The behavioural approach to explaining phobias THE TWO

The behavioural approach to explaining phobias THE TWO PROCESS MODEL

Starter task: How much do you remember? Look at the following case study. In pairs, explain how Fred may have acquired his phobia according to the behaviourist explanation. Draw out a model on your MWBs Fred has a phobia of snakes. He cannot visit zoos and finds it very difficult to even look at pictures of snakes. Even hearing the word ‘snake’ is a trigger for his fear. If he is in a situation where people are talking about a trip to a zoo, often he leaves the room in case they mention anything about snakes. Fred will not watch any nature programmes for this reason and avoids going walking in the countryside. Fred can trace his phobia back to an experience he had as a young child. His father took him to a zoo. When they got to the snake enclosure, his father picked him up and put his face close to the glass so that he could see the snake more clearly, which looked as if it was asleep. Suddenly, the snake darted forward towards the glass where Fred was being held and opened its mouth. Fred let out a yell and started to cry

How does theory work? In Pavlov’s original research, he found that when the CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS, the Conditioned response gets weaker and eventually dies out completely. This is known as extinction What problem do es this raise for the classical conditioning explanation of phobias? It means that classical conditioning alone cannot explain the maintenance of the phobia Operant conditioning theory, therefore, is used to explain how the phobia is maintained

Let’s go back to Fred… Fred has a phobia of snakes. He cannot visit zoos and finds it very difficult to even look at pictures of snakes. Even hearing the word ‘snake’ is a trigger for his fear. If he is in a situation where people are talking about a trip to a zoo, often he leaves the room in case they mention anything about snakes. Fred will not watch any nature programmes for this reason and avoids going walking in the countryside. Fred can trace his phobia back to an experience he had as a young child. His father took him to a zoo. When they got to the snake enclosure, his father picked him up and put his face close to the glass so that he could see the snake more clearly, which looked as if it was asleep. Suddenly, the snake darted forward towards the glass where Fred was being held and opened its mouth. Fred let out a yell and started to cry Can you expla in how the phobia is maintained us ing the principles of o perant conditioning th eory?

Exam Practice Answer the question individually, without notes: Outline the behaviourist explanation of phobias (6 marks) Now swap with the person sitting next to you

Exam Practice: mark scheme The two‐process model suggests that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and are maintained through operant conditioning (1 mark) According to theory of classical conditioning, humans can learn to fear an object or stimulus, such as a dog, by forming an association between the object and something which triggers a fear response (1 mark) For example, being bitten by a dog. In this example, the dog, which was originally a neutral stimulus becomes associated with being bitten, which is an unconditioned stimulus that leads to the fear which is the unconditioned response (1 mark) This pairing leads to the dog becoming a conditioned stimulus, which when encountered will elicit fear, a condition response (1 mark) According to operant conditioning theory, the phobic behaviours are strengthened through negative reinforcement and therefore maintained (1 mark) This is because the avoidance behaviours that are characteristic of a phobia enable the individual to avoid the unpleasant emotion of fear (1 mark)

The case of Little Albert A reminder of the Little Albert study. .

Evaluation of the two-process model (behaviourist) explanation Sue et al (1994) found that people with phobias often recall a specific incident when their phobia appeared e. g. being bitten by a dog or experiencing a panic attack in a social situation. Barlow & Durand (1995) report that 50% of those with specific fear of driving remember a traumatic experience while driving (e. g. an accident) as having caused the onset of the phobia, e. g. some people become intensely afraid of driving a car after a serious accident (associate car with accident) Does this stud y support or challenge the theory?

Evaluation of the two-process model (behaviourist) explanation How many people are afraid of spiders? How many people are afraid of buttons? MWBs on r u o y t u o y Now la round the lk a w d n a your table t other a h w t a g in room, look ted as s li e v a h le peop mmon o c n u d n a common u can o y if e e s d phobias an rence e f if d y e k a identify the two in s m e it e between th categories Some phobias are more common than others In pairs, divide your MWB in two and on one side write down five phobias that are reasonably common How on canthe weother explain Then side, write what have that are down fiveyou phobias found? How does it you quite uncommon (but challenge know that a the fewtwopeople have process model? them)

Evaluation of the two-process model (behaviourist) explanation Seligman argued that animals, including humans, have evolved to be fearful of potentially life-threatening stimuli because having such phobias are adaptive (they have come about through the process of evolution) In our evolutionary past, our ancestors have survived because they have avoided dangerous situations or objects. Therefore, this biological preparedness has been selected into our genes Ost (19 87) not es people with se that many ve snakes , germs re fears of , aerop & heigh lanes ts have particu larly un had no pl experie nces w easant these o i bjects th any of or situa tions

Evaluation of the two-process model (behaviourist) explanation Enid was bitten by a dog when she was eight. She is now afraid of dogs. Shirley was bitten by a dog when she was seven. She is not afraid of dogs What does the two-process explanation of phobias fail to explain? Use the case of Enid and Shirley to help you construct an answer