The Acquisition and Maintenance of Phobias

Evaluation of how learning theories explain the acquisition and maintenance of phobias - Strengths

- Classical conditioning has been developed as a theory using experiments with careful controls, and experiments where the findings have been replicated. This makes the evidence for classical conditioning strong (such as Watson and Rayner, 1920, which is a carefully planned study). - Operant conditioning has been said to explain how phobias are maintained once learned, and operant conditioning too has a lot of evidence for its principles, including Skinner (1948). Experiments into the principles of operant conditioning show careful planning and controls. Social learning theory too, such as Bandura's work. The findings of experiments are reliable as there have been many studies with the same results.

Evaluation of how learning theories explain the acquisition and maintenance of phobias - Weaknesses

- Experiments - although they give strong evidence for learning theories and their explanations of human behaviour - often animals are used rather than human participants. Although animals do have similar brain structures as humans, they are not the same. They are not the same in respect of anxiety and fear and how in humans these can arise from cognition (thinking) and problem-solving, which is unlikely in animals. If there are differences between humans and animals, perhaps we cannot generalise results from animal experiments to humans. - Learning theories are tested using carefully controlled variables, so are likely to lack validity. Phobias arise in real life, taking into account all the surroundings and situations a person is in. A person may be anxious because of their life situation and that can generalise to where they are when they have a panic attack, perhaps feeling overwhelmed with all they have to do. Animals are not likely to share these sorts of worries and thoughts.

Acquisition of phobias - Social learning

Bandura explained in his three studies (1961, 1963, 1965) that children learned to imitate behaviour that they watched. This was without any consequences for the model (such as the model being rewarded for the behaviour) or for them (such as their being rewarded for the imitative behaviour). The children did imitate the behaviour for the reward, admittedly, but they also showed imitative aggression without being rewarded (in the 1961 and 1963 studies). This suggests that, if a role model shows fear in a certain situation or when faced with a certain object, then someone watching can learn that fear or phobia. Mineka showed that monkey's watching other monkeys show fear of snakes themselves then those showed fear of snakes, so acquiring phobias through observation of other modelling is not just about humans but can be found in some animals as well. Leib et al. (2000) found that children of parents with social phobia were likely to have social phobia as well. There is evidence that phobias can be acquired through the processes explained by classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning theory.

Maintenance of phobias - Operant conditioning

Behaviour that is rewarded is done again (this is the law of effect) Behaviour that is punished is not repeated. Once a phobia is learned, it can be maintained through operant conditioning. E.g. if someone gets very anxious, again using the example of going shopping, then they may choose not to go shopping to avoid this anxiety, which is negative reinforcement. Operant conditioning maintains the phobia through negative reinforcement. If shopping keeps bringing up anxiety symptoms, and maybe even panic attacks, that is positive punishment (something bad is received) and so the behaviour might be maintained for that reason too (the behaviour being not going shopping).

Maintenance of phobias - Social learning theory

If someone else is modelling the phobia, social learning would explain how a phobia is maintained. For example, if a mother has a social phobia, perhaps the child will use their mother as a role model and develop social phobia. If the mother's social phobia is maintained by operant conditioning, then the child might model on the mother, and her own phobia of being with people might be maintained in that way

Maintenance of phobias - Classical conditioning

Learning theories can also help to show why a phobia would be maintained once learned. Classical conditioning shows how a phobia might be learned. However, classical conditioning tends not to last long so the association would have to be paired often (such as a dog keeps biting), but that tends not to happen. Watson and Rayner (1920) confirm that classical conditioning does not last long. So classical conditioning is probably not responsible for the maintenance of a phobia normally. Of course if the individual kept getting a dog bite, the fear can be maintained and this would be explained using classical conditioning principles. This can happen, for example, if a panic attack or something similar was experienced while shopping, then the thought of shopping could lead to further anxiety (possibly as strong as a panic attack). This renewal of the association between shopping and anxiety would maintain the phobia. A fear is normal in the sense that we need to fear things that threaten us, such as being afraid of being high up as we might fall. Phobias tend to focus on something we are afraid of but where the fear is irrational. Nevertheless, a phobia does represent an association between a stimulus (something that makes us afraid) and a response (the fear). Classical conditioning explains how we associate a response to a stimulus. Also, with a phobia we tend to generalise one extreme fear situation (perhaps being stuck in a lift) to all similar situations (all lifts). Classical conditioning neatly explains such processes and how phobias are acquired. One-trial learning - This is where the association can be so strong (one trial is enough) that the learning is very hard to undo. This can happen, for example, if you eat bad food, and associate feeling ill with the chicken.

Phobias

Phobias are irrational fears and are life-limiting. Anyone with a phobia, when they get near to their phobia situation or object, will experience strong anxiety. Symptons may include fast breathing, feeling sick, dry mouth, fast heart rate and chest pain, among others. Phobias tend to mean people avoid certain situations.

Types of phobia

Psychological research has gone into the way phobias tend to be about such issues and not about equally dangerous things like guns, which are more 'socially' given.

Acquisition of phobias - operant conditioning

Someone might acquire a phobia through a pattern of rewards and punishments, but classical conditioning principles would underpin this. For example, if someone is bitten by a dog, that might be positive punishment (getting something unpleasant for stroking the dog). This would stop the person from stroking the dog in future and they may develop a phobia of dogs. However, this phobia would be linked to the fear of being punished and that is best explained by through classical conditioning. Nonetheless, there is an element of operant conditioning here, in the punishment that led to the phobia being developed. Another operant conditioning explanation for avoiding dogs would be negative reinforcement. To remove the possibility of getting bitten, the person avoids being in the presence of dogs.

Acquisition of phobias - Classical Conditioning

Watson and Rayner's (1920) study of Little Albert, who was conditioned, using classical conditioning principles, to fear his pet white rat. Something that yields a fear or startle response naturally, such as a loud bang, is the unconditioned stimulus. That stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, such as the white rat. After a few pairings, an association is learned and the white rat (in this case) will give the fear response. A fear has been conditioned. E.g. a phobia of dogs might be acquired through the following steps of classical conditioning: - UCS - dog bite - UCR - fear (went with pain). - UCS - dog bite + NCS - any dog - UCR -fear. CS - any dog - CR - fear.