Phobias Flashcards
(16 cards)
What are all phobias characterised by
Excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place or situation. The extent of the fear is our of proportion to any real danger presented by phobic stimulus.
What are the different categories of phobia
Specific phobia
Social Anxiety (Social phobia)
Agoraphobia
What comes under the category of specific phobia
Phobias of objects e.g. an animal or body part OR Phobias of situations e.g. flying or having an injection
What comes under the category of social phobia
Phobias of social situations e.g. Public speaking or using public toilet
What comes under the category of agoraphobia
Phobias of being outside or in a public place
List the behavioural characteristics of phobias with examples/ explanations
Panic – crying, screaming, running away from the phobic situation.
Avoidance – Considerable effort to prevent contact with the stimulus.
Endurance – Alternative to avoidance, remaining with the stimulus but continuing to experience anxiety.
List the emotional characteristics of phobias with examples/ explanations
Anxiety – an unpleasant state of high arousal, prevents relaxation and makes positive emotion very difficult.
Fear – Immediate response to the phobic stimulus.
Unreasonable – Disproportionate to the threat posed, e.g. huge response to tiny non-venomous spider.
List the cognitive characteristics of phobias with examples/ explanations
Selective attention to phobic stimulus e.g. remaining focused on phobic stimulus
Irrational beliefs e.g. phobic stimulus will cause harm to them
Cognitive distortions e.g. catastrophizing: exaggerating the potential dangers of the feared object or situation.
How do behaviourists believe phobias are formed
Behaviourists propose phobias are learned through experience and associatione.g. the little Albert study (fear of white rat due to loud noise)
Who proposed the two-process model and how does it explain the formation of phobias
Mowrer 1947.
Explains phobias through behaviourist explanation of either classical or operant conditioning
Use the little albert example to explain the classical component of the two - process model
A child was in introduced to a loud noise (US) which produced the fear response (UR).
A white rat (NS) was introduced and paired with this loud noise which over time became paired with the fear response towards this white rat (CR).
The rat then becomes a CS as it produces the CR of fear.
Traumatic events that occur produce negative feelings which then become conditioned responses to such objects, animals or situations which are conditioned stimuli.
Explain the operant component (the reinforcement part) of the two - component process model
In the case of phobia’s and through negative reinforcement; the avoidance of the object/situation in question reduces anxiety or fear which the individual finds rewarding.
This then reinforces the avoidance behaviour further.
Summarise the main points of the two - process model
development = classical conditioning
association of fear/anxiety with neutral stimulus to produce conditioned response;
assumes experience of traumatic event;
generalisation of fear to other similar objects;
maintenance of fear through operant conditioning – avoidance is negatively reinforcing;
relief as primary reinforcer.
Evaluate the two process model based on real world application (strength)
One strength of the two-process model is its real-world application.
The idea that phobias are maintained by avoidance is important in explaining why people with phobias benefit from exposure therapies.
Once avoidance behaviour is prevented it ceases to be reinforced by the reduction of anxiety. Avoidance behaviour therefore declines.
This shows the value of the two-process approach because it identifies a means of treating phobias
Evaluate the behavioural explanation for phobias based on research support (strength)
A strength of the behavioural explanation for phobias is evidence linking phobias to bad experiences.
De Jongh et al. (2006) found that 73% of dental phobics had experienced a trauma (mostly involving dentistry), evidence of link between bad experiences and phobias.
Further support came from the control group of people with low dental anxiety, where only 21% had experienced a traumatic event.
This confirms that the association between stimulus (dentistry) and an unconditioned response (pain) does lead to the phobia
Evaluate the behaviourist explanation of phobias based on the lack of explanation for cognitive aspects of phobias (weakness)
One limitation is the inability to explain cognitive aspects of phobias.
Behavioural explanations like the two-process model are geared towards explaining behaviour – in this case avoidance of the phobic stimulus.
However, we know that phobias also have a significant cognitive component, e.g. people hold irrational beliefs about the phobic stimulus.
This means that the two-process model does not fully explain the symptoms of phobias. (Environmental reductionism)
