phobias

• What is a phobia?

  An anxiety disorder characterised by extreme irrational fear
• what are features of a phobia?

  uncontrollable

  extreme

  irrational

  enduring

  fear
• which three ways are symptoms classified ?

  cognitive

  emotional

  behvioural
• what are three examples of cognitive symptoms of a phobia ?

  recognition of exaggerated anxiety

  cognitive distortions(change the perspective on how dangerous the situation is)

  selective attention to phobic stimuli
• what are two emotional symptoms of a phobia ?

  persistent excessive fear

  fear from exposure to phobic stimulus
• what are two behavioural symptoms of a phobia ?

  avoidance of phobic stimuli

  disruption of functioning
• what are the three types of phobias ?

  Specific phobia

  social phobia

  agoraphobia
• what are specific phobias ?

  fears of specific things and environments
• what are example of specific phobias ?

  animals

  injury

  situation

  natural environment
• what are social phobias?

  over anxious in social situations

  often involve the perception of being judged and feeing inadequate
• what are examples of social phobias?

  performance

  interaction

  generalised
• what is agoraphobia?


  fear of leaving the safety of the home

  often occurs with panic attacks

  panic occurs first then the generalised anxiety that makes sufferers feel vulnerable

  can be preceded by a specific phobia
• what is the two-process model ?

  the idea that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning
• what does classical conditioning suggest ?

  phobias are learnt through experience
• what is the process of classical conditioning ?

  unconditioned stimulus -> unconditioned response

  + association

  neutral stimulus

  |

  conditioned stimulus -> conditioned response
• what is stimulus generalisation ?

  when a controlled stimulus is similar this also triggers a conditioned response to the phobia
• what is stimulus discrimination?

  when the controlled stimulus is dissimilar so no response occurs
• What was the little Albert experiment ?

  John Watson wanted to test the classical conditioning theory

  Albert was exposed to animals with fluff and originally had no reaction

  A rat was placed in front of Albert and as he went to reach out for it Watson made a loud bang and Albert responded showing fear

  After that Albert was fearful and hysterical when he was faced with animals and fluffy things

  Supports the classical conditioning theory
• what is operant conditioning ?

  Phobias are maintained by reinforcement
• what are the three parts of operant conditioning ?

  positive reinforcement

  negative reinforcement

  punishment
• what is positive reinforcement in operant conditioning ?

  when a pleasant stimulus is added and this strengthens a behaviour

  avoiding phobic stimuli and feeling relief
• what is negative reinforcement in operant conditioning ?

  when an unpleasant stimulus is avoided or removed and it strengthens a behaviour

  avoiding feelings of fear and panic
• what is punishment in operant conditioning ?

  When an unpleasant stimulus is added and this weakens behaviour and therefore facing feelings of fear and panic

  Being punished for trying to face the phobia
• what are 3 weaknesses of the behaviourist explanation of phobias ?

  Ignores the idea that phobias are influenced by the evolutionary theory

  The theory ignores cognitive processes and how we think about the phobic stimulus

  The approach ignores that two people can have the same experience but one develop a phobia and the other doesn’t ,ignores individual differences
• what is a strength of the behaviouralist explanation of phobias ?

  behavioural treatments are successful

  patients unlearn the phobia suggesting it was learnt in the first place
• what did Rachman(1984) suggest with the safety signals hypothesis (SSH)?


  see the SSH to explain that avoidance response are made by the motivation to have positive feelings about safety rather than being motivated by reducing anxiety as suggested by the two-process model
• what is the cognitive explanation of phobias ?

  focuses on the idea that phobics have an attentional bias to focus more upon anxiety generating stimuli , for example teeth of a dog rather than its other features

  phobics have maladaptive thoughts and beliefs about the stimuli, for example believing open taps will lead to flooding thus having a phobia of running water
• what is the evolutionary explanation of phobias ?

  sees phobias as having an adaptive value and so they become commonplace in the population through the process of natural selection
• what are the two types of treatments or behaviourist phobias ?

  systematic desensitisation

  flooding
• what is systematic desensitisation?

  based on classical conditioning

  replaces feelings of fear with calm feelings trough association

  step by step process using hierarchy that is made before therapy

  can be imagined(covert desensitisation) or in real contact (vivo desensitisation)

  process takes about a month
• what is the step by step process with systematic desensitisation?

  1. create a step by step hierarchy
  2. earn relaxation techniques
  3. must use the relaxation techniques
  4. once used will realise the anxiety has subsided
• what is the process of flooding ?

  phobia to the most feared scenario

  patients can not make their usual avoidance behaviours

  anxiety will peak quickly, but it cannot be maintained an so eventually subsides

  the patient has to learn that the phobic stimulus is not as dangerous as thought
• What was the aim of the Bosnian and Thorpe (2006) study?

  To treat fear of computers
• What method was used to treat technophobia in the study?

  Systematic desensitisation
• What was the procedure in the first study of Bosnian and Thorpe (2006)?

  • Sample of 16 participants
  • 8 computer-anxious participants
  • 8 non-anxious control participants
  • 10-week systematic desensitisation program for anxious group
• What was the procedure in the second study of Bosnian and Thorpe (2006)?

  • 59 computer-anxious participants
  • Assigned to treatment or non-treatment groups
  • Non-anxious control group of 30 participants
• What were the findings of the first study regarding computer anxiety?

  Significant improvement in coping strategies
• How did the reduction in anxiety compare between treated and non-treated groups in the second study?

  Reduction was three times greater in treated group
• What was the outcome for the treated group by the end of the year?

  They no longer differed from the control group
• What was the conclusion of the Bosnian and Thorpe (2006) study?

  Fear of computers can be treated