The Behavioural approach to Phobias (learning approach)

Question 1

what are the two things that compose the two process model?

Answer 1

Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning

Question 1

what is classical conditioning and who proposed it?

Answer 1

Pavlov suggested that behaviour is learnt through association with cues, also known as acquisition, however this cannot be used to credit anything regarding phobias

Question 2

what was used as a stimulus in pavlov’s experiment?

Answer 2

the beating of a metronome

Question 3

how did pavlov trial classical conditioning?

Answer 3

a dog salivates whenever food was given

Question 4

What is operant conditioning and who composed it?

Answer 4

Skinner suggested that if a behaviour is rewarded than it is more likely to be repeated and if a behaviour is punished immediately then it is less likely for it to be repeated

Question 5

How did skinner experiment operant conditioning?

Answer 5

Placed a rat in a ‘skinner’ box and it would press for food and keep on pressing, until it was electrically shocked where it would stop pressing.

Question 6

What did mowrer propose in 1960?

Answer 6

he proposed the two process model from findings of Pavlov and skinner.
He suggested that phobias are learnt and maintained through the two process model.

Question 7

What is the two process model made by mowrer?

Answer 7

1. Phobias are learnt through classical conditioning (acquisition)
2. Then, phobias are maintained through operant conditioning (maintenance)

Question 8

What are the steps to operant conditioning with phobias ?

Answer 8

1. Something scary happens which we associate with something else.
2. We avoid the thing we’re frightened of, and feel better.
3. Feeling better is a reward, increasing the likelihood that we use the same strategy again in the future.

Question 9

What is the story regarding phobias with Jane?

Answer 9

A wasp becomes trapped in Jane’s hair and stings her several times.
She has learnt to associate the buzzing sound with pain and fear. After this, she is anxious and wants to flee whenever hearing the noise. She often avoids going outdoors.

Question 10

What part of Jane’s story is the classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Answer 10

Classical- Jane associates pain with noise
Operant- Maintaining an avoidant response

Question 11

Who conducted the Little Albert study and when?

Answer 11

Watson and rayner,
1920

Question 12

What is the little Albert study?

Answer 12

This involved teaching a baby named Albert to be afraid of different stimuli through classical conditioning
A hammer was struck against a metal bar just as a toy was given to Albert. He was also presented a white rat, in which he became afraid of.

Question 13

What was the main issue with the little Albert experiment?

Answer 13

Ethical issues as a small child was taught a phobia and before he was unconditioned the mother found out and withdrew.

Question 14

Who composed the waterfall study and when?

Answer 14

Bagby, 1922

Question 15

What is the waterfall study involving bagby?

Answer 15

A woman acquired a phobia after getting her feet stuck in rocks near the base of a waterfall.
Her phobias was for running water.
She was eventually de-conditioned by Bagby, only after her phobia had become very strong

Question 16

Who provided a more systematic piece of evidence regarding phobias and dental work and when?

Answer 16

Ad de Jongh in 2006

Question 17

What did Ad De Jongh conduct regarding dental work and what were the results?

Answer 17

They involved two groups, one with a high anxiety of dental work and the other with a low anxiety of dental work.
From the results, Jongh found that the majority of the high anxiety group experienced a traumatic event, contrasting with the low anxiety one that didn’t.

Question 18

What were the results from Ad De Jongh’s dental work study?

Answer 18

73% of the high anxiety sample who experienced a fear on dental work treatment had experienced a traumatic experience involving dentistry.
Contrasting, in the low anxiety dentistry group only 21% experienced a traumatic event.

Question 19

What two things did Sue et al. suggest in 1994?

Answer 19

• found that many people did experience significant traumas at the start of their phobias.
  However, some people have a phobia but never experienced a traumatic event related to the phobia.
• suggests that some phobia’s may be learnt from others (social learning theory/ vicarious learning)

Question 20

What did seligman propose and when?

Answer 20

In 1970, he suggests that humans, like the rest of mammals, are more likely to develop phobias to living things
Suggests this is because this type of learning would’ve been beneficial in our evolutionary past.
E.g phobias to spiders and snakes as these were in caves.

Question 21

What are the weaknesses to the behavioural approach to phobias?

Answer 21

Not everybody goes on to develop a phobia from a stimulus, suggesting phobia development goes beyond a process model.
It ignores thoughts and feeling in phobias

Question 22

What is attentional bias in cognitive explanations?

Answer 22

This is when the person hyperorients on the feared thing

Question 23

What is the alternative to the behavioural approach to phobias?

Answer 23

The cognitive approach, focusing on the thoughts and feelings of the sufferer.

Question 24

What are the 2
strengths to the cognitive approach?

Answer 24

-covers maladaptive thoughts included in the phobia
-better explaining things like social phobia, where irrational thoughts are the source for someone’s fear.

Question 25

What is the diathesis-stress hypothesis?

Answer 25

A scientific idea that can help explain the complexity of phobias.
The idea that some people are born with a ‘genetic predisposition (genetic risk)’ in developing a phobia, and that if a stressful situation occurs, people at risk may go on to develop a phobia.