According to the Cambridge dictionary, a phobia is ,an extreme fear or dislike of a particular thing or situation, especially one that cannot be reasonably explained. A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, which causes an irrational fear towards an object of situation (Bourne, 2011). Statistics indicate that approximately 1 in 23 people suffer from phobias. That's nearly 4.5% of the population. Phobias can have a huge interference in people's lives as they can make it hard to maintain a normal daily routine, especially as they can start to occur in early childhood. There are several types of phobias. Specific phobia, this is when a phobia is of a particular object or specific situation e.g animal types, heights and clowns. Secondly is social …show more content…
Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behaviour through the process of association. A type of learning where two stimuli are repeatedly paired to eventually elicit a response from the first stimulus alone. The classical conditioning theory applied to phobias suggests that the subject must have faced a fear in the presence of the phobia-causing stimuli. As a result, this stimulus triggers and anxious response due to its association with the fear. The classical conditioning theory has been around since Pavlov, 1890 and in turn has been developed further. The original study that applied the classical conditioning theory to the development of phobias was Watson and Rayner, (1920). Their paper attempted to learn the process of conditioning an emotional reactions by using a number of infants to see their reactions to fire, dogs, cats and any other stimuli that was thought to be innately frightening. They did find that loud noise did elicit an innate fear reaction. Their most famous case was the Little Albert study, a 9 month old infant, who was used to test if people could in fact be conditioned. They paired a white lab rat with striking a steel bar with a hammer behind Albert’s head. Little Albert began to show fear response towards the white lab rat, therefore suggesting had had been conditioned to do so. The paper concluded that many other phobias may have been developed in a similar …show more content…
Which could indicate that fear responses can only be learnt from evolutionary fears. Suggesting that the conditioning theory can not be solely used to explain the development of phobias. Furthermore, Di Nardo brings to light that not everyone who experiences a traumatic event goes on to develop a phobia, which again supports the idea that the classic conditioning theory cannot explain phobias alone, there may be other factors. In spite of this, Watson’s contributions brought the study of behavior into a more scientific and observable discipline. It additionally gave an alternative to Freudian Psychoanalysis, which related phobic responses to to psychosexual development (Freud, S, 1909). Giving an overall generalisation of fears and demonstrates that emotions and phobias can be
In the following essay I will be looking into the study conducted by Watson and Rayner (1920) on a small child known as ‘Little Albert’. The experiment was an adaptation of earlier studies on classical conditioning of stimulus response, one most common by Ivan Pavlov, depicting the conditioning of stimulus response in dogs. Watson and Rayner aimed to teach Albert to become fearful of a placid white rat, via the use of stimulus associations, testing Pavlov’s earlier theory of classical conditioning.
How Lauren learned she had a fear in flying? Using the Classical Conditioning theory the possibilities could be endless. Classical conditioning in simple terms is the method in which one determines why and the cause of a condition as well as what has brought it about. There are many stimulus both conditioned and unconditioned that can cause fear or other problems, but the major reason for causes regarding the fear of flying has been mentioned in several articles regarding anxiety disorders.
Classical Conditioning was a phenomenon that a man named Ivan Pavlov explored in the twentieth-century. His work laid the foundation for many other psychologists such as John Watson. Pavlov’s idea came when he seized on an incidental observation. He noticed putting food in a dogs mouth caused salvation. However, the dog not only salivated to the food it began to also salivate to mere sight of the food, or the food dish. He began experimenting; first he slid the food presented the food by sliding the food bowl and blowing meat powder into the dogs mouth at the same exact moment. They paired it with a neutral stimuli event the dog could see but did not associate it with food (Myers, 2014, p.256). Food in the mouth automatically, unconditionally triggers the salivary reflex. Pavlov called drooling the unconditioned response and the food the unconditioned stimulus. Salvation in response to a tone is learned, it is conditioned upon the dogs associating the tone with the food it is called conditioned response (Myers, 2014, p.256). The stimulus that used to be neutral is the conditioned stimulus. I found it interesting and relating to everyday life because my dog often does the same. We keep his food in the garage so opening the garage door would be the conditioned stimulus. As soon as the garage door opens my dog begins to salivate which is the conditioned response. Whereas,
Psychologists both now and in years past have investigated the concept of fear and its different forms, as well as its reason for existence. Some discovered that experiences, nurture, and nature create the emotion within people. Each of the five divisions of fear includes loss. Every human experiences fear of extinction, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and ego-death yet encounter these emotions at various rates to assorted extents.
Classical conditioning states that learning is a gradual process, that it is not possible for a subject to be classically condition in only one trial. However, if you eat something and become sick from it, there is a very good probability that you will develop a strong distaste for that food. This effect is known as taste aversion, which has brought up many questions about classical conditioning.
In observational learning, a child takes note of what his or her mother or father considers to be threatening. On the other hand, children can also be conditioned by their own life experiences through a process called operant conditioning (SOURCE). In some instances, children tend to generalize their fears, subsequently forming a phobia. For example, a young girl who became increasingly cautious of flying insects after an unpleasant encounter with a nest of agitated yellow jackets. After being assaulted by these creatures, she associated all flying bugs with the painful sting of a yellow jacket. Of course, children can also be classically conditioned to display a fearful response; that is, they learn to associate an unconditioned fear-relevant stimulus with a conditioned stimulus, provoking a conditioned, fearful response. One of the most well-known examples of this is an experiment involving a young boy, famously dubbed Little Albert. Little Albert learned to fear small furry animals in a laboratory setting when the presence of these creatures was paired with loud banging noises (SOURCE). From the aforementioned experiments and studies, it is undeniable that external circumstances and experiences assist in the configuration of fear in
One of the most famous example of fear conditioning is the Little Albert experiment conducted by Watson and Rayner in 1920. In this experiment, an infant, Albert, was presented with a white rat, and as expected, Albert initially displayed no signs of fear and began touching and playing with the rat. Soon, the experimenters began pairing the presentation of the rat with a loud noise (US) produced by banging a hammer on a steel bar. The noise caused Albert to startle and cry (UR). After several pairing, Albert learned to fear the rat (CS) and would crawl away or cry (CR) when the rat was subsequently presented (Watson and Rayner, 1920)
Main Point 1: There are three main categories of phobias. The first category is Specific Phobias which are known as simple phobias. Specific phobias or simple phobias are usually fears about specific situations, living creatures, places, activities, or things. Examples of simple phobias is dentophobia (dentists), aerophobia (flying), claustrophobia (small spaces), and acrophobia (heights). The other two categories are Social Phobia and Agoraphobia. These two are known as complex phobias. The article “What is a Phobia?”, describes them as complex phobias because “they are linked to deep-rooted fear or anxiety about certain situations, incidents or circumstances, which make them more disabling than simple phobias.” Social phobia is also referred to as social anxiety disorder. Social phobia may be defined in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. (Webmd.com) A person with social phobia finds being in social situations very difficult to handle with because of the lack of social skills or experiences that person may have. Going out to social events such as parties or functions may cause anxiety to a person with social phobia. There is that fear a person has of being embarrassed in public. People with this phobia may be afraid of a specific situation such as public speaking. Medicinenet.com defines “agoraphobia” as “a fear of being outside or otherwise being in a situation from which one either cannot escape or from which escaping would be difficult or humiliating.” The results of agoraphobia are anxiety and panic attacks. People with agoraphobia sometimes confine themselves inside their own home when symptoms are
One of the classic examples of fear conditioning is the experiment carried out on little Albert by Watson and Rayner (1920). Little Albert was an infant (11 months old), who was conditioned to fear white rats. Initially when he was exposed to the white rat, little Albert would approach it and play with it. After awhile, when little Albert tried to touch the rat, a loud noise (US) was created which would startle little Albert and cause him to cry (unconditioned response –UR). This pairing was repeated a few times. Later on, when the rat (CS) was again presented to little Alber...
Phobias are considered a part of anxiety disorders, a phobia is an intense and irrational fear of a certain thing or situation. Some examples of phobias include fear of heights, insects, and even talking in front of a large crowd. The intensity of phobias differ from patient to patient but the severity of phobia...
Classical conditioning refers to a type of learning in which a previously neutral stimuli took on the ability to stimulate a conditioned response in an individual (Gormezano & Moore, 1966). To prove that environment was more impactful than genetics, Watson conducted an experiment on an infant, little Albert. Initially, Albert showed little fear towards rats. When Watson repeatedly exposed Albert to the rat accompanied by a loud noise, the latter began to develop fear towards not just the rat but also other furry animals. Watson successfully showed that the acquisition of a phobia can be explained by classical conditioning (Watson & Watson, 1921). Regardless of their genes, the associations of the right stimuli can result in the development of a new behaviour in any individual.
This paper is focused on how fear as a subject is being perceived by many as a dominant and primitive human emotion. An uncontrollable energy that’s exists and created within every individual, which is directed towards an object or a given situation that does not present an actual danger. The individual then analyzes that the fear is contradictory and thus cannot help the reaction. Gradually, the phobia aims to build up and aggravate as the fear of fear response takes hold. Eventually they distinguish their fear responses as negative, and go out of their way to avoid those reactions. ‘Fear is derived as a basic feeling and therefore created by us – it is not something we have, but something we do. The principle of fear is to keep us safe.’
Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).
The strength of classical conditioning is that it can help to explain all aspects of human behavior. Any of behavior can broke down into stimulus-response association, so that according to the classical conditioning, conditioned stimulus will lead conditioned response to occur, then the scientist can observe and determine the behavior (McLeod, 2014). In the case of Pavlovian conditioning, he found that when the conditioned stimulus (bell) was paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food) was presented to the dog, it would start to salivate. After a number of repeated this procedures, Pavlov tried to ring his bell by its own...
There are three kinds of phobias: simple phobia, social phobia, and panic attacks. Simple phobias, also called specific phobias, are fears of a specific thing, such as spiders or being in a closed place. Most simple phobias develop during childhood and eventually disappear. Specific phobia is a marked fear of a specific object or situation. It is a category for any phobias other than agoraphobia and social phobia. The categories of specific phobias are 1. situational phobias such as: fear of elevators, airplanes, enclosed places, public transportation, tunnels, or bridges; 2. fear of the natural environment such as: storms, water, or heights; 3. animal phobias such as: fear of dogs, snakes, insects, or mice; 4. blood-injection-injury phobia such as: fear of seeing blood or an injury, or of receiving an injection. (Wood 520).