psychopathology-phobias Flashcards
what are phobias characterised by
uncontrollable, extreme, irrational and enduring fear
what are the 3 types of phobia
-social phobia
-agoraphobia
-specific phobia
what is social phobia
fear of being in a social situation
what is agoraphobia
fear of being outside or in a public space
what is a specific phobia
fear of a specific object or animal
what are the behavioural characteristics
avoidance of the feared stimulus
Endurance-freeze
what are the emotional characteristics of a phobia
persistant fear of a specific stimulus
what are the cognitive characteristics of a phobia
irrational beliefs about the feared stimulus
what does the 2 process model explain
-phobias being acquired through classical conditioning
-phobias being maintained through operant conditioning
how are phobias acquired through classical conditioning
UCS———>UCR
UCS+NS———–>UCR
CS————>CR
How is behaviour maintained through operant conditioning
When a person avoids a feared stimulus the negative feelings of fear are removed so behaviour is reinforced through negative reinforcement
how can SLT explain acquisition of phobias
we observe and imitate a phobia via a role model through vicarious reinforcement
Supporting evidence for the idea that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning
-Watson and Raynor-at first the white rat was a neutral stimulus then a loud bang was sounded behind him and he learned to associate the loud bang with the white rat which elicited a fear response
what is a problem with watson and raynors study
-lack ecological validity-not true to how we aquire phobias in real life
-case study so is idiograpahic so cannot generalise to wider population
Supporting evidence for the idea that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
Di Gallo-reported that around 20% of people experiencing a traumatic car accident developed a phobia of travelling in cars (classical conditoning)
they also tended to make avoidance responses which involved staying at home (operant conditoning as avoidance causes relief)