behavioural explanations of phobias AO3+ AO1

Strength of behaviourist explanation of phobias

*research support

One strength of the behaviourist explanation of phobias is that is

has research support.

For instance, Sue et al (1994) found that people with phobias often do recall a specific incident when the phobia appeared. Many people who suffer from agoraphobia (dear of public places and social settings) often recall having a sudden panic attack in a past, social situation.

This provides evidence for the importance of classical conditioning in phobia acquisition.

Therefore, makes the Behaviourist explanation of phobias more credible.

Another strength of behaviourist explanation of phobias

Research support

One strength of the behaviourist explanation of phobias is that is

has research support.

For instance, Sue et al (1994) found that people with phobias often do recall a specific incident when the phobia appeared. Many people who suffer from agoraphobia (dear of public places and social settings) often recall having a sudden panic attack in a past, social situation.

This provides evidence for the importance of classical conditioning in phobia acquisition.

Therefore, makes the Behaviourist explanation of phobias more credible.

What is a limitation

P- weakness of the two-process model is that some people who have a phobia do not recall a traumatic incident explaining how it developed.

E-For example, many people are frightened of spiders yet rarely have many been bitten by one. To explain this Seligman (1970) argues many phobias are not learnt but actually reflect evolutionary advantages. For example, fearing the dark or heights makes evolutionary sense as humans are more vulnerable in the dark and cannot fly if they fall from a tall building.

E-This suggests that some phobias are likely to be biological in nature, acquired to help us survive rather than being simply learnt.

L-Therefore, this means that there may be better alternative explanations of phobias, such as the biological preparedness theory.

What is the two process model? Pt1

Mowrer (1960) proposed the two-process model to explain how

phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and maintained

through operant conditioning.

Acquisition by classicial conditioning

The first stage is classical conditioning. This is learning by association

and explains how a phobia is initially learnt. A phobia is acquired

through association perhaps associating a stimulus with a certain bad

experience.

The way a phobia can be learnt was demonstrated through the famous experiment on Little Albert.

What is the two process model? Pt2

The second part of the two-process model is operant conditioning.

Maintenance by operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is learning by reward and punishment (positive and

negative reinforcement). A behaviour which stops an unpleasant situation

recurring is also rewarding. This is known as negative reinforcement.

In the case of phobias, the avoidance of the phobic stimulus (e.g spiders,

dogs etc) reduces anxiety and is therefore rewarding. By avoiding the fear-

provoking stimulus anxiety levels are reduced and this is negatively

reinforcing the sufferer to continue this behaviour. Therefore, the phobias

continues.

What are the 3 types of phobias?

1) Specific Phobia

Phobia of an object, such as an animal or body part or a situation such as flying or having an injection.

2) Social anxiety (social phobia)

Phobia of a social situation such as public speaking or using a public toilet.

3) Agoraphobia

Phobia of being outside or in a public place.