explaining phobias

• classical conditioning: acquisition of phobias

  • learning through association
  • when an individual associates a neutral stimulus with a traumatic incident
• operant conditioning : maintenance of phobias

  • learning through consequences
  • if a behaviour is reinforced then it is more likely that it will be repeated
  • by avoiding the feared stimulus the sufferer avoids fear (negative reinforcement)
  • the sufferer will therefore repeat the behaviour of avoiding the feared stimulus
  • this means that the sufferer will fail to face their fear, so their phobia will be maintained
• strength of the two process model

  • real world application in exposure therapies
  • phobias are maintained by avoidance of the phobic stimulus
  • this is important in explaining why people with phobias benefit from being exposed to the feared stimulus
  • once the avoidance behaviour is prevented it ceases to be reinforced by the experience of anxiety reduction and avoidance therefore declines
  • in behavioural terms, the phobia is the avoidance behaviour, so when this is prevented then the phobia is cured
  • shows the value of the two process model
• strength of the two process model

  • support for classical conditioning causing phobias - research support asking people about their phobia
  • Ad De Jong et al (2006) - 73% of people with a fear of the dental treatment has experienced a traumatic experience, mostly involving dentistry
  • control group of people - with low dental anxiety where only 21% had experienced a traumatic event
  • however not everyone who has a phobia can recall the incident - have been forgotten
• limitation

  • it is incomplete
  • if a neutral stimulus is associated with a fearful stimulus - the result should be a phobia - does not always happen
  • diathesis stress model - we inherit a genetic vulnerability for developing mental disorders
  • however a disorder will only manifest itself if triggered by a life event like being bitten - this suggests that a dog bite would only lead to a phobia in those people with such a vulnerability
• limitation

  • ignores cognitive factors
  • fails to acknowledge that some phobias can be the result of irrational thinking
  • CBT has been successfully used to treat phobias and have sometimes been more successful than behavioural treatment
  • this suggests that thoughts are important in the development of these phobias
• limitation

  • ignores role of biological preparedness when explaining phobias
  • Seligman - animals and humans are genetically programmed to rapidly learn an association between life threatening stimuli and fear (biological preparedness)
  • stimuli are referred to as ancient fears - things that would have been dangerous in our evolutionary past (snakes, heights, strangers)
  • people are less likely to develop fears of things like toasters and cars that are much more of a threat than spiders - however these things were not a danger in our evolutionary past - more to phobias than simple conditioning