Anxiety and fear-related disorders: explanations

Psychology A2 · Clinical Psychology. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

The genetic explanation says a tendency to a phobia is inherited. Öst (1992) found that many people with blood or injection phobia had a close relative with the same phobia. Families also share experiences, so this fits genes but does not prove them.

The behavioural explanation is classical conditioning: a neutral object is paired with something frightening and then causes fear by itself. Watson and Rayner (1920) paired a white rat with a loud noise, and Little Albert came to fear the rat.

The psychodynamic explanation says a phobia hides an unconscious conflict. Freud (1909) argued that Little Hans feared his father during the Oedipus complex and displaced that fear onto horses.

Rules to remember

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) gives an unconditioned response (UCR) without learning.
Neutral stimulus + UCS, paired repeatedly: the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS) and gives a conditioned response (CR).
Little Albert: UCS = loud noise from striking a steel bar; CS = white rat; CR = fear of the rat.
Stimulus generalisation: Albert's fear spread to similar things such as a rabbit and a fur coat.
Displacement: an emotion is moved from its real target onto a safer substitute.
Little Hans: a case study with data collected mainly by his father, a supporter of Freud, so bias is likely.
Genetic and psychodynamic explanations are both deterministic.

Common mistake

Students name the feared object as the unconditioned stimulus. The object starts as a neutral stimulus and becomes the conditioned stimulus; the UCS is the thing that naturally causes fear.

Worked example

A boy is stung by a wasp while eating in a garden. He now feels panic when he hears any buzzing insect. Identify the UCS, the CS and the CR, and name the process that explains his reaction to other insects.

The painful sting causes fear without learning, so the sting is the UCS.
The wasp, with its buzz, was neutral before and was paired with the sting, so it is the CS.
The panic he now feels at the buzz is the CR.
Fear of other buzzing insects, which are similar to the CS, is stimulus generalisation.

Answer: UCS = sting, CS = wasp or its buzz, CR = panic; the spread to other insects is stimulus generalisation.

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