The behavioural approach to explaining phobias

What is classical conditioning

learning by association => occurs when 2 stimuli are repeatedly paired together

What is operant conditioning

 a form of learning on which behaviour is shaped and maintained by it's consequences

What is the two-process model

an explanation for the onset and persistence of mental health conditions that create anxiety

=> the two way processes are classical conditioning for onset and operant conditioning for persistance

What did Watson and Rayner research

The researched learning a phobia through acquisition by classical conditioning

What was their procedure

• Watson + Rayner created a phobia in 9 month old called "Little Albert"

• Albert initially did not show any fear at the start of the study

• When showed the white rat he tried to play with it

• Whenever the rat = presented to Albert the researchers made a loud, frightening sound by baning and iron bar close to Alberts ear

• The noise = unconditioned stimulus

• The unconditioned response was fear

• The neutral stimulus of the rat becomes associated with the bang sound making it the conditioned stimulus (the rat)  => little albert = scared

• Conditioned response = fear

• This conditioning then generalised to similar objects => Albert showed signs of distress at the sight of a Santa Claus beard

Why can phobias be kept

Phobias can be maintained through operant conditioning

What does operant conditioning do

• Operant conditioning takes place when behaviour is reinforced

• This increases the frequency of a behaviour

• Little Albert => continued to be scared of fury things

What did Mowrer suggest

He suggested that when we avoid phobic stimulus' we are escaping the fear and anxiety that we would have experienced if we had remained there => this reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour => the phobia is maintained

What are some strengths to prove that phobias are learnt through classical and operant conditioning

Real world application The distinctive element of the 2-process model in the idea that phobias are maintained by avoidance of a phobic stimulus This is important in explaining why people with phobias benefit from being exposed to the phobic stimulus Once the avoidance behaviour is prevented it stops being reinforced by the experience of anxiety reduction and avoidance behaviour When the avoidance is prevented the phobia is cured This shows the value of the two-process approach because it identifies a means of successfully treating phobias

There is a link between bad experiences and phobias The little Albert study illustrates how a frightening experience involving a stimulus can lead to a phobia of that stimulus Evidence from a researcher study Found that 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic event in dentistry This can be compared to only 21% in the control group with low dental anxiety This confirms that the association between stimulus and an unconditioned response can lead to the development of the phobia

What are some limitations which indicate that operant and classical conditioning cannot create phobias

The behavioural approach has an incomplete explanation Behavioural explanations focus on explaining behaviour Central behaviour of a phobia = avoidance Li and Graham provided evidence of the cognitive component in action They asked both a phobic and non-phobic (control group) to approach a spider The phobic group later estimated the size of the spider to be significantly larger than the control group This suggests that cognitive factors such as distorted perceptions or heightened fear can influence how phobic individuals experience and interpret stimuli This means that the 2 process model is not a full explanation for the development of phobias

Counterpoint: not all phobias appear following a bad experience   - some common phobias e.g. snakes occur in populations where very few people have any experience of snakes and traumatic experiences  - not all frightening experiences lead to phobias This means that the association between phobias and frightening experiences is not as strong as we would expect if behavioural theories provided a complete explanation