Behavioural Approach to Explaining Phobias: Two-process Model (AQA A Level Psychology)

Two-process model: classical & operant conditioning

• The Two-Process Model (TPM) assumes that behaviour is learned through experience via environmental stimuli

• Behaviourism is key to understanding the TPM

• The key assumptions and  mechanisms of behaviourism are:

  • Behaviour can be conditioned (learned) via classical conditioning and operant conditioning

  • Classical conditioning explains the development of phobias and operant conditioning explains the maintenance of phobias

  • Classical conditioning involves the transformation of a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus e.g. the bell rung by Pavlov which produced salivation in dogs 

  • Classical conditioning is learning by association e.g. the association of the bell with food (which is the unconditioned stimulus as dogs - and people - do not have to learn to want to eat food)

  • Operant conditioning involves the role of reinforcement in behaviour e.g. the rats in Skinner’s experiments learnt to tap a lever in order to be rewarded with food (positive reinforcement) or to tap a lever in order to avoid an electric shock (negative reinforcement)

  • Operant conditioning is learning via consequences

• The TPM states that behaviours (such as phobias) are originally learned via the mechanisms of classical conditioning and are then maintained via the mechanisms of operant conditioning

• Classical conditioning is the starting point of the origin of a phobia according to the TPM

• An example of how classical conditioning may be responsible for the onset of a phobia is as follows:

  • Ivan has no real feelings towards cats: he neither likes nor dislikes them so cats are the neutral stimulus (NS)

  • Every time Ivan visits his aunt her cat scratches him (this is the unconditioned stimulus), which Ivan finds frightening and unpleasant (this is the unconditioned response)

  • After a few months Ivan finds that all cats now induce fear in him, thus all cats are now the conditioned stimulus and Ivan’s fear of them is the conditioned response

  • Ivan’s fear of one specific cat has now generalised to all cats i.e. he has a cat phobia (ailurophobia) 

• An example of how operant conditioning may be responsible for the maintenance of a phobia is as follows:

  • Ivan goes out of his way to avoid cats:

    • He stops visiting his aunt

    • He turns the television off if a cat appears on a programme

    • He walks a different way to work so that he won’t pass a house in which a ginger cat sits in the window

  • Ivan’s avoidance of cats is an example of negative reinforcement as Ivan is taking steps to keep away from the phobic stimulus

  • Ivan’s avoidance of cats brings with it feelings of relief (his reward) which is an example of positive reinforcement, thus he will repeat the behaviours that bring this reward by continuing to avoid cats, resulting in his phobia persisting

Evaluation of the two-process model explanation of phobias

Strengths

• The case study of Little Albert (Watson & Rayner, 1920) offers research support for the development of phobias

  • Little Albert (9-month-old baby) showed no anxiety or fear when initially presented with a white rat

  • As part of the conditioning process, when the white rat was presented to Albert it was accompanied by a loud, frightening noise (made by banging an iron bar close to Albert's head)

  • The noise (UCS) created a fear response (UCR) in Albert

  • The pairing of the rat (NS) with the noise (UCS) initially created the fear response

  • Albert started to display fear when he saw the rat (NS) without the noise (UCS)

  • The rat became the CS producing the CR of fear

    • Thus the findings suggest the phobia was established via classical conditioning

• The TPM sets out the mechanisms via which phobias are conditioned, resulting in the development of  therapies such as systematic desensitisation which work to reverse this process to successfully treat phobias

  • This means the TPM has useful application to treating phobias

Limitations

• The TPM only focuses on conditioning as a determinant of phobia development which does not account for phobias which may have an evolutionary origin, e.g.:

  • fear of snakes (snakes may harm or kill humans thus it makes sense to fear them)

  • heights (falling from a height will result in injury or death)

  • the dark (an enemy or predator may attack at night)

• The TPM cannot explain why some people may have continuous aversive experiences and yet do not develop a phobia, e.g.:

  • people who were physically punished at school who do not develop school phobia (scolionophobia)

  • someone who was bitten by a dog as a child who does not develop cynophobia