of classical conditioning?

Answer 7

• not reliable
  
  • the Little Albert (1920) study was only conducted once and the findings have not been repeated
  • so it could be questioned whether the same results would be gained if the study was to be repeated (not possible as this study breaks ethical guidelines)
• vague explanation
  
  • some people may have traumatic experiences (car accident) but do not develop phobias (of cars/driving)
  • classical conditioning does not explain how all phobias develop
• opposing research
  
  • Menzies criticises this model as he studied individuals with hydrophobia and found that only 2% of his sample had a negative experience with water
  • so 98% of them never had a negative experience involving water (did not develop their phobia via classical conditioning)
  • other findings = 50% of people who have a dog phobia have never had a bad experience involving a dog

Question 8

What is social learning?

Answer 8

• where an individual learns a phobia through other people
• based on an observational learning where young children may observe their parents’ reaction to something and they copy this behaviour
• ** Minneka found that when one monkey showed a fear response to snakes, the other monkeys in the cage copied this response **

Question 9

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 9

• explains how phobias can be maintained through reinforcement
  
  • negative reinforcement = avoiding their phobic object
  • positive reinforcement = avoidance of the phobic object continues as the individual does not feel fear (they find this rewarding)

Question 10

What are the strengths of the two process model?

Answer 10

• research support
  
  • Bandura supports the idea of social learning theory
  • in the study, ppts watched the reaction of a person who acted as if they were in pain when a buzzer sounded
  • the ppts then copied this reaction and showed the same response
  • shows how social learning seems to be an effective method of learning to become fearful of an object
• two process model consists of two clear steps
  
  • the phobia is learnt through classical conditioning/social learning
  • it is then maintained by operant conditioning (either positive/negative reinforcement)

Question 11

What are the weaknesses of the two process model?

Answer 11

• the model is quite limited
  
  • this behavioural model only focuses on learning/the environment but does not take into account the biological/evolutionary factors
  • some may even have more of a genetic vulnerability to develop phobias than others
• only applies to animals/young children
  
  • the social learning theory is not very strong in explaining how adults can learn to have phobias
    - so the behavioural model is quite limited as it does not explain how everyone develops phobias

Question 12

What are the behavioural approaches to treating phobias?

Answer 12

• systematic desensitisation
• flooding

Question 13

What is systematic desensitisation (SD)?

Answer 13

• behavioural therapy developed by Wolpe (1958) to diminish phobias
• counter conditioning method where the phobic object is associated with calm/relaxed responses
• hierarchy of fear
  
  • ranking situations involving phobic object (least to most fearful)
• relaxation techniques
  
  • PMR (progressive muscular relaxation)
  • deep muscle relaxation techniques
• gradual exposure
  
  • patient works their way through the hierarchy of fear

Question 14

What are the strengths of SD?

Answer 14

• research support
  
  • Jones (1924) eradicated Little Peter’s phobia by gradually bringing the white rabbit closer to him
  • he eventually developed affection for it and this extended to all white fluffy objects
  • Klosko (1990) found that 87% of patients were panic free after SD
  • medication = 50%, placebo = 36%, no treatment = 33%
• less traumatic
  
  • compared to other behavioural therapies (flooding), SD causes much less psychological harm
  • so it has less ethical implications/is less upsetting for patient to endure

Question 15

What are the weaknesses of SD?

Answer 15

• not practical
  
  • it is not the most appropriate therapy for real life phobic situations
  • it is difficult to arrange and control these kinds of situations
  • this questions the effectiveness of the therapy
• may not be effective in the long term
  
  • this therapy only acknowledges the symptoms of phobias
  • critics believe that even after SD underlying causes of the phobia will remain/symptom substitution may occur

Question 16

What is flooding?

Answer 16

• where an individual is directly exposed to their phobic object
• the patient is taught relaxation techniques beforehand (meditation/deep breathing)
• it can be done in vivo or virtually (imagining the situation)
• it can stop phobic responses very quickly as they cannot avoid the situation
• they may also be too exhausted by their own fear response
• these sessions often last around 2-3 hours

Question 17

What are the strengths of flooding?

Answer 17

• cost effective
• support
  • Ost (1997) believed that flooding is a rapid/effective treatment as it shows immediate improvements
  • especially when this is done outside of the therapy sessions

Question 18

What are the weaknesses of flooding?

Answer 18

• effectiveness is limited
  
  • it is less effective for curing phobias like ‘social phobia’
  • these phobias often have a cognitive aspect that flooding cannot address very well
• highly traumatic