ABSTRACT
Most of psychology is concerned with looking for “laws” of behaviour that can be applied to everyone irrespective of culture, upbringing, etc. Behavioural (or learning) psychologists are interested in ways in which the environment we live in affects our behaviour. Therefore, they examine ways in which we can condition behaviour in animals and humans using things such as learning by association. As a result, if we learn this way then we can un-learn behaviours in the same way! The area of focus here is how we develop phobias and then how we can help people to overcome them. What's in this Unit?
The specification lists the following things that you will need to be able to do for the examination:
Distinguish between typical and atypical fear
Outline common types of phobia: agoraphobia, social phobia, school phobia, acrophobia and arachnophobia
Distinguish between an unconditioned stimulus, a neutral stimulus and a conditioned stimulus
Distinguish between an unconditioned response and a conditioned response
Use the process of classical conditioning to explain the onset of phobias
Explain the criticisms of the behaviourist theory of atypical behaviour
Consider evolutionary theory as an alternative theory with specific reference to preparedness
Describe and outline the limitations of the Watson and Rayner (1920) study
Apply research into atypical behaviour, e.g. behaviour therapy
