Psychopathology L6 - The Behavioural Approach To Explain Phobias: Classical And Operant Conditioning And The Two Process Model Flashcards

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1
Q

What does the behavioural model suggest - by Mowrer

A

All behaviour (including phobias) can be learnt
People who have an abnormality can learn negative behaviour

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2
Q

What makes up the two process model

A

1) The phobia is learnt by classical conditioning or social learning
2) The phobia is maintained by operant conditioning

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3
Q

How does classical conditioning work

A

Method of learning that builds up an association between two different stimuli so learning takes place
E.g.
- White rat (neutral stimulus with no initial reaction) is presented to a person by itself
- Loud banging noise (unconditioned stimulus) is presented which makes the person cry/emotional response on its own
- repeatedly pair the two stimuli together many times until classical conditioning and learning takes place - will have emotional response when hear noise and see rat
- then present white rat alone (conditioned stimulus) and the person will have an emotional response (conditioned response)
- learning has taken place via classical conditioning and an association has been established

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4
Q

Classical conditioning case study

A
  • little Albert study - 11 month old boy
  • used white rat and struck steel bar with hammer
  • 3x a week for 2 weeks (6 times in total)
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5
Q

Generalisation meaning

A

The tendency to transfer a response from one stimulus to another that’s similar
E.g. scared of white fur coat due to fear of white rat

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6
Q

Evaluation of classical conditioning (3 negative, 1 positive)

A

positive
Case studies
negative
Not repeated
Traumatic experience
Criticism of behavioural model

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7
Q

Not reliable study

A
  • The study on Little Albert can be criticised because it was only conducted once and the findings have not been repeated (not very reliable)
  • Therefore it could be questioned whether the same results would be gained if this study was to be repeated when investigating whether phobias can be learnt via classical conditioning
  • The study could not be repeated nowadays due to ethical concerns
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8
Q

Case studies (classical conditioning) - evaluation point

A
  • King (1998) supports the ideas proposed by classical conditioning
  • From reviewing case studies he has found that children acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences with the phobic object e.g. children who have got bitten by a dog, might develop a phobia of dogs.
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9
Q

Traumatic experience

A
  • A disadvantage of classical conditioning is that some people do have a traumatic experience such as a car accident
  • However, many people do not then go on to develop a phobia (e.g. of cars/driving), so classical conditioning does not explain how all phobias develop
  • The opposite is true for some phobias, some people are scared or an object, but they have not had a negative experience or even encountered the object before e.g. snakes
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10
Q

Criticism of behavioural model

A
  • The psychologist Menzies criticises the behavioural model, especially the idea of classical conditioning
  • He studied people that had a phobia of water (hydrophobia), and he found that only 2% of his sample had encountered a negative experience with water (due to classical conditioning)
  • Therefore, 98% of his sample had a phobia of water but had never had a negative experience involving water, which means that they had not learnt to become frightened of water via classical conditioning.
  • Therefore; how did these people get their phobia of water if they had not learnt it? Other findings include 50% of people who have a dog phobia have never had a bad experience involving a dog, so therefore learning cannot be a factor in causing the development of the phobia
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11
Q

Social Learning Theory/Modelling

A
  • This is based on observational learning whereby young children might observe a reaction that their parents or family have to a particular situation, and the child will copy this behaviour
    E.g. if we watch someone have a traumatic experience for instance they get bitten by a dog and start screaming, then we might imitate this behaviour and also become scared of dogs, which means we develop a phobia by observational learning.
  • The psychologist Minneka found that when one monkey in a cage showed a fear response to snakes, the other monkeys in the cage copied this response and also showed a fear response to snakes too.
  • This example can be applied to humans.
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12
Q

Operant conditioning

A
  • This method involves learning a new response (phobia) that can result in reinforcement
  • Operant conditioning helps to explain how phobias can be maintained.
  • Negative reinforcement: For instance if someone is scared of snakes, they will try to avoid snakes in order to reduce the risk that they will feel fear.
  • Positive reinforcement: By avoiding snakes and not feeling fear, this is rewarding. Therefore the avoidance of snakes continues.
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13
Q

Evaluation of two process model (x2 each)

A

Positives
Research
Two clear steps
Negatives
Adults
Ignores other factors

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14
Q

Limited model

A
  • The behavioural model/two process model is limited as it ignores other factors that could cause phobias
  • The Behavioural model focuses on learning and the environment, but would not take into account biological or evolutionary factors that could cause phobias
  • Some people might have more of a genetic vulnerability to develop phobias than others and the behavioural model would ignore this
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15
Q

Doesn’t t explain adults

A
  • Social learning theory can be successful in explaining how learning a phobia can occur in animals and young children
  • However, social learning theory is not very strong in explaining how adults can learn to have phobias
  • Therefore the behavioural model is limited to only explaining learning in young children and animals only
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16
Q

Clear two steps

A
  • The two step process has received praise because it involves two clear steps that highlight how phobias are learned and how they are maintained.
  • They are learnt by powerful classical conditioning or social learning theory, and then are maintained by operant conditioning (either positive or negative reinforcement)
  • The process seems an accurate way in explaining how phobias can be learnt overall
17
Q

Research support (social learning theory)

A
  • Bandura supports the idea of Social learning theory.
  • A piece of research was conducted whereby a person acted as if they were in pain when a buzzer sounded, and participants had to watch this reaction
  • Later on the participants were given the chance to hear the sound of the buzzer and they showed the same response (acted as if they were in pain)
  • Therefore, social learning theory does seem to be an effective method when learning to become fearful of an object