Behaviourist - Phobias

• A phobia is a mental disorder characterised by 3 symptoms.

  • a persistent fear of a specific stimulus.
  • irrational beliefs about the feared stimulus.
  • avoidance of the stimulus.
• How many of the 3 symptoms does a person need to have to be classed as having a mental disorder?

  all three
• The symptoms of phobias can be categorized into different types.

  A persistent fear or anxiety of a specific stimulus - Emotional symptom

  Holding irrational beliefs of the feared stimulus - cognitive symptom

  An avoidance of the feared stimulus - behavioural symptom
• There are 3 types of phobias...

  • Agoraphobia
  • Specific phobias
  • Social phobias
• What is social phobia?

  the fear of being in social situations
• what is Agoraphobia?

  the fear of being in a situation where escape would be difficult
• What are Specific phobias?

  the fear of a specific object or animal
• According to the behaviorist explanation of phobias, the fear response is learned through classical conditioning. e.g. Phobias develop when a neutral stimulus is encountered alongside an unpleasant unconditioned stimulus.
• How does the behaviourist approach explain that phobias are maintained by operant conditioning?

  avoidance of the feared stimulus is negatively reinforcement
• What is the Two - process model? (the behavioural explanation of phobias)

  1. Acquired through classical conditioning
  2. Maintained by operant conditioning
• Watson and Rayner conducted a case study of Little Albert in 1920. Watson and Rayner repeatedly presented the white rat with a loud scary noise. Through repeated experience, Little Albert learned to associate the white rate with a loud noise, making the rat a conditioned stimulus. Little Albert provides evidence for the first part of the two-process model.
• Barlow and Durand shows further support for the behaviourist explanation of phobias. Many participants who could recall a traumatic event had not derived since the event. The results of this study support the idea that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning. The results of this study support the idea that phobias are maintained through operant conditioning.
• One limitation of the behaviouralist explanation of phobias is that traumatic events do not cause some phobias. Instead, we may have evolved to have phobias of certain stimuli, suggesting phobias may be genetically determined.
• What is flooding?

  Where a patient is being exposed to their worst fear, and remaining with it until their anxiety has worn off.
• According to the behaviourist explanation of phobias...

  Flooding works because it prevents the patient from avoiding the feared stimulus. When confronted with the feared stimulus the patient sees that the conditioned stimulus doesn't lead to the unconditioned stimulus so the association is extinguished. As a result the conditioned stimulus no longer causes a conditioned response and finally, the patient's phobia wears off.
• Kaplan and Tolin's study supports the use of flooding to treat specific phobias. Kaplan and Tolin found that 65% of patients showed no symptoms of a specific phobia 4 years later.
• Flooding has two main limitations.

  1. Flooding is unethical because it creates lots of distress for patients.
  2. Flooding does not always work and can strengthen the patient's associations between the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response.
• What are the 3 steps of systematic desensitization?

  Relaxation training, creating a fear hierarchy, exposure therapy.
• What are the strengths of systematic desensitization?

  supporting studies such as ... Research by Ost, found that 90% of patients treated with systematic desensitization had a complete recovery 4 years after treatment.

  And... that it provides gradual exposure to the feared stimuli, causing less distress, and therefore is considered to be more ethical than flooding.
• What is the limitation of systematic desensitization?

  It is less effective at treating social phobias and agoraphobia, where cognitive factors are also important.