Phobias Flashcards
What are phobias?
irrational fears that produce an avoidance of the feared object or situation
What are the three main types of phobias?
-specific phobias- animal and situational
-Social phobia- social situation (people)
-Agoraphobia- public places
What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
-Panic
-Avoidance
-Endurance
What is panic?
-in the presence of the phobic stimulus.
-Panic may involve a range of behaviours including crying, screaming or running away.
What is avoidance?
unless the sufferer is making a conscious effort to face their fear, they tend to go to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus.
What is endurance?
a sufferer remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels of anxiety
What are the emotional characteristics?
-Anxiety
-Fear
-Emotional responses are inappropriate to the situation (part of anxiety)
what does anxiety do?
-prevents the sufferer relaxing + makes it difficult to experience any positive emotion.
What is fear?
the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about the phobic stimulus
what does emotional responses are inappropriate to the situation mean?
the emotional responses experienced in relation to phobic stimuli are too extreme for the situation and may be disproportionate to the danger posed by the phobic stimuli
What are the cognitive characteristics?
-decrease in concentration (selective attention)
-irrational beliefs
What is the decrease in concentration mean?
-people with phobias find it difficult to concentrate and therefore they have an inability to complete tasks when the phobic object or situation is around
What does irrational beliefs mean?
-a phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli,e.g. social phobias can involve beliefs like ‘if I blush people will think im weak.
-This kind of belief increases the pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations.
