phobias

• phobia

  • phobia is an irrational fear of an object or situation that causes excessive fear.
• types of phobias 


  specific phobia:

  • object or situation

  social phobia:

  • social situation

  agraphobia:

  • being outside or public place
• Mowrer 1960 -2 process model

  • we learn behaviour through classical conditioning and we maintain them through operant conditioning.
• little albert experiment - John watson 1920

  1. 11 month old boy called albert
  2. start of experiment he showed no fear to white fluffy objects.
  3. steel bar struck with a hammer every time he reached for white fluffy object.
  4. eventually when he was shown white fluffy things he began to be scared and cried
• treatments of phobias 


  systematic desensitisation:

  • classical conditioning (cc)
  • cc to gradually associate phobia with a new response.
  • the conditioned stimulus is paired with relaxation and this becomes the new conditioned response.
• EVALUATION - treatments

  systematic desensitisation:

  • P: 75% successful
  • P: suitable for wide range of patients
  • P: less traumatic than flooding
  • N: time consuming

  flooding:

  • P: quick
  • N: less effective for some types of phobias
  • N: traumatic for patients
• treatment of phobias


  flooding:

  • exposes patients to the frightening stimulus and keep them there for long periods of time.
  • works by disallowing avoidance behaviour
  • one long session
• behavioural symptoms

  • panic
  • avoidance
• emotional symptoms

  • anxiety
  • fear
  • unreasonable responses
• cognitive symptoms

  • selective attention
  • irrational beliefs
• explanations

  operant conditioning:

  • negative reinforcement
  • individual produces behaviour that avoided something scary
  • when they avoid a phobic stimulus they escape the anxiety they would have experienced
  • this reduction in fear negatively reinforces the avoidance behaviour and the phobia is maintained.
• EVALUATION - explanation

  • P: has good explanatory power
  • N: alternative explanations for avoidance behaviour
  • N: it’s an incomplete explanation of phobias
  • N: not all bad experiences lead to phobias