The Behaviourist Approach - EXPLAINING

• what model describes how phobias are acquired and maintained?


  - the two-process model (Mower)
• acquisition (CC)


  - suggests the phobic object changes from being a NS with no fear response to a CS with a fear response

  - due to the NS being presented at the same time as an UCS, naturally causing a fear response and forming an association
• maintenance (OC)


  - suggests avoidance behaviour leads to reduction in anxiety (negative reinforcement), strengthens phobic response
• generalisation

  - a conditioned fear response is also experienced in the presence of stimuli that are similar to the CS
• A03 - Watson and Rayner


  - Little Albert: paired showing a rat with a large metal poled behind a child's head, creating a loud noise and scaring the child

  - a phobic response was formed to the rat, showing association
• A03 - DiNardo

  - showed while conditioning 'dog bites' were common in ppts with dog phobias (56%) and also common in ppts with no dog phobia (66%)
• A03 - evolutionary theory

  - humans don't often display phobic responses to objects that cause the most pain in day-to-day life, eg: knives or cars

  - however, phobias of snakes/spiders are more common, evolution?