Characteristics of phobias

• What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?

  -panic

  -avoidance of the phobic stimulus

  -endurance (remaining in the presence of the phobic stimulus but maintains high levels of anxiety)
• What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

  -anxiety

  -fear

  -unreasonable/disproportionate emotional responses
• What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

  -selective attention to the phobic stimulus (finding it hard to look away, because keeping attention on something dangerous enables us to act quickly)

  -irrational beliefs (beliefs that have no realistic basis)

  -cognitive distortions (jumping to conclusions, focusing on the negative)