Psychopathology - phobias Flashcards
What they are, behaviourist explanations and treatments
what are the three different types of phobia?
specific phobias, social anxiety/phobias, agoraphobia
what are behavioural characteristics of phobias?
panic - scream, cry, etc. (automatic avoidance), avoidance - running away, changing schedule (planned avoidance) and endurance - freezing
what are emotional characteristics of phobias?
anxiety/fear.
emotional responses are disproportionate and unreasonable
what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
selective attention biased towards the phobic stimulus, irrational beliefs, and cognitive distortions - how the stimulus is perceived
what is the two-process model and who proposed it?
Mowrer (1960)
phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
how are phobias reinforce and maintained?
an individual avoids the phobic stimulus, meaning they have reduced anxiety, which is negative reinforcement
how can social learning theory be applied to phobias?
individuals can learn phobias vicariously. observing a fear response in a model can induce fear
what is an example of acquiring phobias through classical conditioning?
Watson and Little Albert
loud bangs (UCS) paired with white rat (NS) caused a fear of rats (CS)
what are strengths of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias?
+ the two process model has real world applications (exposure therapy)
+ link between bad experiences and phobias - 73% of people with fear of dentists had a traumatic experience in the past. low dental anxiety group only 21% of them had a traumatic experience
what are limitations of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias?
- doesn’t account for cognitive aspects of phobias and doesn’t completely explain the symptoms
- not all phobias appear after a bad experience (evolutionary?)
- not all avoidance is caused by anxiety reduction
what are the two behavioural treatments for phobias?
systematic desensitisation and flooding
what is systematic desensitisation?
patient and doctor create a list of situations related to the phobia in order of least anxiety inducing to most. (anxiety hierarchy)
the patient is then taught how to relax as deeply as possible.
can’t feal fear and relaxation at same time = reciprocal inhibition
gradually work through the anxiety hierarchy.
what is flooding?
no gradual build up, immediately exposed to the phobic stimulus.
no avoidance = realises not actually harmful and gets rid of the conditioned fear response
what is an evaluation of systematic desensitisation?
+ not as traumatic as flooding
+ relaxation procedures = enjoyable
+ suitable for a diverse range of patients
+ very effective -> long lasting
- takes a long time and is more expensive than flooding
what is proof of the efficacy of systematic desensitisation?
Gilroy et al (2003) treated one group of phobias by systematic desensitisation and the other by just relaxing. less fear in the systematic desensitisation group after 3 and 33 months.
