A03

• Strength = good explanatory power

  • people with phobias do often recall a specific incident where their phobia appeared
  • Ad De Jongh et al. (2006) found that 73% of people with fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic event, mostly involving dentistry, compared to a control group of people with low dental anxiety where only 21% had experienced a traumatic event
• Strength = practical applications

  • behavioural explanation has been used to develop effective treatments for phobias - systematic desensitisation and flooding
  • these treatment methods have proved very practical in real world to help people deal with phobias and overcome their fears
  • foundation of the treatment understanding based on research associated with the behavioural approach
• Limitation = ignores biological factors

  • if neutral stimulus becomes associated with a fearful experience the result should be a phobia, but isn’t always
  • research found not everyone who is bitten by a dog develops a phobia of dogs
  • the diathesis-stress model could explain this - suggests we inherit a genetic vulnerability for developing mental disorders but disorder only manifests itself if triggered by a life event (dog bite would only lead to phobia in those with genetic vulnerability)
  • therefore behavioural approach is incomplete on its own as doesn’t take into account biological factors
• Limitation = ignores cognitive factors

  • cognitive aspects to phobias that cannot be explained in traditionally behaviourist framework
  • alternative explanation is cognitive approach, which proposes that phobias may develop as consequence of irrational thinking
  • e.g. person in a lift may think ‘I could become trapped in here and suffocate’ (irrational thought) = creates extreme anxiety and triggers phobia
  • two-process model explains avoidance behaviour but doesn’t offer adequate explanation for phobic cognitions
• What are the strengths of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?

  1. Good explanatory power
  2. Practical applications
• What are the limitations of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?

  1. Ignores biological factors
  2. Ignores cognitive factors