phobias

• phobia

  irrational fear of an object or situation
• behavioural characteristics

  • panic
  • avoidance
  • endurance
• panic

  panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus

  may involve crying, screaming or running away
• avoidance

  tend to go to a lot of effort to prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus

  can make it hard to go about daily life.
• endurance

  occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus
• emotional characteristics of phobias

  • anxiety
  • fear
• anxiety

  an unpleasant state of high arousal

  prevents a person relaxing and makes it difficult to experience any positive emotion.

  anxiety can be long term
• fear

  immediate and extremely unpleasant response when we encounter of think about a phobic stimulus

  short-term
• cognitive characteristics of phobias

  • selective attention
  • irrational beliefs
  • cognitive distortions
• selective attention

  if a person can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away.
• irrational beliefs

  unreasonable thoughts in relation to the phobic stimuli.

  they are not easily explained and don't have any basis in reality.
• cognitive distortions

  perceptions may be inaccurate and unrealistic
• which approach explains phobias?

  behavioural approach
• two-process model

  idea that phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
• classical conditioning

  acquisition of phobias

  neutral stimulus becomes associated with fear, then becomes phobic object
• little albert

  unconditioned stimulus is a loud noise

  unconditioned response to the UCS is fear

  neutral stimulus is the rat

  NS becomes associated with the UCS

  rat becomes the conditioned stimulus

  produces conditioned response of fear
• operant conditioning

  maintaining the phobia

  negative reinforcement where someone avoids a situation which is unpleasant to reduce anxiety

  reinforces avoidance behaviour
• strength of two-process model - real world application

  application in exposure therapies

  idea of avoidance of the phobic stimulus explains why people with phobias benefit from being exposed to the phobic stimulus

  gives the two-process approach validity as it identifies a means of treating phobias.
• limitation of two-process model - cognitive aspects

  doesn't account for cognitive aspects of phobias.

  phobias have cognitive components such as irrational beliefs about the phobic stimulus

  two-process model explains avoidance behaviour but not cognitions.
• strength of two-process model - phobias + traumatic experiences

  there is evidence for a link between bad experiences and phobias.

  e.g. Little Albert study.

  study by Jongh et al.

  -> found 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had a traumatic experience involving dentistry.

  -> compared to control group where 21% had a traumatic experience

  confirms association between a stimulus and an unconditioned response leads to development of the phobia
• what are the treatments for phobias?

  • systematic desensitisation
  • flooding
• systematic desensitisation

  behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce anxiety through classical conditioning.

  involves three processes

  -> anxiety hierarchy - list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety from least to most frightening.

  -> relaxation - therapist teaches the client to relax as it prevents being afraid through reciprocal inhibition

  -> exposure - client is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state
• strength of systematic desensitisation - evidence for effectiveness

  Gilroy et al

  followed up 42 people who had SD for spider phobia in three 45 minute sessions.

  at 3 and 33 months, SD group were less fearful than a control group who were just treated with relaxation.

  means SD is likely to be helpful for people with phobias.
• strength of SD - learning disabilities

  can be used to help people with learning disabilites as it is more suitable as people with learning disabilites often struggle with cognitive therapies and may feel distressed by flooding.
• flooding

  behavioural therapy in which a person with a phobia is exposed to an extreme form of a phobic stimulus to reduce anxiety.

  uses extinction where the client learns the phobic stimulus is harmless.

  learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus.

  needs informed consent
• strength of flooding - cost-effective

  flooding has less sessions than SD therefore is cheaper.

  means more people can be treated at the same cost.
• limitation of flooding - traumatic

  it is a highly unpleasant experience as it provokes high levels of anxiety.

  this raises ethical issues as psychologists are knowingly causing stress however, this is counted by informed consent.

  traumatic nature leads to higher attrition rates. (dropping out)