GCSE Psychology

Topic D Why do we have phobias?Introduction

What will we learn?• What is a phobia?• What causes phobias - learning CC, SLT or evolution• Are phobias controlled by our biology or our environment?• How do people develop phobias and how can they be removed?• The ethics of using animals in research• The use of questionnaires in research • How phobias are treated• The job of a clinical psychologist • The ethics of two possible treatments for phobias – flooding and systematic

desensitisation• Do phobias differ between cultures?

Names of different phobias

Different phobias have different causes

Learning objectives

• To learn about classical conditioning.• To learn the meanings of the terms

‘association’ and ‘generalisation’.• To look at how classical conditioning explains

phobias.

TOP 100

Find the funniest Phobia

• This activity will be judged on how much it makes me laugh!

Explaining Phobias

Classical conditioning• Pavlov’s dogs• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoLxEN54ho

Classical conditioning and phobias

Read pages 130-131 in Edexcel GCSE Psychology

• Cut and Stick activity – use page 130 to help you. (or see next slide)

Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)

Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)

Bell: Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Salivation: Conditioned response (CR)

Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Before conditioning

During conditioning

After conditioning

PairingBell: Neutral stimulus (NS)

Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)

How does it work?How does it work?

Classical conditioning and phobias

1) Define classical conditioning.2) Describe the conditioning process in terms

of the neutral stimulus (NS), the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the unconditioned response (UCR) , the conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response (CR).

Classical conditionings and phobias

4) Using an example, explain how classical conditioning can explain phobias.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE 5) What is generalisation?6) Outline Watson and Rayner’s (1920) experiment

on Little Albert.7) What did they find?8) Complete the story board on Watson and Raynor

(1920)

Can phobias be changed?

8) What is extinction?9) Can a phobia be changed? Explain your

answer.10) What is one trial learning?11) Review –

complete questions 1-3 from the bottom of

page 131.

Homework

• Look back over your notes about social learning theory (SLT) from Topic C.

• How would SLT be used to explain phobias? Write three sentences to justify your answer.