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of anxiety this may be unavoidable e.g. flying Emotional: Anxiety: state of high arousal, this prevents the sufferers from relaxing and making it very difficult to experience any positive emotions, this may be long term. Being unreasonable can lead to the individual suffering from a strong emotional response which is disproportionate to the danger posed. Fear: the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about the phobic stimulus Cognitive: Selective attention: patient remains focused on the phobic stimulus, even when it is causing them severe anxiety. This may be the result of irrational beliefs or cognitive distortions. 1 Irrational beliefs: this may be the cause of unreasonable responses of anxiety towards the phobic stimulus, due to the patient's incorrect perception as to what the danger posed is. Cognitive distortions: phobic perception of the phobic stimulus may be distorted, individuals with ophiophobic is likely to see belly buttons as ugly . Describe one behavioural characteristic that might be seen in a person who has been diagnosed with a phobia of wasps. [2 marks] MARK SCHEME Marks for this question: AO1 = 1 and AO2 = 1 2 marks for a clear and coherent description of how one behavioural characteristic would be apparent in a person with a phobia of wasps. Some use of appropriate terminology, e.g., panic, avoidance, endurance. 1 mark for a limited or muddled description, or for an answer without application to wasps. Possible content: panic - behaviours such as crying, running, screaming, freezing, fainting, collapsing, vomiting in the presence of a wasp avoidance - behaviours such as not going to places where wasps might be encountered, eg, gardens or seaside endurance - behaviours such as remaining in the presence of wasp, often frozen still, eg, not leaving a meeting NOTE: No marks for simply identifying a behavioural characteristic such as panic, avoidance or endurance. EXAMINER'S REPORT 2 • A significant majority of students clearly had knowledge of behavioural characteristics of phobias and there were many clear and coherent descriptions of a behavioural characteristic which might be seen in someone with a phobia of wasps. • However, some students simply named the characteristics and did not describe it as the question asked and others failed to apply the behavioural characteristic to a person who has been diagnosed with a phobia wasps 2. Describe one emotional characteristic that might be seen in a person who has been diagnosed with a phobia of wasps. [2 marks] MARK SCHEME Marks for this question: AO1 = 1 and AO2 = 1 2 marks for a clear and coherent description of how one emotional characteristic would be apparent in a person with a phobia of wasps. Some use of appropriate terminology, eg, anxiety or fear. 1 mark for a limited or muddled description, or for an answer without application to wasps. Possible content: anxiety - feelings of worry/distress in the presence of wasps fear - feelings of terror/feeling scared, e.g., about dying from a wasp's sting. NOTE: no marks for simply identifying an emotional characteristic such as fear or anxiety. EXAMINER'S REPORT This question was generally answered less well than Question 1 suggesting that either students had better knowledge of behavioural characteristics than of emotional characteristics or found it easier to apply the phobia of wasps to a behavioural characteristic rather than an emotional one. • The majority of students could name an emotional characteristic but many of them failed to either provide a clear description of that characteristic and/or apply it to a phobia of wasps. • There was also some confusion and muddling with cognitive characteristics. SUMMARY OF THE KEY POINTS OF THE BEHAVIOURAL EXPLANATION OF THE ACQUISITION & MAINTENANCE OF PHOBIAS emphasises the role of learning in phobia acquisition. phobias can be learned (initiated) by classical conditioning and continue (are maintained) by operant conditioning OUTLINE OF THE TWO-PROCESS MODEL OF PHOBIAS CLASSICAL CONDITION & ACQUISITION 3 OPERANT CONDITIONING & MAINTENANCE Key words: ● neutral stimulus ● unconditioned stimulus unconditioned response conditioned response conditioned stimulus generalisation This type of conditioning refers to the idea that we obtain phobias through learning to associate something of which we originally had no fear towards (neutral stimulus) with something which triggers a fear, (unconditioned stimulus) to cause a fear response (unconditioned response), when paired the neutral stimulus has become the conditioned stimulus, evidently causing the individual to have a conditioned response. key study: Watson and Reynar, 'little albert' Little albert- Child shown a rat (ns), no reaction Child shown rat again then hears a loud bang (unconditioned stimulus) causing him to cry (unconditioned response), now when the child is shown a rat he cries straight away, this is due to the rat becoming the conditioned stimulus and therefore the child has a conditioned response upon the presence of the rat (crying). Generalisation is when the individual takes that one experience with the object or event and applies it to all similar objects and events. little albert displayed signs of stress when shown furry objects 4 Key words: ● reinforced punished negative reinforcement positive reinforcement ● ● ● ● avoidance operant conditioning is when the individuals behaviour is punished or reinforced (rewarded), the more a behaviour is reinforced the more likely it is the individual will display the behaviour again. This is true for both negative and positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is when the individual avoids the unpleasant situation, this leads to them feeling rewarded as they escaped the stress and anxiety enforcing the avoidance behaviour, however this causes them to keep avoiding the situation and never face it which may lead to day to day activities being disrupted. Unconditioned Stimulus Before Conditioning Conditioned Stimulus Unconditioned Response (Salivation) During Conditioning Unconditioned Response Neutral Stimulus No Response After Conditioning Conditioned Stimulus Conditioned Response tyonote • development of phobia through classical conditioning - association of fear/anxiety with neutral stimulus to produce conditioned response; assumes experience of traumatic event; generalisation fear to other similar objects; one trial learning Classical conditioning - a fear response is associated with a stimulus which should be neutral but which becomes a conditioned stimulus due to being paired with a 'threatening' stimulus. (Accept a diagram to illustrate this process). Acquisition of phobia. What they did: -Child shown a rat (ns), no reaction -Child shown rat again then hears a loud bang (unconditioned stimulus) causing him to cry (unconditioned response), -now when the child is shown a rat he cries straight away, this is due to the rat becoming the conditioned stimulus and maintenance of fear through operant conditioning - avoidance of phobic object/situation is negatively reinforcing; relief as reward/primary reinforcer. Accept oth valid points. OUTLINE OF WATSON & RAYNER'S RESEARCH INTO PHOBIA ACQUISITION What they found: 5 • Operant conditioning maintains the fear response. Avoidance behaviours strengthened through the reduction in unpleasant feelings. little albert displayed signs of stress when shown furry objects this is generalisation however if the phobia is not reinforced it can go extinct/ fade away therefore the child has a conditioned response upon the presence of the rat (crying). Detailed version of the study: The Little Albert Experiment (verywellmind.com) Video of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACSOI Generalisation: is when the individual takes that one experience with the object or event and applies it to all similar objects and events. Why it supports the behavioural explanation of phobia acquisition: demonstrates phobias can be acquired/learnt via the process of classical conditioning and therefore increases the validity of the behavioural explanation. + Research support: A strength of the behavioural explanation is that it is supported by scientific evidence, Watson and Rayner (1920) they had caused 'little albert' to have a phobia of rats, this was done as they presented a rat to the child whilst simultaneously banging a hammer and a iron bar together, creating a unconditioned response of fear, after repetition, the rat became a conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response in albert (fear) and caused him to have a phobia. This is a strength of the behavioural explanation of phobias because it demonstrates phobias can be acquired/ learnt through the process of classical conditioning, ergo increasing the validity of the behavioural explanation. Extinction: Although a conditioned association can be incredibly strong initially, it begins to fade if not reinforced - until it disappears completely. GENERAL EVALUATION OF THE BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION OF PHOBIAS + Practical application: 6 A strength of the behavioural explanation is that it has led to successful practical applications, for example, systematic desensitisation, a behavioural treatment for phobias, can be very effective, this claim is supported by Gilroy et al, Gilroy had followed up 42 patients whom had been treated for arachnophobia in three 45-minute sessions of systematic desensitisation, a control group was treated by relaxation without exposure, at both 3 months and 33 months after the treatment the group treated using systematic desensitisation were less fearful compared to the group treated using relaxation alone. This is a strength because as the treatment is based on the assumption of the approach and the treatment is effective, the approach must have at least some validity. Nature vs. nurture: The behavioural approach maintains the view that phobias are caused by learning and so result from nurture. This means that it favours the nurture side of the nature vs nurture approach debate, this is a limitation because it ignores any evidence which suggests that phobias are natural, e.g. evolutionary explanations of phobias. Evolutionary explanations of phobias maintain that some phobias- relating to snakes; spiders; the dark- are not learned but rather are natural, biological preparedness. This is due to them being sources of danger in our evolutionary past- ergo being afraid of them is only natural, not learned. If some phobias are 'natural’ then a nurture learning-based explanation cannot be completely valid. Does not explain all cases: - Ignores cognitive factors: A limitation of the behavioural explanation of phobias is that it overlooks cognitive explanations of phobia acquisition. The cognitive approach puts forward the claim that phobias develop due to irrational thoughts, for example, a person in a lift may think I could become trapped in here and suffocate' (an irrational thought), thoughts such as these may create anxiety and may trigger a phobia. In addition, cognitive therapies such as CBT are also used to treat phobias- in some cases more successfully than behavioural treatments, suggesting that the cognitive explanation must have some validity. The inability to consider plausible cognitive factors means that the two-process model provides only a limited explanation of phobia acquisition. KEY PAST PAPER QUESTIONS - SEE ALSO STUDY GUIDE 'A' LEVEL JUNE 2019 One explanation for phobias, including agoraphobia, is the two-process model. +/- Diathesis-stress explanation: 'A' LEVEL NOVEMBER 2020 Max has a phobia of box the sea. On a family holiday as a child, he was carried away by the tide and had to be rescued by a lifeguard. Now he has a family of his own, Max refuses to go on beach holidays. Discuss the two-process model of phobias. Refer to Max's phobia of the sea in your answer. [16 marks] (page 38 sg pl) 7 Outline one limitation of the two-process model. [2 marks] 'A' LEVEL SPECIMEN PAPER FIRST SET Kirsty is in her twenties and has had a phobia of balloons since one burst near her face when she was a little girl. Loud noises such as banging' and 'popping' cause Kirsty extreme anxiety, and she avoids situations such as birthday parties and weddings, where there might be balloons. Suggest how the behavioural approach might be used to explain Kirsty's phobia of balloons. [4 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL OCTOBER 2020 Stan has a phobia of lifts. He was stuck for three hours in a broken lift when he was young. He feels sick when he sees a lift and now he cannot use escalators or ride on roller coasters in case they break down. He feels calm when he uses the stairs. How could Stan's phobia be explained using the two-process model? [4 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL MAY 2019 Describe and evaluate the two-process model as an explanation of phobias. [8 marks] 89(pg 41 sg pt1) PAST PAPER QUESTIONS 2021 & 2022 – IF APPLICABLE NOTES ON THE KEY PAST PAPER QUESTIONS 2023 EXAMINATION: PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: THE BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH TO TREATING PHOBIAS - Systematic desensitisation, including relaxation and use of hierarchy; flooding THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE/THEORETICAL UNDERPINNING OF BEHAVIOURAL TREATMENTS FOR PHOBIAS If the individual is able to see that the phobia, in reality does not actually pose a threat then the fear and anxiety which is drawn from the phobia is/ will be reduced, and quite possibly reduced to nothing. 8 Overview: ● ● ● designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of classical conditioning if the suffer can relax in the presence of the phobic stimulus the individual is cured TREATMENT 1: SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION -. A new response is paired with phobic stimulus, relaxation instead of anxiety ergo counter conditioning - reciprocal inhibition- prevents the ability to feel two emotions at the same time e.g. afraid and calm Client is in control Works on their own time scale Generally, has low attrition rates/ high completion rates Generally Seen as less traumatic. Forms an anxiety hierarchy Eventually causing extinction Stage 1: Relaxation Patient is taught relaxation techniques e.g. meditation + Research support: Stage 2: Hierarchy -patient and therapist put together a list of situations relating to the phobic stimulus starting from least fearful to most fearful Behavior Think about a spider. Look at a photo of a spider. Look at a real spider in a closed box. Hold the box with the spider. Let a spider crawl on your desk Let a spider crawl on your shoe. Let a spider crawl on your pants leg. Let a spider crawl on your sleeve. Let a spider crawl on your bare arm. Fear rating 10 25 50 60 70 80 90 95 100 EVALUATION OF SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION AS A TREATMENT FOR PHOBIAS + Simple to use: 9 Stage 3: Exposure -taking across multiple sessions the individual is exposed to phobic stimulus whilst relaxed, starting from the bottom of the anxiety hierarchy gradually moving up, treatment can be deemed successful when individual can remain calm when on the high end of the anxiety hierarchy + No side-effects: - Ineffective for some people: A limitation of the systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias is that it Is not equally effective for everyone, especially children. This is because not everyone is able to master the relaxation techniques nor be able to face up to certain situations, ergo it will not be effective for these people. This is a limitation of systematic desensitization as it is not effective for everyone ergo it cannot treat everyone ergo making its use limited A strength of the behavioural approach to treating phobias using systematic desensitisation is that it is relatively fast and requires less effort on the patient's part compared to other treatments such as CBT. For example CBT requires a lot of time and effort to master the techniques which change problems/ dysfunctional thinking. This is a strength due to the less effort involved for the patients, ergo meaning more people are likely to keep using the treatments meaning, its more likely that it will be effective/ work. - Only works for some phobias: A limitation of systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias is that it only works with some phobias. Evidence has shown it is not effective with social phobias e.g., agoraphobia. This is a limitation of systematic desensitisation because, since it can only be used to treat some phobias, it is only of limited use. +/- Alternative treatments: TREATMENT 2: FLOODING Outline: -The individual is immediately exposed to the most fearful phobic stimulus, -there is no gradual build up in the anxiety hierarchy, Without the option of avoidance, the patient quickly learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless. This process is called extinction. - Flooding sessions can be up to 3 hours long but in many cases only one session is needed to cure the phobia. - When flooding is used to treat an individual with a phobia, the exposure to the object of the phobia can be conducted in vivo (i.e. actual exposure) or virtual 10 reality can be used. AO1 marks: • Immediate exposure to phobic stimulus; • Exhaustion of phobic response; • Prevention of avoidance • Until they are calm/anxiety has receded/fear is extinguished • Bombarded by fear; • Based on idea that anxiety will eventually subside (extinction) • In vivo / in vitro; EVALUATION OF FLOODING AS A TREATMENT FOR PHOBIAS - Only suitable for some phobias: + Cost effective: A strength of flooding is that it is at least as effective as other treatments for specific phobias and is therefore more cost effective. CBT and flooding had been compared by Ougrin, and it had been discovered that flooding is highly effective and quicker at removing some phobias, 1 2-3 hours session of flooding compared to 6-12 sessions of 1 hour of CBT. This is a strength as it means patients are free of their symptoms relatively quickly ergo the treatment is more cheaper and cost effective compared to CBT. Meaning flooding is a useful treatment for phobias. - Ethical issues: A limitation of flooding is that it is often a highly traumatic experience for the patient. Informed consent is obtained before A limitation of flooding is that it is less effective for more complex phobias such as social phobias. This may be due to social phobias containing cognitive aspect. E.g. on top of an anxiety response sufferers of social phobias tend to experience unpleasant thoughts about a given situation, in this situation cognitive therapy may be more beneficial as they are more aimed to tackle negative thinking. This is a limitation of flooding because it is not an effective treatment for all phobias +/- Alternative treatments: 11 the process begins, however it can be argued that the patients have little control over the actions of the therapist, moreover the patient may feel pressured by the therapist to see the treatment through. This is a limitation because the therapy may be considered unethical as it causes the patient distress, in addition time and money can be wasted if patients decide to drop out, these individual differences mean that flooding is not a suitable treatment for all people. SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION & Systematic desensitisation (SD) might be more successful as it allows people to make progress in small steps/in their own time scale rather than that required by the therapist - client in control FLOODING: POINTS OF COMPARISON • SD generally has low attrition rates/high completion rates because the gradual process of the therapy allows respite the relaxation is pleasant. Whilst flooding has high attrition rates/ higher attrition rates as it can often be seen as traumatic for the patient. • SD may be less traumatic leading to more people completing the treatment, and suitable for a wider range of clients SD can be seen as more expensive and time consuming then flooding e.g. 6-12 session of 1 hour sessions, compared 1 session of 2-3 session KEY PAST PAPER QUESTIONS – SEE ALSO STUDY GUIDE 'A' LEVEL JUNE 2017 Outline one or more ways in which behaviourists treat phobias. [6 marks] 'A' LEVEL SPECIMEN PAPER THIRD SET A mother and father are discussing their 10-year-old son's reluctance to go to a friend's birthday party at the local swimming pool. 'I really think he might have a fear of water', says his mum. 'I thought I might just sit with him in the car at the swimming pool car park until he calms down. Then we might go into the viewing area and watch the others. Perhaps then he might be ready to go in the pool'. 'Nonsense', replies his dad. The only way to deal with fear is to face it; we should literally throw him in at the deep end!' 12 Discuss two behavioural treatments for phobias. Refer to the conversation above in your answer. [16 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL OCTOBER 2020 Briefly outline flooding as a treatment for phobias. [2 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL MAY 2017 1. Briefly outline how flooding might be used to treat a phobia. [2 marks] 2. Briefly outline how systematic desensitisation might be used to treat a phobia. [2 marks] 3. Briefly discuss one reason why systematic desensitisation might be a more successful treatment for phobias than flooding. [2 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL MAY 2016 Saira has a fear of cats. Her fear stops her from going anywhere she thinks she might see a cat. Explain how Saira's phobia could be treated using systematic desensitisation. [4 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL SPECIMEN PAPER FIRST SET Outline and evaluate the behavioural approach to treating phobias. [12 marks] [16 marks] 'A/S' LEVEL SPECIMEN PAPER SECOND SET Tommy is six years old and has a phobia about birds. His mother is worried because he now refuses to go outside. She says, 'Tommy used to love playing in the garden and going to the park to play football with his friends, but he is spending more and more time watching TV and on the computer.' A psychologist has suggested treating Tommy's fear of birds using systematic desensitisation. 1. Explain how this procedure could be used to help Tommy overcome his phobia. [4 marks] 2. Explain why systematic desensitisation might be more ethical than using flooding to treat Tommy's phobia. [2 marks] PAST PAPER QUESTIONS 2021 & 2022 – IF APPLICABLE 13 NOTES ON THE KEY PAST PAPER QUESTIONS SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH TO EXPLAINING AND TREATING PHOBIAS 14 LINKS TO 'APPROACHES' AND 'ISSUES & DEBATES' Approaches 15 Issues & Debates