the behaviourist approach to phobias Flashcards
What is a phobia?
A phobia is an irrational belief of. a specific, feared stimulus, stimulus, which gives us fear and anxiety.
What are the 3 characteristics of phobias?
- persistent fear and anxiety of specific feared phobic stimulus.
- Irrational beliefs, about the feared stimulus.
- Avoidance of the feared stimulus.
what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
irrational beliefs about specific stimulus.
what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Avoidance of feared stimulus.
what are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
persistent fear and anxiety when in presence of phobic stimulus.
name and explain all the 3 types of phobias.
1.social phobia: When people have fears of being in a certain social situation.
2. agaraphobia : specific fear of being in a situation, where you can be trapped and can’t escape.
3.specific phobia: A fear of a specific animal or object.
explain how phobias are acquired.
Phobias are acquired through classical conditioning.
We learn how to associate something we do not fear, such as a dog( neutral stimulus), with something that triggers a fear response ( unconditioned response), such as being bitten ( unconditioned stimulus). After an association has formed, the dog ( now a conditioned stimulus), triggers a response of fear ( conditioned response), and consequently, we develop a phobia.
explain how phobias are maintained?
phobias are maintained through operant conditioning.
they are maintained by negative reinforcement. Behaviour is more likely to occur, because an unpleasant consequence is removed. For example, if a person with a phobic stimulus, sees a dog on the street, he will avoid it I order to reduce the feelings of anxiety.
what do we call this system in which phobias are acquired and maintained through?
The two process model.
what are the strengths and weaknesses of the two process model.
strengths: research support: Little Albert and Barlow and Durand.
limitations: Not all phobias seem to be caused by a traumatic event. Researcher Davey proves this.
what are the two main ways of treating phobias?
Flooding and systematic desensitisation.
explain flooding.
Flooding is when the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus, and is then encouraged to remain with it, until their anxiety wears off.
When the patient is exposed to phobic stimulus, he can’t avoid it.
The patient begins to realise that the conditioned stimulus, doesn’t lead to the unconditioned stimulus, which causes the association between them to extinguish.
What is systematic desensitisation.
systematic desensitisation is when a patient is gradually exposed to the phobic stimulus, in stages.
it has 3 steps:
1. Patient writes a list that ranges from the most feared to least feared part of the phobic stimulus. This is called an anxiety hierarchy.
2. Patient is taught relaxation techniques, or given drugs in order to relax.
3. Exposure. The patient is exposed to phobic stimulus, gradually from least scary to most scary ( from anxiety hierarchy), while ensuring that they stay relaxed at each stage, until eventually, the anxiety wears off.
works same way as flooding.
Outline the strengths of the dual process model:
RESEARCH SUPPORT: LITTLE ALBERT .Case study of an 11 months old baby, conducted by Watson and Reiner.
The aim was to test wether humans could achieve a phobia through classical conditioning .
They presented little Albert with a white rat ( initially, the rat was the neutral stimulus).
whenever little Albert would try to interact with the rat, Watson and Reiner would bang a metal bar behind his head. This made a very loud noise, and made little Albert cry.
After repeating this many times, they showed little Albert the white rat. Every time little Albert saw the white rat, he cried.
Little Albert learned how to associate the white rat, with the loud noise.( The rat became the conditioned stimulus
Little Albert would cry whenever he saw the rat, meaning that the rat became the conditioned response.
Outline the weaknesses of the dual process model
Not all phobias seem to be caused by a traumatic event. Researcher named Davey found that only 7% of people with a spider phobias, could recall the traumatic event. This suggest that 93 % of participants with a phobia, couldn’t recall the traumatic event. This further suggest that there may be some other factors involved, such as something genetically pre-disposed.
