Phobias

• Phobias


  A group of anxiety disorders involving a pathological fear of a specific object or situation

  
• Specific phobia


  Fear of objects or specific situations or events

  
• Social anxiety (social phobia)


  Phobia of a social situation such as public speaking or using a public toilet

  
• Agoraphobia


  An abnormal fear of open or public places

  
• Behavioural characteristics of phobias

  - Panic

  - Avoidance

  - Endurance

  
• Emotional characteristics of phobias

  - Anxiety

  - Emotional responses are unreasonable

  
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias

  - Selective attention

  - Irrational beliefs

  - Cognitive distortions

  
• The two-process model


  A theory that explains the two processes that lead to the development of phobias - they begin through classical conditioning and are maintained through operant conditioning
• Classical conditioning


  A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

  
• Operant conditioning


  Learning based on the consequences of responding.

  
• Neutral stimulus


  A stimulus that does not initially elicit a response (something we initially have no fear of)
• Unconditioned stimulus


  Something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism (already triggers a fear response)
• Unconditioned response


  A reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus (reflex)
• Conditioned stimulus


  A stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place (we are now afraid of this)
• Conditioned response


  A learned response to a conditioned stimulus
• Generalised


  The results from the sample can be said to apply to the target population
• Negative reinforcement


  - Increasing behaviours by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock.

  - A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response.

  - (Note: negative reinforcement is not punishment.)
• Positive reinforcement


  - Increasing behaviours by presenting positive stimuli, such as food.

  - A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
• Strengths of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias

  Real-world application

  - Exposure therapies

  
  

  Research support

  - Little Albert case study
• Limitations of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias

  Cognitive aspects of phobias

  - It doesn't account for the cognitive aspects of phobias.
• systematic desensitisation


  A treatment for phobias in which the person is taught to relax and then is gradually exposed to the feared object, activity or event

  
• Behavioural therapy


  A style of psychotherapy in which the therapist uses the principles of classical and operant conditioning to change the person's behaviour from maladaptive to adaptive.
• Counterconditioning


  - A behaviour therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviours; based on classical conditioning.

  - Includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning.
• The anxiety hierarchy


  A rank-ordered list of what the client fears, starting with the least frightening and ending with the most frightening.

  
• Strengths of systematic desensitisation

  Evidence of effectiveness

  - Gilroy et al (2003) - At both 3 and 33 months, the systematic desensitisation group were less fearful than a control group treated by relaxation without exposure.

  
  

  People with learning difficulties

  - People with learning difficulties often struggle with cognitive therapies that require complex rational thought.
• Flooding


  A treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly and intensively to a feared object and made to see that it is actually harmless
• How does flooding work?

  - Very quick learning through extinction - without the option of avoidance behaviour, the patient quickly learns that the phobic object is harmless through the exhaustion of their fear response.

  - This is known as extinction.
• Strength of flooding


  Cost-effective

  - More people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than SD or other therapies.
• Limitation of flooding


  Traumatic

  - Raises the ethical issue for psychologists knowingly causing stress to their clients, although this is not a serious issue provided they obtain informed consent.

  - The traumatic nature of flooding means that attrition (dropout) rates are higher than for SD.