Classical and Operant Conditioning

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Describe and Evaluate One Therapy Based on Classical Conditioning and One Therapy Based on Operant Conditioning.

Behavioural therapies emerged in the 1950s. The main assumption of the behavioural view is that abnormal behaviour is acquired in the same way as normal behaviour, through the principles of Classical and Operant Conditioning. Behavioural therapy is usually targets at specific, well-delineated anxiety disorders such as phobias and compulsions.

One therapy that is used through Classical Conditioning is Systematic Desensitisation. Classical Conditioning is learning that occurs through association. Systematic Desensitisation is used for people with phobias as it de-conditions phobias using relaxation and gradual contact. Individuals might learn that their feared stimulus was not so fearful after all if they could only re-experience the feared stimulus – but the anxiety it creates blocks such recovery. This is overcome by introducing the feared stimulus gradually. In this type of behavioural therapy, based on the principle of counter-conditioning, a fearful person imagines a series of progressively more fearsome situations while he or she is deeply relaxed. The responses of relaxation and fear are incompatible, and the fear is eventually dispelled.

The use of Systematic Desensitisation was first developed by Wolpe in the 1950s. Systematic Desensitisation enables individuals to overcome their anxieties by learning to relax n the presence of stimuli that once made them unbearably nervous and afraid. Wolpe’s basic idea was to replace one response (fear) with another (relaxation). This is particularly useful for treating psychological problems in which anxiety is the main difficulty – for example phobias, shyness etc.

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The mode of action of Systematic Desensitisation is that in the early days of Systematic Desensitisation, patients would learn to confront their feared situations. They would gradually overcome their fears by learning to relax in the presence of objects or images that would normally arouse anxiety. Today, this is not the case, the therapists ask the subject to imagine the presence of the feared stimulus rather than actually presenting it.  

Systematic Desensitisation typically involves steps. First, patients are taught how to relax their muscles. Then the therapist and patient construct a hierarchy, the patient gradually works their ...

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Overall, there is a lot of good material in this essay and it is accurately described. There is a lack of balance though - too much description of the therapies and not enough commentary linking the brief evaluative points together into a discussion. The structure is a little weak and repetitive in the first half. So 3 stars.