The Behavioural Approach to Explaining and Treating Phobias

• what are the main assumptions of the behavioural approach

  ->psychologists should only study observable, quantifiable behaviour

  ->all behaviour is learned

  ->humans are no different than humans and should not be regarded as complex

  ->research on animals behaviour is directly relevant to humans
• what are the key explanations of phobias using the behaviourist approach?

  ->phobias can be learned through classical and operant conditioning
• explain the two-process model

  ->proposed by Hobart Mowrer (1960)

  ->the acquisition (onset) of phobias is seen as occurring directly through classical conditioning

  ->e.g, by the experience of traumatic event, like being bitten by a dog

  ->the maintenance of phobias is seen as occurring through operant conditioning, where avoiding or escaping from a feared object/situation acts as a negative reinforcer (the reward being the reduction of anxiety)

  ->this reinforces the avoidance response (makes it more likely to occur again)
• explain the acquisition of a phobia through classical conditioning

  ->classical conditioning is learning through association

  ->classical conditioning involves learning to associate something which we initially have no fear of (called neutral stimulus/NS) with something that already triggers a fear response (unconditioned stimulus/US)
• case study for classical conditioning

  ->Little Albert

  ->Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned Little Albert to be scared of a white rat

  ->They noticed he was naturally frightened of a loud banging noise and he was unafraid of the rat

  ->they then paired together the loud noise with the white rat lots of times

  ->eventually, they learnt to associated the two together until the white rat only was enough to produce a fear response

  ->Albert also became scared of other white fluffy things like sheep and Santa's beard- this is known as stimulus generalisation
• What makes the Little Albert case highly unethical and controversial?

  ->Watson and Rayner never removed this conditioning and it damaged Little Albert permanently
• what is a strength of the two-process model

  ->it has real-world application in exposure therapies (such as systematic desensitisation)

  ->the distinctive element of the two-process model is the idea that phobias are maintained by the avoidance of the phobic stimulus

  ->once the avoidance behaviour is prevented, it ceases to be reinforced by the experience anxiety reduction and avoidance therefore; it declines

  ->in behavioural terms, the phobia is the avoidance behaviour so when this avoidance is prevented, the phobia is cured
• why is the fact that the two-process model having a lot of real-world application a strength?

  ->it shows the value of the two-process approach because it identifies a means of treating phobias
• what is another strength of the two-process model?

  it has evidence for a link between bad experiences and phobias

  ->W&R found how Little Albert was conditioned into having a phobia of the white rat by pairing the rat (UCS) with a loud noise (NS) which produced an UCR of fear

  ->the rat over time is now a learned stimulus (CS) that produces a conditioned response (fear)
• case study by Ad De Jongh

  ->(2006) found that 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic experience

  ->mostly involving dentistry when compared to a control group (21% experienced a traumatic event
• why is the fact that the two-process model having evidence for a link between bad phobias a strength ?

  it's a strength because it increases the validity of the two-process model, proving that traumatic experiences can lead to phobia
• give a counter-argument of the two-process model

  ->not all phobias appear following a bad experience

  ->infact, some common phobias such as snake phobias occur in populations where very few people have any experience of snakes let alone traumatic experiences

  ->also, not all frightening experiences lead to phobias

  ->this means that the association between phobias and frightening experiences is not as strong as we would expect if behavioural theories provided a complete explanation
• what is a limitation of the two-process model

  ->it doesn't account for the cognitive aspects of phobias

  ->behavioural explanations, including the two-process model, are geared towards explaining behaviour

  ->in case of phobias, the key behaviour is avoidance of the phobic stimulus

  ->however, we know that phobias are not simply avoidance responses-they also have a significant cognitive component

  ->e.g, people hold irrational beliefs about the phobic stimulus (Such as thinking that a spider is dangerous)

  ->it explains avoidance but doesn't offer adequate explanation of phobic cognitions
• why is the lack of account of the cognitive aspects of phobia limitation of the two-process model?

  ->it doesn't completely explain the symptoms of phobias
• what are the two different ways proposed by the behaviourist approach of treating phobias?

  ->systematic desensitisation

  ->flooding
• explain systematic desensitisation 


  ->it's a behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of classical conditioning

  ->if a person learns to relax in the presence of the phobic stimulus, they'll be cured

  ->a new response to the phobic stimulus is learned and so the phobic stimulus is paired with relaxation instead of anxiety
• define counter-conditioning


  the learning of a different response
• describes the stages of sytematic desensitisation

  ->clients are taught relaxation techniques e.g breathing exercises and clients can be taught to imagine themselves in relaxing situations

  ->with the help of a therapist, clients construct an anxiety hierarchy- a list of feared objects or situations from the least to the most feared

  ->in the presence of the therapist, the client then confronts each item in the hierarchy while they are in a state of deep relaxation- they start with the least feared item and move on once they feel relaxed and unafraid in it's presence
• what is a strength of using systematic desensitisation to help get rid of phobias?

  ->there's supportive evidence for it's effectiveness

  ->Gilroy (2003) followed 42 people who had SD (systematic desensitisation) for spider phobia in three 45-minute sessions

  ->at both three and 33 months, the SD group were less fearful than a control group treated by relaxation without exposure

  ->in a recent review, Wechster (2019) concluded that SD is effective for specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia
• why is the availability of supporting evidence for using systematic desensitisation a strength?

  it's a strength because SD is likely to be helpful for people with phobias and people can be treated through counter-conditioning
• what is a limitation of using systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias?

  ->it's not effective in treating all phobias

  ->patients with phobias which have not developed through a personal experience (classical conditioning), such as fear of snakes, are not effectively treated using SD

  ->some psychologists believe that certain phobias have an evolutionary survival benefit and are not the result of learning
• why is it a limitation that SD cannot be effective in treating all phobias?

  ->it's a limitation of SD it's ineffective in treating evolutionary phobias which have an innate basis
• what is flooding?


  ->it's an approach that directly exposes clients to the object or situations they fear but without a gradual build up in an anxiety hierarchy

  ->it involves immediate exposure to a very frightening situation
• example of flooding


  ->someone with a fear of heights is taken to the top of a tower and encouraged to stay there

  ->in theory, flooding the client-exposing them repeatedly to the feared stimulus will allow them to see that there's no basis for their fear
• what happens when flooding works?

  extinction of the fear happens
• explain how flooding works

  ->flooding stops phobic responses very quickly

  ->this may be without the option of avoidance behaviour, the patient quickly learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless

  -> a learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus (e.g dog) is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus (e.g being bitten)

  ->the result: the conditioned stimulus no longer produces the conditioned response (fear)

  ->in some cases, the patient achieves relaxation in the presence of the phobic stimulus simply because they become exhausted by their own fear response
• what's a strength of using flooding as a method to get rid of a phobia?

  ->it's highly cost-effective

  ->clinical effectiveness means how effective a therapy is at tackling symptoms

  ->however when we provide therapies in health systems like the NHS, we also need to think about how much they cost

  ->a therapy is cost-effective, if it's clinically effective and not expensive

  ->flooding can work in as little as one session, opposed to 10+ SD sessions to achieve the same results even allowing for a longer session (perhaps 3 hours)
• why is the method flooding being cost-effective a strength?

  ->it means that more people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than SD or other therapies
• what is a limitation of using flooding to treat phobias?

  ->it's a highly unpleasant experience

  ->confronting one's phobic stimulus in an extreme form provokes tremendous anxiety

  ->Schumacher (2015) found that participants and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than SD

  ->this raises ethical issues for psychologists of knowingly causing stress to their clients, although this isn't a serious issues provided they obtain informed consent

  ->more seriously, the traumatic nature of flooding means attrition (dropout) rates are higher than SD
• why is flooding being an highly unpleasant experience a limitation of this type of treatment?


  ->It means overall, therapists may avoid using this treatment