Explanations of Phobias

• How the 'behavioural approach' view phobias


  • They see all behaviours, including phobias, as learnt via experience
  • Mower (1960) suggests that phobias are:
  • first acquired via association (classical conditioning)
  • and then maintained via reinforcement (operant conditioning)
• MODEL: behavioural explanation of phobias

  The two-process model
• Classical conditioning in two-process model

  1. Acquisition

  2. Phobic object is neutral stimulus, not producing phobic response

  3. Phobic object presented with unconditioned stimulus that produces unconditioned negative response

  4. Neutral stimulus associated with unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response

  5. Fear (phobia) happens whenever neutral stimulus appears
• Neutral stimulus


  Becomes conditioned stimulus
• Unconditioned response


  Becomes conditioned response
• Fear (phobia)


  Passed onto other stimuli similar to conditioned stimuli via generalisation
• operant conditioning in two-process model

  • In maintenance, the phobic person avoids situations that may bring them into contact with the phobic object
  • The consequence of this is that anxiety is reduced
  • This is a pleasant sensation which acts as a negative reinforcement (removal of negative stimulus)
• Supporting empirical research: Two-process model


  • Watson and Rayner (1920) used a child called little Albert to demonstrate how phobias could be induced in a child
  • They did this by making a loud noise (by hitting a metal bar behind the child's head) when presenting a white rat to the child, and were able to generalise this fear to other white fluffly objects
• Evaluate: Watson and Rayner (1920)


  • Strength: This study acts as evidence for the Two-process model via proving how acquisition and generalisation of phobias work
  • Limitation: it was a highly unethical study as it caused its participant (little Albert) emotional harm
• Opposing support: two process model

  • Menzies and Clarke (1993) found that only 2% of children with a fear of water could recall a traumatic experience with water
  • suggesting that the behaviourist explanation cannot account for all phobias
• Limitation: role of cognition in the two-process model 


  • The behaviourist approach adopts a limited in the origins of a phobia, as it overlooks the role of cognition
  • Ignoring the role of cognition is problematic, as irrational thinking appears to be a key feature of phobias
  • Tomarken et al. (1989) presented a series of slides of snake and neutral images (e.g. trees) to phobic and non-phobic participants.
  • The phobics tended to overestimate the number of snake images presented