evolutionary explanation of phobias

• evolutionary explanation of phobias - the learned preparedness theory
• research has suggested that we are more likely to learn some phobias than others, based on whether it has an adaptive benefit for us to be wary of those things. for example, snakes and spiders that may be poisonous and kill us
• mineka - procedure

  conducted classic experiments on captive rhesus monkeys. they had never been in the wilf, and they'd never before seen a snake. if they were shown a toy snake they didnt react fearfully. the researchers carried out an experiment by which they divided the monkeys into two groups and showed each group a different fear video. group 1 watched a video of a monkey acting frightened of a plastic flower, group 2 saw a monkey acting acting frightened of a plastic snake. the monkey appeared equally fearful of both objects.
• mineka - results

  found that after watching those videos, giving the monkeys a plastic flower meant they weren't likely to react. but if you gave the monkeys that saw the snake video a plastic snake they showed fear. this shows that whilst fears can be learned, there must be an innnate element as to what we become scared of
• in a similar experiment, they developed a fear of a toy crocodile but not a rabbit. this shows that its not a general response to social cues. it supported the idea that primates might evolved specialised brain mechanisms for learning to fear snakes and crocodiles. snakes and crocodiles kill primates, and have done so for millions of years. so sspotting these predators was a high stakes game, and when the stakes are high enough, individuals who are quick to trust social cues about predators have a fitness advantage.
• evaluation of the evolutionary explanation of phobias:

  - it doesn't explain phobias of situations or items that have never posed a danger to the individual
• Rachman 


  safety signals hypothesis explains behaviours that attempt o avoidcertain things, as not motivated by trying to reduce anxiety, but rather by the positive feelings they get when they associate something with a feeling of safety. e.g. positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement
• evaluation of evolutionary explanation of phobias

  behavioural theory fails to explain why some objects or situations are more likely than others to form the basis for phobias. evolutionary explanation explains this
• Bounton 


  argues that the 2 process model is too simplistic and reductionist, ignoring the possible influence of evolution. e.g. the learned preparedbess theory whcih explain that some avoidance responses are learned more rapidly than others, especially if the required response resembles natural defence behaviours.
• evaluation of evolutionary explanation of phobias

  not everyone experiencing trauamtic events goes on to develop phobias, nor imitates a role model who demonstrates a fear response. this would imply that other factors must be involved
• evalaution of evolutionary explanation of phobias

  many people have phobiasc that are not preceded by frightening experiences
• evaluation of evolutionary explanation of phobias

  there is evidence that some people develop phobias by modelling, but modelling does not seem to be a major cause of phobias. few people with phobias report having observed others with similar fears, and many people do not develop the phobias of their parents
• evaluation of the evolutionary theory

  attempts to replicate watson and rayners experiment with albert have not been successful which shows that this may not be such a good explanation of phobias developing. also the ethics of this are questionable. watson and rayner were criticised for causing psychological harm with albert and any attempt to produce phobias in the lab would come under similar scrutiny
• evaluation of the evolutionary explanation of phobias

  there is evidence to suggest that phobias may have a biological basis rather than behavioural. Kendler et al administered a structured interview to assess the lifetime history of phobias in 2163 female ttwins [MZ and DZ twin pairs]. they looked at animal and situational phobias. they found that the MZ twins are much more likely to both have a specific phobias than DZ twins