Download Behaviourism and the Learning Theories

Behaviourism
and the Learning Theories
PHOBIAS
Spec check!
• How learning theories explain the acquisition
and maintenance of phobias.
• Treatments for phobias based on theories of
learning, including ..
– systematic desensitisation
– and one other; flooding ( to include implosion
therapy)
Anxiety disorders and fear
• Fear is a fundamentally adaptive reaction to
stressors or threats in the environment but…
• When fear is disproportionate/mismatched to
objective circumstances, it can be classified as
ABNORMAL
• Fear acts as a warning, but people with
anxiety disorders are subject to constant false
alarms
Phobias
• An extreme irrational fear of some specific object
or situation
• Typically the person will recognise that their
reaction is excessive (hence irrational)
• Attempts to avoid the feared object/situation at
all cost interferes with the persons everyday
life/normal functioning and this is what
distinguishes a phobia from a fear
• People who hide their phobias from others often
experience further anxiety, guilt, and shame
Agoraphobia
• Most common phobias and accounts for 60%
of all cases
• More common in women than men (other
phobias are fairly equally divided)
• Primary fear: Leaving the safety and security
of home/companions
• Secondary fear: Fear of public places (this is
usually the part the person with agoraphobia
is most aware of)
A) Anxiety about being in places or situations from which
escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help
may not be available in the event of having an unexpected or
situationally predisposed Panic Attack or panic-like symptoms
Agoraphobic fears typically involve characteristic clusters of
situations that include being outside the home alone; being in
a crowd, or standing in a line; being on a bridge; and traveling
in a bus, train, or automobile
B) The situations are avoided (e.g., travel is restricted) or else
are endured with marked distress or with anxiety about
having a Panic Attack or panic-like symptoms, or require the
presence of a companion
Social Phobias
Specific Phobias
• Can develop at any age
• Some phobias more common in children ,eg
dogs , the dark
• Others come later in life, e.g. illness and injury,
death
The DSM criteria
• marked and persistent fear of a specific object or situation that is
excessive or unreasonable
• cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object/situation
• exposure to the phobic stimulus almost invariably provokes an immediate
anxiety response, e.g. Panic Attack
• In children, anxiety may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing, or
clinging.
• the person recognizes that the fear is excessive or unreasonable, although
this feature may be absent in children
• the phobic situation(s) is avoided or else is endured with intense anxiety
or distress.
• The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared situation(s)
interferes significantly with the person's normal routine, occupational (or
academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there is
marked distress about having the phobia
• In individuals under age 18 years, the duration is at least 6 months.
Differential Diagnosis
• The anxiety, Panic Attacks, or phobic avoidance
associated with the specific object or situation are not
better accounted for by another mental disorder
– such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (e.g., fear of dirt in
someone with an obsession about contamination)
– Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (e.g., avoidance of stimuli
associated with a severe stressor)
– Separation Anxiety Disorder (e.g., avoidance of school)
– Social Phobia (e.g., avoidance of social situations because
of fear of embarrassment)
– Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia, or Agoraphobia Without
History of Panic Disorder.
Prevalence & Prognosis
• As many as 11% of the population at some
time in their lives may have a phobia
• In most cases the sufferer recognizes that
their feelings and behaviour are irrational and
seek assistance in overcoming the problem
• Phobias are quite amenable to treatment, and
in 90% of cases significant improvement is
reported.
Little Albert
• Remember Little Albert? Explain how he
acquired his fear of white rats using the
terminology of classical conditioning
• Explain the following phobias using the stages
of classical conditioning…
– Courtney is 6, she has a phobia of
needles/injections
– Sandra is 24; she is phobic of water
– Maurice is 17; he is phobic of blood
Classical conditioning and phobias
• Some problems of this explanation…
– Some phobias are much easier to induce in the lab
than others
– Certain phobias are far more common than others,
e.g. spiders
– These findings are consistent with the Seligman’s
preparedness explanation of phobias
– Classical conditioning cannot explain why fears persist
even when the CS is no longer ever accompanied by
the UCS; why dies extinction not occur?
Phobias and operant conditioning
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Antecedents: Feared object
Behaviour: running away
Consequences? Positive/negative reinforcement
Escape learning/avoidance
Learning explanation of phobias
• Acquired via Classical conditioning
• Maintained via operant conditioning
• Mowrer’s two-process theory of phobias
(1960)
Social Learning Theory
• Explain how Courtney, Sandra and Maurice
may have acquired their phobias through the
processes of social learning theory
– e.g. vicarious reinforcement
Evaluating the Learning Explanations
of Phobias