Phobias notes

Mowrer

Unconditioned response — stimulus

Unconditioned response — conditioned

Research support

Sample problem

Ethics

Practical application

One strength is that there is research to support phobias being learnt through classical conditioning. The little Albert study found that by making a loud noise when in the presence of a white rat, such as hitting a hammer against the bars of his crib, will scare the child, and cause a conditioned response of the child being afraid of white rats, and by extensions of stimulus generalisation, other white fluffy objects. This is a strength as the evidence suggests that classical conditioning to learn a phobia is an accurate description of Little Alberts behaviour, therefore making phobias learnt by classical conditioning valid.

A problem with the Little Albert study is ethics. The study did not adhere to the BPS guideline of protection from harm. This is a weakness as the cost to Little Albert