Phobic Disorders - Behavioural Explanations of Phobic Disorders

AO1	AO2
The behavioural approach proposes that phobias are acquired through learning. Social Learning Theory – Phobias may be acquired thought modelling the behaviour of other. This theory is based on vicarious learning, which is learning by watching others.	Determinist - Behavioural view suggests that traumatic experiences lead to phobias. The evidence suggests, however that phobias are not inevitable.
	Social Learning Support - An experiment by Bandura and Rosenthal (1966) supported the social learning explanation. In the experiment, a model apparently experienced pain every time a buzzer sounded. Later on, participants who observed this showed an emotional reaction to the buzzer, demonstrating an acquired ‘fear’ response.
Classical Conditioning - Fears are acquired when an individual associates a neutral stimulus with a fear response. The case study of Little Albert can support this approach. Little Albert associated a loud noise with fluffy white objects, resulting in a fear of fluffy white objects such as a white rat. Operant Conditioning – Mowrer (1947) – proposed that learning phobias was a two stage process. The first stage is classical conditioning, then in a second stage, operant conditioning occurs. The avoidance of the phobic stimulus reduces fear and is thus reinforcing.	Little Albert - A case study, so not generalisable to the wider population. Furthermore it was an unethical study, as Little Albert was not protected from physical or psychological harm.
	People with phobias often recall a specific incident when their phobia appeared. This supports the behavioural explanation of phobias, however not everyone who has a phobia can recall such an incident. It is possible that such incidents have occurred, but have been forgotten.