Phobias Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is a phobia?
an irrational fear of an object or situation.
What are the different types of phobia?
animal
environmental dangers
blood-injection
situational
‘other’
What are the five criteria needed for a diagnosis?
significant, prolonged fear of object or situation for more than 6 months
experiencing prolonged anxious response if exposed to phobic stimulus
phobia is out of proportion to any actual danger
sufferers go out of their way to avoid stimulus
phobia disrupts life
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
selective attention-focus remains on the threat
irrational beliefs-unfounded thoughts about the phobic stimulus
cognitive distortions-perceptions may be inaccurate and unrealistic
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
anxiety-an unpleasant state of high arousal, can b long term and hard for the person to feel good again
fear-immediate and extremely unpleasant response
when thinking or encountering phobic stimulus
disproportionate to any actual threat posed
What are the behavioural characteristics?
panic- may involve crying, screaming or running away
avoidance-tend to go out of their way to avoid phobic stimulus
fight or flight-fight or flight response kicks in
endurance-ppl might choose to stay with phobic stimulus rather than leave it
Who came up with the two-process model?
Mowrer
How are phobias acquired?
Classical conditioning
Phobia develops through association between a UCS that naturally causes fear (UCR) and a NS that didn’t cause fear
How are phobias maintained?
Operant conditioning
Phobia is maintained through negative reinforcement
Avoiding phobic stimuli reduces uncomfortable feelings (e.g. fear) therefore reinforces avoidance
What is a strength of the Two process model?
P-A strength of the two-process model is its real world application in exposure therapies like systemic desensitisation or flooding.
E-the two process model says that phobias are maintained through avoidance. Once avoidance behaviour is prevented it ceases from being reinforced by the experience of anxiety reduction and therefore declines. This counter conditioning tajes place during exposure therapy. In behavioural terms the phobia is the avoidance behaviour so when the avoidance is prevented the phobia is cured
C-This is a strength of the two process model as it identifies means of treating phobias
What is a limitation of the two process model?
P-A limitation of the two process model is that the behavioural approach to explaining phobias may not provide a complete explanation of phobias
E-for example, Bounton highlights that evolutionary factors could play a role in phobias, especially if the lack of avoidance of a particular stimulus could have caused pain or even death to our ancestors. consequently, evolutionary psychologists suggest that some phobias are not learned and are in fact innate, as such phobias act as survival mechanisms for our ancestors. this innate predisposition to certain phobias is called biological preparedness. C
C-this casts doubt on the two-process model as it suggests that there is more to phobias than learning.
What is another strength of the two-process model?
P-However, a strength of the two process model is that there is a link between bad experiences and acquiring a phobia
E-For example, Jongh et al found that 73% of people who fear the dentist have had a traumatic experience mostly involving dentistry. this can be compared to a control group of people with low dental anxiety where only 21% had experienced a traumatic event.
C-This confirms the connection between stimulus (dentistry) and an unconditioned response (pain) does lead to the development of a phobia.
CC- not all phobias appear following a bad experience. in fact some common phobias such as shark phobias happen in populations where where very few people very few people have experiences of sharks let alone negative ones. this means that the association between phobias and frightening experiences isn’t as strong as we would expect id behavioural theories provided a complete explanation
