Behavioural explanations & treatments for phobias

• Mowrer (1947) proposed the two-process model to explain how phobias are learnt. The first 🥇 stage is classical conditioning. The second stage is operant conditioning. Both processes are used to explain why a phobia begins and then continues.
• Stage one: classical conditioning - initiation


  A phobia is acquired through association - the association between a NS and an UCS results in a new stimulus response being learnt.

  E.g someone may develop a fear 😨 of dogs 🐶 after being bitten

  • Being bitten (UCS) creates UCR of fear 🙀
  • The NS (dog) is associated with being bitten (UCS)
  • The dog 🐕 is now a CS and produces the CR of fear 😨
• Stage two: operant conditioning - maintenance

  Classical conditioning explains how the phobia is acquired. Operant conditioning (behaviour is likely to be repeated if consequences are rewarding) explains why the individuals continue to feel fearful 😔

  With a phobia, the avoidance/escape from the phobic stimulus reduces fear 🤯 and is reinforcing. This is negative reinforcement (escaping an unpleasant situation). The individual avoids the anxiety created by, the dog 🐶 e.g., by avoiding them entirely
• Although social learning is not part of the two-process model, but is a neo-behaviourist explanation.

  Phobias may be acquired through modelling the behaviour of others. For example, a child may see 🙈 their parent respond to a spider 🕷️ with extreme fear 😲, leading to them acquiring similar behaviour because the behaviour appears rewarding e.g. the fearful 😔 person gets attention 😁
• Little Albert:

  Watson and Rayner demonstrated emotional responses could be learnt through classical conditioning.

  • Using an 11 month baby 👶 "Little Albert"Albert showed no fear 😨 to white 🤍 furry objects. E.g. a white rat 🐀 the NS.
  • Watson and Rayner created a conditioned response to these neutral objects by striking a steel bar with a hammer 🔨 whenever he reached for the rat 🐀. The loud noise made him cry 😢, this was repeated 3 times
  • After, Albert was shown the rat 🐁 and other furry white objects, he cried
  • They had conditioned a fear response to furry white objects.
• AO3 the importance of classical conditioning

  The two-process model is supported by research asking people about their phobias

  • People with phobias often remember a specific event e.g. bitten by a dog 🐶 or a panic attack in a social situation
  • Not everyone with phobias can remember an event, but they might've just forgotten it happened
  • Sue et Al suggests some people's phobias are the result of different processes. People with arachnophobia likely develop this via modelling
  • Demonstrating classical conditioning is important for developing phobias, but other processes may also be involved.
• A03 incomplete explanation 


  A NS being associated with a fearful experience doesn't always lead to a phobia

  Research found not everyone who has e.g. been bitten by a dog 🐶 develops a phobia of dogs. This can be explained by the diathesis stress model which proposed we inherit genetic vulnerability to develop mental disorders. However, a disorder will only be triggered by a life event such as being bitten by a dog 🐕

  Suggesting people developing phobias may only be due to genetic vulnerability - not everyone develops them so the two-process explanation is incomplete 🤬
• AO3 Support for social learning

  An experiment by Bandura and Rosenthal supports the social learning explanation

  In the experiment, models acted as if they were in pain whether a buzzer sounded. Later, the ppts who observed this showed an emotional 😭 reaction to the buzzer. Demonstrating an acquired fear 😨 response
• AO3 biological preparedness

  Phobias not always developing after a traumatic incident may be explained by biological preparedness

  • Seligman argued animals, including humans, are genetically programmed to learn the associate life-threatening stimuli with fear 😨
  • These are referred to as ancient fears, they were dangerous in our evolutionary past (e.g. heights) so it was adaptive to fear and avoid these stimuli.
  • This is why people aren't likely to develop phobias of modern objects such as cars and more likely to develop a phobia of spiders as they were a threat in our evolutionary past.
• The two-process model ignores cognitive factors

  There are cognitive factors of developing phobias that cannot be explained with behavioural explanation.

  The cognitive approach alternatively suggests phobias develop due to irrational thinking 🤔, someone in a lift 🛗 may irrationally think " I could become trapped in here and suffocate" creating anxiety, triggering a phobia.

  This explanation may be more successful than behaviourist explanations as it leads to cognitive therapies such as CBT in which social phobias respond well to.