P2: Explain different psychological approaches to health practice and managing phobias.
P2: Explain different psychological approaches to health practice: In this assignment I will be explain how two different psychological approaches understand and manage phobias. The phobia I will be using to give examples is the phobia of needles. The Behaviourist Perspective: This perspective can be used to get over a phobia by using Skinner’s theory, Operant conditioning. Operant conditioning can be used when trying to shape someone’s behaviour on something. This is when you are trying to create a new behaviour of something and getting rid of an unhelpful behaviour. Phobia of a needle: If a patient wanted to get rid of their phobia of needles they can do this in two ways, either with positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. For example, their first step of getting rid of the phobia may be holding a needle and if they have done this then they may get rewarded by treating themselves or getting praises from someone (positive reinforcement). Whereas if they didn’t hold the needle then they may get scolded by someone which may leave them feeling upset and make them think they are not capable of holding a needle; this may make them want to prove the person wrong and then hold the pin (negative reinforcement). Their next step may be to hold an injection and putting it slowing into a doll to show how the nurses will be doing it safely. If they do this then
Describe ways in which behavioural learning theory has been used to eliminate snake phobias, and suggest some new ways to treat this problem. In addition, discuss why people tend to be prone to certain kinds of phobias more than others.
Describe ways in which behavioural learning theory has been used to eliminate snake phobias, and suggest some new ways to treat this problem. In addition, discuss why people tend to be prone to certain kinds of phobias more than others. A phobia can be described as an irrational fear or dread of an object or situation, this fear is accompanied by a persistent and intense need to flee or avoid this object or situation. Behaviourists follow the reasoning that these phobias are caused by 'maladaptive learning' and that in order to eliminate these, new behaviours must be learnt to replace them. The theories concerning phobias relate to John Locke's (1690) idea that "fears are produced by the chance association of ideas" two events that are unrelated become associated with each other in the mind and a connection is made, this maladaptive learning process produces a phobic response. This essay intends to look at the behavioural learning theory in relation to phobias and will discuss the acquisition of phobias due to classical and operant conditioning, as knowing how phobias are acquired is vital to knowing how to eliminate them. It will use these theories to show how extinction, systematic desensitisation and implosion therapy can eliminate snake phobias. This essay will also discuss the Preparedness theory and how this explains why some phobias are more prominent than
Discuss the Relationship between Stress, Anxiety, Habits and Phobias and Describe How You Would Treat these Issues with Hypnotherapy
________________ Discuss the Relationship between Stress, Anxiety, Habits and Phobias and Describe How You Would Treat these Issues with Hypnotherapy In this essay I shall seek to define stress, anxiety, habits and phobias. I shall explore their individual attributes and symptoms and how they may be related. I will also explain methods of treatment for such neurotic conditions, as I have seen fit and the ethical issues that I believe would need to be considered. Stress and anxiety are often coined together, almost into one phrase; where there is one, you will find the other. However there is a distinction between the two and as a therapist it is crucial that one is aware of this. Stress is a response to an external stimulant, resulting in feelings of frustration, anger and/or indeed, anxiety. Stress is in fact a biological reaction to outside pressures. These pressures can vary from work, family, or social changes, to simple changes in one’s environment, to major life changes. All these situations stimulate the age old “fight or flight” response, thereby pumping the body with adrenaline and heightening the senses in preparation to respond. Of course this is not such a negative reaction, indeed in evolutionary terms it would have been this very reaction that has allowed the human race to continue to exist and flourish, however, there is a point at which this
TO WHAT EXTENT IS BLOOD-INJURY PHOBIA DISTINCT FROM THE OTHER SPECIFIC PHOBIAS AND HOW DOES THIS INFLUENCE THE CLINICAL MANAGEMENT OF THE DISORDER?
STUDENT ESSAY No: 30 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY TERM 2 25 FEBRUARY 2008 TO WHAT EXTENT IS BLOOD-INJURY PHOBIA DISTINCT FROM THE OTHER SPECIFIC PHOBIAS AND HOW DOES THIS INFLUENCE THE CLINICAL MANAGEMENT OF THE DISORDER? WORK COUNT: 2191 TO WHAT EXTENT IS BLOOD-INJURY PHOBIA DISTINCT FROM THE OTHER SPECIFIC PHOBIAS AND HOW DOES THIS INFLUENCE THE CLINICAL MANAGEMENT OF THE DISORDER? Specific phobia is defined as an excessive or irrational fear of a place, object or situation, which is avoided at all cost or endured with intense distress and interferes significantly with a person's normal daily routine (APA, 1994). The DSM-IV recognises four subtypes in specific phobias: situational type (e.g. flying by aeroplane), natural environment type (e.g. storms, height), animal type (e.g. spiders), blood-injury (BI) type (e.g. blood test, injury) and 'other' type (e.g. loud sounds). The category of BI phobia is characterised by a persistent fear that is excessive or unreasonable, this is triggered by direct or indirect exposure to blood, injuries and similar stimuli. The BI-related stimuli are either avoided or endured only with intense anxiety (APA, 1994). In addition, BI phobics are liable to faint in the presence of blood or injury (Page, 1994). Factor analysis of specific phobia subtypes found evidence to suggest that situational and natural environment phobia types can be
Describe ways in which behavioural learning theory has been used to eliminate snake phobias, and suggest some new ways to treat this problem.
Describe ways in which behavioural learning theory has been used to eliminate snake phobias, and suggest some new ways to treat this problem. In addition, discuss why people tend to be prone to certain kinds of phobias (e.g. snakes, heights) more than others (e.g. cars, electrical appliances) Behavioural learning theories consist of two main forms of learning, classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning. I will briefly be looking at both types of learning and then talk about phobias and the exposure techniques used to eliminate them. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov demonstrated classical conditioning in his experiments with dogs. Pavlov rung a bell every time he gave the dogs food and the sight of the food would make them salivate. Eventually the dogs associated the bell ringing with food, so that the bell alone would make them salivate. He explained that there are two types of reflexes, conditioned and unconditioned. Unconditioned reflexes are those that are innate whereas conditioned reflexes were acquired through conditioning. Unconditioned reflexes are based on a connection between unconditioned stimulus (US) and unconditioned response (UR). In Pavlov's experiments, the unconditioned stimulus was the dogs' sight of food and the unconditioned response was the dogs salivating. Similarly, condition reflexes are based on a connection between conditioned stimulus (CS) and
The researcher is studying anxiety disorders, more specifically phobias and whether a person's fear of a creature is correlated with the person's fear of the creature's ugliness.
ABSTRACT The researcher is studying anxiety disorders, more specifically phobias and whether a person's fear of a creature is correlated with the person's fear of the creature's ugliness. This study is similar to that of Bennett-Levy and Marteau's 1984 study. The aim of the study is to establish whether there is a correlated link between the fearfulness of the creature and its ugliness. The hypothesis for the study is that there will be a positive correlation between the fearfulness and the ugliness of a creature. However, the null hypothesis states that there will be no significant correlation between fearfulness and ugliness and that any observed difference is due to chance alone. Ten participants, five of whom are males and the other five are females, between the ages of 16 and 18, who are students in the Sixth Form of the researchers local comprehensive. They were required to fill out a questionnaire containing a list of 10 creatures. They are asked then to rate their fear of the listed creatures; they are also required to rate how fearful they are of that creature's ugliness. The participants were selected through an opportunity sample. The results, which were 0.95, which the researcher calculated from the use of Spearman's Rho, indicated that there was a very significant correlation between the two factors at a significance of 0.05. INTRODUCTION For
Behaviourist And Cognitive Approach To Learning and Phobias
How helpful is Bruce & Young's (1986) theory of face recognition in explaining the everyday experience of remembering faces and forgetting the names of people that we know? In this essay I will be discussing face perception and in particular Bruce and Young's (1986) theory on face recognition. I will discuss their theories of recognizing people's faces and forgetting the names of people who we know. I will discuss how helpful their theories are in understanding face perception. Face recognition allows us to perform the highly adaptive task of identifying individuals and picking up information from their expressions. This is an important social function as it allows us to identify people in our society, create relationships with these people and also be able to non verbally communicate how we feel through facial expressions and gestures. (Bruce 1994 cited by Martin, G.N.(Ed.) et al., 2010, p. 222) Identifying a face involves a number of stages, including recognising the face as familiar, working out where we have seen it before and putting a name to it. Failure at one stage causes particular problems in the process of identification. Bruce and Young's (1986) came up with a cognitive model which describes face perception. This model shows how Bruce and Young's theory splits face recognition into different functions. The first stage of their theory describes how the face is
In this essay I will evaluate and explain the Social Learning Theory (SLT), which explains aggressiveness from a behaviourism point of view. The opposite point of view is the biological point of view; they believe that aggressiveness stems from genetic ma
In this essay I will evaluate and explain the Social Learning Theory (SLT), which explains aggressiveness from a behaviourism point of view. The opposite point of view is the biological point of view; they believe that aggressiveness stems from genetic make-up. Together these two views can be seen as the nature and nurture debate; according to social psychologists aggression is learnt (nurture), from the view of the biological psychologists they believe aggression is innate (nature). Bandura and Walters's believed that aggression is learnt through indirect and direct reinforcement; however they did not dismiss the biological views on aggression and said that the behaviourist approach looks at how and when we aggress. The social learning theory has many research study's, the most popular being Bandura's study with the bobo doll. Bandura has children observing a model who interacted with the bobo doll, either aggressively or non-aggressively. The children were then 'frustrated' by taken to another room filled with toys, but they were told it was an error and had to leave. The children were then left alone with the doll whilst Bandura observed their behaviour. Bandura found that children who had observed the aggressive model would be aggressive towards the doll, and the children who watched the non-aggressive model either played with the doll in a non-aggressive manner or
Outline and evaluate two or more explanations of the development of gender identity and/or gender roles
Outline and evaluate two or more explanations of the development of gender identity and/or gender roles The social learning theory (SLT) explanation of gender would suggest that gender identity and roles are learnt behaviours, rather than innate. It would explain the development of gender identity and roles as being somewhat intertwined; that is, they are both learnt through similar processes. The processes through which this gender behaviour is learnt are direct tuition, modelling and vicarious reinforcement. Direct tuition is carrying out behaviours that are rewarded and avoiding behaviours that are punished, and it is likely that children who act in a gender-appropriate manner are likely to receive rewards for it ("who's a big boy?" or "that's my princess", for example), whereas those who act in a gender-inappropriate manner are likely to be punished. This is supported by Fagot & Leinbach, who found in their longitudinal study that parents rewarded gender-appropriate behaviour and discouraged gender-inappropriate behaviour, and furthermore that the parents that used more direct tuition had children with more gender stereotyped attitudes. This suggests that direct tuition not only influences how children act with respect to their gender, but also what their expectations of others are in terms of their gender. Modelling is the process of identification and imitation, whereby
Outline and evaluate two social psychological theories of aggression
Outline and evaluate two social psychological theories of aggression. (24 marks) Bandura believed that the potential for aggression may be biological, but the expression of aggression is learned. The social-learning theory (SLT) states that learning occurs through observation of a model. Imitation of an observed behaviour is more likely if the model is someone we aspire to or identify with or if they are rewarded. This is vicarious reinforcement. A child forms a mental representation of an event, including the possible rewards or punishments of the behaviour. When a child imitates an aggressive behaviour, they gain direct experience, and the outcome of the behaviour influences the value of aggression for the child. If they are rewarded they are more likely to repeat the behaviour. Children develop self-efficacy, which is confidence in their ability to successful carry out a behaviour. If aggressive behaviour is unsuccessful for a child, they will have a lower sense of self-efficacy so are less likely to behave this way in future. There is strong empirical evidence to support the SLT. For example, Bandura's Bobo doll studies found that children who observed a model behaving aggressively to the Bobo doll behaved more aggressively than those who observed a non-aggressive model and also imitated specific aggressive acts. This supports the theories claims that behaviour can be
