phobias ao1

Question 1

phobias come under …

Answer 1

Anxiety disorder

Question 2

What is an anxiety disorder and what triggers it

Answer 2

Excessive/irrational fear and anxiety
Triggered by an object or situation

Question 3

What important about the level of fear in a phobia what does fear lead to

Answer 3

The level of fear is completely out of all proportion to the actual stimulus
Fear leads to concious avoidance of the stim

Question 4

3 types of phobia

Answer 4

Specific phobias
Social phobia
Agoraphobia

Question 5

Define specific phobia and give exmaple

Answer 5

Fears ab specific objects or situations
Eg spiders snakes

Question 6

Define social phobia and exmaple

Answer 6

Anxiety relating to social situations
Public speaking tlakinf to group of ppl using public toilets

Question 7

Define agoraphobia

Answer 7

Fear of being in situation where escape difficult and feeling trapped
Eg travelling on public transport or even leaving home

Question 8

What are 3 categories of characteristics of Phobias

Answer 8

Behavioural - to do w Actions
Emotional - feelings
Cognitive - ab thoughts and interpretations

Question 9

describe the 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 9

Panic - eg screaming running
Avoidance - active avoidance of stim or situation where you may come across stim - concious effort to avoid
Endurance - opposite to avoidance person may stay in the same room as te phobia to keep an eye on it

Question 10

2 emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 10

Excessive and unreasonable …
Fear
Anxiety

Question 11

3
cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 11

To do w thoughts …
1) Selective attention to stim - only conc on stim and nothing else
2) Irrationality of thoughts- eg not going on plane due to fear of crashing
3) cogntive distortions- seeing a stim as scarier than it acc is eg seeing a nice clown but they see it as a killer Clown

Question 12

what is DSM

Answer 12

system used to classify mental disorders and allow them to be dignosed

Question 13

define phobia

Answer 13

anxiety disorder and is an extreme, irratonal reaction to an object or situation

Question 14

state 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 14

panic
aviodance
endurance

Question 15

describe 2 emotional characterisrics of phobias

Answer 15

anxiety - unpleasant state of high arousal
fear - immediate respose but expirenced for shorther amoun of time than anxiety

Question 16

state 3
cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 16

selective attention
cognitive distortions
irrationality of thoughts

Question 17

what causes phobias

Answer 17

learned beh - eg +ve and -ve rein
assosications between stim eg classical conditioning

Question 18

who and when said what causes phobias

Answer 18

orwal mowrer 1947

Question 19

what did orwal mowrer 1947 state about phobias

Answer 19

proposed at 2 step model
1) phobias aqquired by classical conditioning
2) continued through operant cond

Question 20

describe research demonstrating acquisition of phobias

Answer 20

little albert 1920
9 month old baby watson and raynor
conditioned a fear response of white rat in baby

Question 21

stimuli and response in little albert

Answer 21

NS –> NR
RAT –> NO RESPONSE

UCS–> UCR
LOUD BANG –> FEAR

NS + UCS (PAIRED OVERTIME) –> UCR
RAT + LOUD BANG –> FEAR

CS –> CR
RAT –> FEAR

Question 22

what did mowrer say ab phobias aqquired through classical cond and operatnt

Answer 22

usually decline overtime with classical
long lasting phobias occur via operant

Question 23

what is negative reinforcment in phobias

Answer 23

occurs when individual avoids a situation which is upleasant this is therefore increasing the behaviour

Question 24

how does mowrer describe how phobias are maintained

Answer 24

when we succesfully avoid phobic stim we succesfully escape fear and enxiety that we would have expirenced if we stayed where we were (reward is neg rein)
this reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour, phobia is maintained

Question 25

what is stimulus generalisation and give an example of this in the little albert study

Answer 25

fear becomes extended to things that are similar to stimuli eg albert became fearful of white furry things eg santa claus mask and white rabbit

Question 26

2 methods of behavioural treatment of phobias

Answer 26

systematic desensitisation flooding

Question 27

what is systematic desensitisation

Answer 27

behavioural theraoy desgined to reduce a response to a stimulus works off the clasical conditioninf principle whereby you learn to relqx in presense of stim - learning a new response to the stimulus *counter-conditioning* this leads to *reciprocal inhibiton* - this is when 2 opposing feelings cant exist at same space in time so for example relaxation is presense if spider eg cant exist in same time and thus relaxation takes over

Question 28

3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation

Answer 28

1) the anxiety hireachy 2) relaxation 3) exposure

Question 29

The anxiety hierarchy and give example

Answer 29

This is put together by client w phobia and therapist It’s a list of situations related to phobic stim that provoke anxiety arranged from least to most frightening Eg a person with arachnophobia may identify seeing a picture of a small spider as low on the anxiety hierarchy and holding a tarantula at the top

Question 30

Describe the 2nd step relaxation in the process of SD

Answer 30

the therapist teaches Client to relax as deeply as possible It’s impossible to relaxed and scared at the same time so one emotion prevents the other *reciprocal inhibition* Could involve breathing techniques or meditation

Question 31

Describe the 3rd step of the exposure in SD

Answer 31

finally client is exposed to phobic stim while in relaxed state Occurs across several sessions starting at the bottom of the anxiety - once they stay relaxed they move up the hierarchy

Question 32

How do you know if systematic densitisation has been effective

Answer 32

When clients can stay relaxed in in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy

Question 33

What is flooding and how often do sessions last give exmaple

Answer 33

Exposes ppl to their phobic stim *without* a gradual build up in the anxiety hierarchy So session lasts 2-3 h Eg sm1 w arachnophobia may have spider crawl over them throughout the session

Question 34

How does flooding work

Answer 34

Stops phobic response quickly Bc stops avoidance of behaviour so client quickly learns phobia is harmless

Question 35

Method of flooding name

Answer 35

Process called extinction in classical conditioning terms

Question 36

Describe the method of flooding

Answer 36

Learned response extinguished when conditioned stimulus eg a dog Is encounterd without unconditional stimulus (eg being bitten) The result is that the conditioned stimulus no longer produces conditioned responnse of fear

Question 37

What’s something the therapist could do in the process of flooding that wouldn’t cause extinction

Answer 37

Is therapist allows client out to early there is a risk of reinforcing phobia as client woufl have successfully avoided phobia

Question 38

What is counter conditioning and what does it lead to

Answer 38

When you learn to relax in the presence of the stimulus - thus learning a new response to the stimulus Leading to reciprocal inhibiton where you can’t be relaxed and scared at the same time so the relaxation takes over