GCSE Psychology
Topic D Why do we have phobias?
Introduction
What will we learn?
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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)
How does it work?
Before conditioning
Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)
Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)
During conditioning
Pairing
Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)
Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)
After conditioning
Bell: Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Salivation: Conditioned response (CR)
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.