The Behavioural Approach to Explaining Phobias

Question 1

What does the two-process model (Mowrer, 1960) suggest about phobias?

Answer 1

Phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.

Question 2

How is a phobia acquired through classical conditioning?

Answer 2

A neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus, creating a conditioned fear response to the neutral stimulus.

Question 3

What does the Little Albert study demonstrate?

Answer 3

Fear can be conditioned—Little Albert learned to fear a white rat after it was paired with a loud noise. The fear generalized to other stimuli.

Question 4

What is stimulus generalisation in the context of phobias?

Answer 4

The fear response spreads to stimuli similar to the original feared object (e.g., white furry objects, not just rats).

Question 5

How does operant conditioning maintain phobias?

Answer 5

Avoiding the phobic stimulus reduces anxiety (negative reinforcement), which strengthens the avoidance behavior.

Question 6

Strength: What real-world application does the two-process model have?

Answer 6

Evidence: SD and other therapies reduce avoidance.

Avoidance reinforces phobia; breaking this can reduce fear.

Question 7

Limitation: Why does the behavioural model fail to fully explain phobias?

Answer 7

Evidence: Cognitive elements like fear of embarrassment (e.g., social phobia) are not explained.

Behavioural theory ignores irrational thoughts.

Question 8

Strength: What evidence links phobias to traumatic experiences?

Answer 8

Evidence: De Jongh et al. (2006) – 73% of dental phobia sufferers had trauma.

Supports classical conditioning in phobia acquisition.

Question 9

Limitation: Why can’t all phobias be explained by bad experiences?

Answer 9

Evidence: Many people with snake/spider phobias never had trauma.

Suggests biological preparedness or evolution.