cognitive characteristics

• selective attention to the phobic stimulus

  if a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away from it. Keeping our attention on something dangerous is a good thing as it gives us the best chance of reacting quickly to a threat. However, this is not useful when the fear is irrational.
• irrational beliefs

  a phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to the stimuli. e.g. social phobias can involve beliefs such as 'if I blush people will think I'm weak'. this belief increases the pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations
• cognitive distortions

  the phobic perceptions of the stimulus may be distorted. e.g. someone who has afear of belly buttons is likely to see them as ugly and someone who is afraid of snakes may see them as aggressive