Explaining Phobias (behaviourist)

• AO1:

  • two process model
  • Proposed by Mower (1947)
  • Initiation = classical conditioning (1st process)
  • Maintenance = operant conditioning (2nd)
• Example of classical conditioning

  Phobia of dogs

  
• Operant conditioning:

  • negative reinforcement
  • By avoiding phobic stimulus (dogs), anxiety is taken away
  • This increases the avoidance behaviour + maintains phobia
• Strength: real world application

  • Idea that phobias are maintained by avoidance is important in explaining why some people benefit from exposure therapies —> once avoidance is prevented it is no longer reinforced
  • avoidance behaviour then declines
  • This shows that - the two-process approach is valuable because it identifies a way to treat phobias
• Strength: evidence linking phobias to bad experiences

  • Phobics often recall a specific incident when their phobia appeared
  • E.g. being bitten by a dog or experiencing a panic attack in a social event (Sue, 1994)
  • De Jongh et al (2006) -> 73% of dental phobics had experienced a trauma (control group, with low dental anxiety, only 21% had experienced a traumatic event)
  • This confirms that the association between stimulus and an unconditioned response does lead to a phobia
• Weakness: cognitive elements it can't explain.

  • phobias may develop as the consequence of irrational thinking.
  • Cognitive therapies designed to treat this, such as CBT, may be more successful than the behaviourist treatments for certain phobias.
  • Cognitive therapies treat obsession and Behaviourist treatments deal with the compulsion.
• Weakness: alternative explanations

  • Not everyone can remember a traumatic experience/ incident
  • DiNado found 50% of people could not remember a traumatic experience when they feared dogs.
  • The diathesis-stress model could explain this -> we inherit a genetic vulnerability for developing a mental disorder
  • however it will only manifest itself if triggered by a traumatic event.
  • People without this vulnerability would not develop a phobia.
  • Social learning theory — we develop a phobia and maintain it through social learning theory and vicarious reinforcement
• Weakness: biological preparedness

  • Animals (+ humans) are genetically programmed to rapidly learn to fear certain stimuli (snakes, strangers) because they are potentially life-threatening.
  • This preparedness means that behavioural explanations alone cannot explain the development of all phobias.
  • The two-process model does not explain some important properties of phobias