– The behavioural approach emphasises the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour.
THE TWO-PROCESS MODEL
– In 1960 Hobart Mowrer proposed the two-process model based on the behavioural approach to phobias.
– This starts with that phobias are acquired (learned in the first place) by classical conditioning and then continue because of operant conditioning.
ACQUISITION BY CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
– Classical conditioning involves learning to associate something of which we already have no fear (neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear response (unconditioned stimulus).
LITTLE ALBERT
In 1920 John Watson created a phobia in a 9-month-old baby called ‘Little Albert’.
– Albert showed no unusual anxiety at the start of the study.
– When shown a white rat he tried to play with it.
– However, the experimenters then set out to give Albert a phobia.
– Whenever the rat was presented they made a loud, frightening noise by banging an iron bar close to Albert’s ear.
– This noise is an unconditioned stimulus which creates an unconditioned response of fear.
– When the rat a neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are encountered close together in time the NS becomes associated with the UCS and both now produce the fear response
– Albert became frightened when he saw the rat.
– The rat is now a conditioned response.
– This condition then generalised to similar objects.
– For example, he displayed distress to the sight of a non-white rabbit, a fur coat and Watson wearing a Santa Claus beard made out of cotton balls.
MAINTENANCE BY OPERANT CONDITIONING
– Responses acquired by classical conditioning usually tend to decline over time.
– However, phobias are often long lasting.
– Mowrer had explained this as the result of operant conditioning.
– This takes place when out behaviour is reinforced or punished.
– Reinforcement tends to increase the frequency of a behaviour.
– This is true of both negative and positive reinforcement.
– Mowrer suggested that whenever we avoid a phobic stimulus we successfully escape the fear and anxiety that we would have suffered if we had remained there.
– This reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour and so the phobia is maintained.
– This is an example of negative reinforcement.
EVALUATION OF THE TWO PROCESS MODEL
STRENGTHS
Good explanation
– The theory went beyond Watson and Rayner’s concept of classical conditioning.
– It explained how phobias could be maintained over time and this had important implications for therapies because it explains why patients need to be exposed to their feared stimulus.
– Once a patient is prevented from practising their avoidance behaviour the behaviour ceases to be reinforced and so it declines.
– The application to therapy is a strength of the two-process model.
The Importance of Classical Conditioning
– The two process model is supported by research asking people about their phobias
– People with phobias often do recall a specific incident when their phobia appeared (eg being bit by a dog)
– This demonstrates the role of classical conditioning in developing phobias, but other processes may be involved in their maintenance
LIMITATIONS
Incomplete Explanation
– Some aspects of phobic behaviour that require further explaining
– In 2007 Bounton points out, that evolutionary factors probably have an important role in phobias but the two-factor theory does not mention this.
– For example, we easily acquire phobias of things that have been a source of danger in our evolutionary past, such as fears of snakes or the dark and this is called biological preparedness.
– However, it is quite rare to develop a fear of cars or guns, which are actually much more dangerous to most of us today than spiders or snakes.
– Presumably this is because they have only existed very recently and so we are not biologically prepared to learn fear responses towards them
– This shows that there is more to acquiring a phobia than conditioning and this is a problem for the Two-process model