The Behavioural Approach To Explaining And Treating Phobias

Question 1

What are the steps to the Two Process Model developed by Mowrer?

Answer 1

1. Acquisition from a traumatic experience (classical conditioning)
2. Maintained because an avoidance response is learnt (operant conditioning)

Question 2

Explain acquisition of a phobia by classical conditioning (using the example of a fear of dogs) (2 steps)

Answer 2

1. UCS (dog bite) is linked to CS (dog)
2. CR is a classically conditioned fear of dogs

Question 3

What is generalising?

Answer 3

When the conditioning (i.e. fear response) is generalised to similar objects

Question 4

Explain maintenance of a phobia by operant conditioning (using the example of a fear of dogs) (2 steps)

Answer 4

1. Someone with a fear of dogs will avoid dogs
2. This means they no longs feel fear because they’re avoiding the situation (negative reinforcement)

Question 5

What’s the main case study for the behavioural explanation for phobias?

Answer 5

Watson and Raynor (1920) - Little Albert

Question 6

What was the procedure of the Little Albert study?

Answer 6

1. Albert was presented with a white rat before experiment - showed no fear
2. Then every time he was presented with a rat there was a loud noise (banging an iron bar) next to his ear
3. He was presented with other things (e.g. white bunny/ fur coat) to see his reaction

Question 7

What are the UCS, UCR, NS, CR, CS in the Little Albert study?

Answer 7

UCS - Loud banging, UCR - Fear
NS - White rat
CR - Fear , CS - White rat

Question 8

What were the findings of the Little Albert study?

Answer 8

Albert associated the fear he felt from the loud noise with the white rat. They also found that he had generalised his fear to other furry objects.

Question 9

What is a strength of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?

Answer 9

It shows that in order to overcome the fear, the person must be exposed to the phobic stimulus - development of effective therapies

Question 10

What is a limitation of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?

Answer 10

Some phobias don’t follow a traumatic experience - someone with a fear of snakes my have never encountered a snake. Suggests some phobias have not been acquired through learning, weakening the explanation.

Question 11

What is a limitation of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias? (Alternative explanation)

Answer 11

Evolutionary explanation of phobias - more people fear fire/deep water/snakes (dangerous in our evolutionary past) than cars/guns (dangerous now)

Question 12

What is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 12

A behavioural therapy designed to reduce phobic anxiety through gradual exposure to the phobic stimulus

Question 13

What is counter-conditioning?

Answer 13

Learning a new response to the phobic stimulus - fear response is replaced by one of relaxation

Question 14

What are the 3 steps to systematic desensitisation?

Answer 14

1. Patients asked to create anxiety hierarchy - situations ordered from least to most fearful
2. Patients are taught relaxation techniques
3. Exposure - occurs across many sessions

Question 15

Which study supports systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias?

Answer 15

Gilroy et al

Question 16

What was the procedure of Gilroy et al?

Answer 16

42 patients who had been treated for spider phobia with systematic desensitisation compared with a control group who were treated with relaxation tech

Question 17

What were the findings of Gilroy et al?

Answer 17

3 months and 33 months later, the experimental group showed less fear

Question 18

What is a strength of systematic desensitisation? (Accessibility)

Answer 18

Can be used with a wide range of patients (e.g. patients with learning disabilities) as it’s based on basic behavioural techniques - helps more people

Question 19

What is a strength of systematic desensitisation? (Patient commitment)

Answer 19

Patients more likely to engage with it, as it does not seem too daunting - shown in the low drop-out rates for the treatments - shows it’s effective for a lot of people

Question 20

What is flooding?

Answer 20

A behavioural therapy designed to reduce phobic anxiety in one session, through immediate exposure to the phobic stimulus

Question 21

Explain what flooding would look like for somebody with a phobia of spiders and what would happen to them

Answer 21

Person would be locked in a room with lots of free-roaming spiders. They would become extremely anxious, but will eventually see that the spiders will not cause them harm.

Question 22

Why does flooding work?

Answer 22

It is physically impossible to maintain a state of heightened anxiety for a prolonged period, so eventually the patient learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless

Question 23

What is extinction?

Answer 23

A learned response (fear) is extinguished - i.e. the CS no longer produces the CR

Question 24

What is a strength of flooding?

Answer 24

Cost and Time effective - usually only takes one session, thus cheaper and less time consuming than systematic desensitisation

Question 25

What is a limitation of flooding? (Trauma)

Answer 25

Traumatic - although patients give consent, it is very traumatic due to the extreme anxiety experienced, so might not be appropriate for some people

Question 26

What is a limitation of flooding? (Complex phobias)

Answer 26

Less effective for complex phobias that involve both anxiety and a cognitive aspect (e.g. public speaking) - therefore a different therapy may be more effective