behaviourist approach to phobias

• define specific phobia

  fear of a specific object or situation
• define social phobia

  fear of social or performance situations
• define agoraphobia

  fear of having a panic attack and not being able to escape
• symptoms

  emotional = persistent, excessive fear of stimulus

  behavioural = avoidance

  cognitive = irrational beliefs
• define classical conditioning (EXPLANATION)

  learning by association. associating an environmental stimuli with a biological response.
• describe the process of classical conditioning (EXPLANATION)

  1. unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response
  2. neutral stimulus + unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response
  3. conditioned stimulus = conditioned response
• Outline the Little Albert experiment (Classical Conditioning)


  Conducted by Watson and Rayner

  1. Albert liked rats but feared loud noises
  2. every time Albert went to touch the rat, a loud noise was made behind him, which caused him to cry.
  3. They repeated this until Albert cried in the presence of the rat
• define operant conditioning (EXPLANATION)

  maintaining phobia through reward and punishment. avoidance behaviour removes the feeling of fear, causing negative reinforcement.
• define the Two-Process Model (EXPLANATION)

  1. learned through classical conditioning
  2. maintained through operant conditioning
• define systematic desensitisation (TREATMENT)

  removing the fear response and replacing with relaxation in the presence of the phobia
• describe the process of systematic desensitisation (TREATMENT)

  1. patient creates a hierarchy of fear, where the patients ranks different scenarios from least to most scary.
  2. patient is taught relaxation techniques
  3. patient works to get closer and closer to feared stimulus, only advancing to the next stage once they reach a feeling of relaxation at the current scenario.
• outline the difference in systematic desensitisation: (TREATMENT)


  in vitro = imagined exposure

  in vivo = actual exposure
• define flooding (TREATMENT)

  a type of exposure therapy where the patient is fully immersed until the feeling of fear is removed.
• evaluate treatments of phobias (strengths)

  1. McGraph found systematic desensitisation was effective for 75 % with specific phobias
  2. Craske and Barlow found systematic desensitisation was effective for 60 - 80 % with agoraphobia
• evaluate treatments of phobias (limitations)

  1. in systematic desensitisation, in vitro relies on patient's ability to create vivid mental images. Some people can't, therefore it's ineffective.
  2. in flooding, it can be unethical because its impossible to tell how the patient will react.
• evaluate the behaviourist approach to explain phobias (pt 1)

  1. difficult to use classical conditioning to explain how a person can develop a fear of feathers or books.
  2. it ignores other factors and reduces the explanations for behaviours to just reward and punishment. social and agoraphobia cannot be explained this way.
  3. animal research to support it is difficult to generalise to humans. it suggests that humans have the same psychological processes as other species but they do not.
• evaluate the behaviourist approach to explain phobias (pt 2)

  4. it ignores free will because it states that reinforced behaviours WILL be carried out and punished behaviours WILL NOT. However, humans clearly have free will and can decide which behaviours to carry out. Therefore combining behaviourist and cognitive is better when explaining phobias.