Phobias- behavioural explanation

Question 1

How are phobias caused?

Answer 1

mowrer suggested- Classical and operant conditioning

eg. little albert+skinners rat+pavlovs dogs

Question 2

Limitation behavioral expl. phobias (reductionist)

Answer 2

P. Reductionist
E. doesnt take into account biology eg… or cognition eg.. irational beliefs and cog. distortions
E. so not a full explanation for phobias because it is not applicable to every cause of phobia
L. therefore weakness because is poor explanation as lacks generalisability and ecological validity

Question 3

strength behavioral expl. phobias (evidence)

Answer 3

supporting evidence
little albert
Further evidence- De Jongh-found 73%
people with fear of dentists had experienced trauma involving dentistry, compared to control group with low dentist anxiety where only 21% had experience of a traumatic event.

Question 4

strength behavioral expl. phobias (individual)

Answer 4

Individual explanations: The two-process
model provides a credible explanation for how a particular person developed and maintained their specific phobia

can focus on ind. diff. in treatment etc

Question 5

Phobias characteristics

Answer 5

Behavioural- panic, avoidance, endurance

Emotional- Anxiety, fear, unreasonable response

Cognitive- Selective attention, irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions