The Behavioural Approach (Two-process model) to explaining phobias Flashcards
The Behavioural Approach to Explaining Phobias: The Two-Process Model
Assumes that phobias are learned through experience.
The Two-Process Model (Orval Hobart Mowrer, 1947)
i) Acquisition (how the phobia was learnt initially)
- Through Classical Conditioning
ii) Maintenance (why the phobia persists) - Through Operant Conditioning
The Acquisition of Phobias: Classical Conditioning (Classical Conditioning: learning by association
- a stimulus becomes associated with a response)
The feared stimulus/situation is originally a neutral stimulus.
It is paired/associated with an anxiety-provoking unconditioned stimulus (e.g. a traumatic event that triggers a fear response).
The feared [conditioned] stimulus/situation then triggers a conditioned response.
The Case of Little Albert
(Watson & Rayner, 1920)
Little Albert (9 month old infant) was shown a white rat (neutral stimulus) no fearful response.
Little Albert cried when a hammer (unconditioned stimulus = loud noise) was struck against a steel bar behind his head.
Over 7 weeks, the white rat (NS) was presented and immediately followed by a hammer being struck against a metal bar close to Albert’s ear (UCS).
Little Albert began only to see the rat (CS) and immediately showed signs of fear (CR).
what did Little Albert’s phobia generalise too
Little Albert’s phobia generalised to other white furry objects
e.g. a fur coat and a Santa Claus beard.
The Maintenance of Phobias: Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning:
Learning through the consequences of behaviour.
If a behaviour is reinforced then that increases the chances of the behaviour being repeated.
There are two types of reinforcement:
what is positive reinforcement
Positive Reinforcement:
An outcome of a behaviour that is pleasant
(results in a reward – the addition of a positive stimulus)
The attention/comfort generated by the phobia positive reinforcer, increasing the likelihood that the behaviour (i.e. fear response) will occur again in the future.
what is negative reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement:
An outcome of a behaviour that results in avoiding
something unpleasant (the removal of a negative stimulus)
The avoidance response means the individual can escape the fear and anxiety they would have otherwise suffered if they had encountered the feared stimulus/ situation negative reinforcer.
The reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour, maintaining the phobia.
Two-Process Model: Supporting Evidence
Di Gallo (1996)
Reported that around 20% of people who had experienced traumatic car accidents developed a phobia of travelling in cars, especially of travelling at speed, which can be explained by classical conditioning.
The neutral stimulus of a car became associated with the naturally occurring fear response (UCR) to the crash (UCS).
It was found that they tended to make avoidance responses (behavioural characteristic) e.g. staying at home rather than making car journeys to see friends – the maintenance of the phobia can therefore be explained by operant conditioning.
The avoidance response of saying at home was negatively reinforcing and therefore repeated, making the phobia resistant to extinction.
P: Effective treatments based on behaviourist principles have been developed to treat phobias:
E: Systematic Desensitisation and Flooding are based on the idea of counter-conditioning, breaking down the negative association between the stimulus and fear, replacing it with a more positive association. They also prevent the individual from practicing their avoidance behaviour, preventing reinforcement.
C: The fact that these treatments are successful suggests that phobias are maladaptive behaviours acquired by learning i.e. they can be unlearned by replacing them with more adaptive behaviours (counter-conditioning).
P: There is research support for the role of classical conditioning in acquiring phobias:
E: The case of Little Albert (Watson & Rayner, 1920) supports the two-process model as they were able to condition Albert to develop a fear of white fluffy objects by pairing a previously neutral stimulus, a white rat, with a loud noise.
C: However, it is difficult to generalise the findings because……ethical issues include..
P: However, the model is deterministic as not everyone who has a traumatic experience develops a phobia.
E: Di Nardo et al. (1988): not everyone who is bitten by a dog develops a phobia of dogs – the behavioural approach cannot explain these individual differences.
C: However, according to the diathesis-stress model, a dog bite would only lead to a phobia in those people with a genetic vulnerability i.e. they carry a specific gene that codes for phobic/anxiety disorders.
(This proposes that we inherit a genetic vulnerability for developing mental disorders, however, a disorder will only manifest itself if triggered by an environmental stressor)
Equally, not everyone who has a phobia can recall a traumatic experience when their phobia appeared, suggesting that they may not have experienced one - a criticism of classical conditioning:
- Ost (1987): it is possible that such traumatic incidents did happen, but have since been forgotten.
P: It cannot explain why we seem to fear certain stimuli e.g. heights, spiders.…
E: ‘Biological preparedness’ offers an alternative explanation (Seligman, 1970): Proposes that animals (including humans), are genetically programmed to rapidly learn an association between potentially life-threatening stimuli and fear.
These stimuli are known as ancient fears - things that would have been dangerous in our evolutionary past i.e. snakes, heights. It would have been adaptive to rapidly learn to avoid such stimuli that posed a threat to survival.
C: Biological preparedness explains why people are less likely to develop fears of modern objects i.e. cars, which are more of a threat than spiders. Such items were not a danger in our evolutionary past, suggesting that behavioural explanations alone cannot be used to explain the development of phobias.
P: The behavioural approach/two-process model of phobias can be criticised for being reductionist..…
E: For example, the two-process model suggests that complex mental disorders such as phobias are caused solely by our experience of association, rewards and punishment, reducing behaviour down to stimulus-response units.
C: The approach can therefore be seen to be too simplistic, overlooking the role of other factors such as the role of biology (e.g. genes, neurotransmitters) and cognition (thinking) in the acquisition/maintenance of phobias.
How might the Cognitive Approach Explain Phobias?
Irrational Thinking: the individual develops faulty thought processes in relation to a particular stimulus or situation. e.g. “I could become trapped in this lift and suffocate”
Attentional Bias: phobias focus more upon anxiety generating stimuli i.e. the teeth of a dog rather than its other features.
