The behavioural approach to explaining phobias

Question 1

Who was the two-process model made by?

Answer 1

Hobart Mowrer in 1960

Question 2

Explain how phobias are acquired

Answer 2

• we learn to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response

Question 3

Outline the little Albert study?

Answer 3

• Watson and Rayner in 1920
• a white rat, which little albert initially wasn’t scared of was introduced to little Albert with loud noises, an unconditioned stimulus. Eventually, little Albert learnt to associate white items with loud noise producing a conditioned response of fear every time he saw a white object.

Question 4

Explain how phobias are maintained

Answer 4

• operant conditioning
• negative reinforcement = when someone avoids their phobia, they also avoid an unpleasant situation, this negatively reinforces the behaviour
• positive reinforcement = when someone successfully avoids their fears, they are rewarded with a positive emotion of satisfaction, positively reinforcing their behaviour.

Question 5

What is a strength of the two process model?

Answer 5

• real world applications
• the behavioural explanation has been used in many exposure therapies as it prevents avoidance. By making someone encounter their fear, it is not positively or negatively reinforced curing the phobia

Question 6

What is a strength of the two process model?

Answer 6

• there is a link between bad experiences and phobias displayed in little Alberts study
  -Ad De Jongh found that 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic experience, mostly involved in dentistry. This can be compared to a control group in which 21% had experienced a traumatic event. This confirms the association between stimulus (dentistry) and an unconditioned response (pain) does lead to the development of a phobia

Question 7

What is a limitation of the two process model?

Answer 7

• the two process does not explain the cognitive symptoms of phobias such as cognitive distortions and irrational beliefs which are a significant part of phobias
• only explains avoidance, therefore the two process model is too simplistic

Question 8

What is another limitation of phobias?

Answer 8

• May be evolutionary explanations to phobias. For example, humans tend to have phobias of spiders and darkness. This may be called prepardness.