phobias

• Phobia


  An excessive or irrational fear triggered by an object place or situation
• Anxiety


  An unpleasant state of high arousal
• Fear


  The immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about the phobic stimulus
• Behavioural characteristics of phobias


  • Avoidance
  • Panic
  • Endurance
• Emotional characteristics of phobias


  • Fear and anxiety
  • Disproportionate reaction
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias


  • Selective attention
  • Irrational beliefs
  • Cognitive distortions
• All phobias are characterised by excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place or situation
• The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus
• There are behavioural (act), emotional (feel) and cognitive (think) characteristics of phobias
• Classical conditioning


  Learning by association- occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together (UCS and NCS). The NS eventually produces the same response that was produced by the UCS.
• Operant conditioning


  Form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences – includes positive and negative reinforcement or punishment.
• Two process model

  The two process model states that phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and then maintained by operant conditioning
• Behavioural approach to explaining phobias


  • Attempts to explain behavioural characteristics of phobias rather than emotional or cognitive
• Avoidance behaviour


  Motivated by reduction in anxiety (Negative reinforcement: individual avoids a situation that is unpleasant due to the desirable consequence (ease))
• Little Albert (Watson and Rayner - 1920)


  • Experiment where a conditioned response of fear (phobia) of rats (conditioned stimulus) was instilled into Little Albert through classical conditioning. Loud noise presented near ear when rat presented
• Conditioning of little Albert

  • UCS (loud noise) , UCR (fear)
  • NS (rat) , CS (Rat), CR (fear)
  • Conditioning generalised to similar objects (fur coat)
• Responses acquired by classical conditioning usually tend to decline over time, so operant conditioning reinforced to make the phobia long lasting
• Mowrer's suggestion


  When avoidance behaviour occurs, the individual successfully escapes the fear/ anxiety that they would have suffered if they remained there so it is repeated causing the phobia to be maintained.
• Phobias can be learned by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
• BA explanation eval - Effective treatments for phobias


  • SD (systematic desensitization) helps people unlearn their fear response through principles of classical conditioning
  • Flooding prevents people avoiding their phobias and stops negative reinforcement- avoidance behaviour declines
  • The fact that therapy based on the behaviourist approach is effective in dealing with phobic systems provides support for the validity of the behaviourist explanation as to how phobias are acquired and maintained
• BA explanation eval - Little Albert experiment


  • Watson and Rayner (1920) carried out a laboratory experiment to show that fear could be learned through classical conditioning (association)
  • This study suggests that phobia can be learnt through classical conditioning
• BA explanation eval - Explains how phobia developed by CC

  • Explains how people can recall a specific event that led to them developing a phobia
  • Sue et al. (1994) found that agoraphobics most likely to explain phobias in terms of a specific event
  • This suggests that classical conditioning can be involved in the development of phobias
• BA explanation eval - ignores evolutionary factors

  • Doesn't explain how some phobias are due to evolutionary factors e.g. snakes (Seligman 1971) – biological preparedness (the innate predisposition to acquire certain fears)
  • preparedness shows more to acquiring phobias than conditioning
• The behaviourist approach is simplistic and reductionist

  • The idea of diathesis stress model - genetic vulnerability to phobia but traumatic incident to trigger it, reduces validity and explanatory power (partial)
• BA explanation eval - Cant explain all types of phobias

  • Can't explain all psychological disorders e.g. severe ones such as schizophrenia, can't learn hallucinations so the behavioural approach is limited to some extent, as it doesn't fully explain all abnormal behaviour
• BA explanation - not always after traumatic event

  • Phobias don't always occur after traumatic experience e.g 7% of arachnophobics recalled traumatic experience with spider +
  • The idea of diathesis stress model - genetic vulnerability to phobia but traumatic incident to trigger it, reduces validity and explanatory power (partial)
• BA explanation eval - ignores cognitive factors

  • Ignores cognitive aspects - Doesn't consider the cognitive aspects of the development of phobias – how a person perceives the fear stimulus, a big role in phobic development. Irrational thinking involved in development
• BA explanation eval - avoidance behaviour

  • Alternate explanation for avoidance behaviour
  • Not all behaviour result of reduction in anxiety but the motivation factor is sticking with the safety factor (positive feelings of safety) e.g agoraphobia leave house with someone trusted
• Behaviour approach


  Based on principle that phobias are learnt so they can be unlearnt
• Systematic desensitisation


  A behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of classical conditioning
• Learning a different response

  Relaxing in the presence of the phobic stimulus removes the anxiety response and replaces it with a relaxation response
• Reciprocal conditioning


  • The idea you can't be in two emotional states at the same time
• The anxiety hierarchy


  A list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety arranged in order from least to most frightening
• Relaxation techniques


  Therapist teaches the client/patient to relax as deeply as possible (meditation, breathing, muscle control)
• Gradual exposure


  Patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in relaxed state (work through hierarchy and apply relaxation techniques)
• Flooding


  Immediate exposure to the phobic stimulus. Involves exposing phobic patients to their phobic stimulus without a gradual build up in hierarchy
• Flooding

  • Occurs rapidly, so avoidance behaviour prevented, consent needed beforehand
  • Works because anxiety response can only be sustained for a while, after a while the anxiety response will subside and feel calm
  • A new association between phobic situation and a relaxed state is formed
• Extinction


  A learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus
• Behaviour treatments for phobias

  • Phobias are learnt so can be unlearnt. Systematic desensitisation gradually works through anxious situations and replaces the fear with calm state so new association formed. Flooding is immediate exposure to the fear and new association formed with calm state. Both work on reciprocal conditioning to extinguish the learned response (phobia)
• Steps for systematic desensitisation

  • anxiety hierarchy
  • relaxation techniques
  • gradual exposure