phobia A03

• Strengths

  • has practical application
  • learns a phobia through association and reinforcement
  • this has been used to create systematic desensitisation which works by gradually exposing the person to their feared stimulus to unlearn the phobias
  • therefore the behavioural approach to phobias is an important part of applied psychology
• limitation

  • alternative explanation - evolutionary approach
  • we are born with certain phobias because these situations/objects were dangerous to our ancestors in our evolutionary past
  • fear snakes despite never being in contact with them, phobia couldn’t be learnt so may have been hardwired by evolution
  • can't be sole explanation