Explanations of
dysfunctional behaviour
G543
Different approaches have different
assumptions about db
– Behavioural
 Db is learnt by conditioning or social learning
– Biological
 Db has genetic cause or malformation of brain
structures
– Cognitive
 Problem with internal processing of information
Different approaches have different
assumptions about db
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Using these three areas can you explain the following
phobias using each approach:
Fear of a specific object or situation such as: –
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Arachnophobia – Fear of spiders
Claustrophobia – Fear of enclosed spaces
Aerophobia – Fear of flying
Acrophobia – Fear of heights
Alektorophobia – Fear of chickens
Androphobia – Fear of men
Carnophobia – Fear of meat
Emetophobia – Fear of vomiting
Phobophobia – Fear of phobias!
Behavioural Explanations
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Behaviourists argue that abnormal behaviour is
learnt in the same way that all behaviour is
learnt
There are 3 learning theories that provide us
with
explanations for phobias:
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Social Learning theory
Watson and Raynor (1920) – Little
Albert and the White Rat
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Operant conditioning is learning from the
consequences of actions.
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Actions which have a good outcome through positive
reinforcement (reward),will be repeated
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Actions where there is negative reinforcement (the
removal of something bad), will be repeated
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Actions where there is no reinforcement tend to die out
or be extinguished
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Operant Conditioning - Skinner
Positive Reinforcement
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If someone is rewarded for showing a phobic
reaction this could perpetrate the behaviour.
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E.g. A child who is frightened by a barking dog
may get cuddles from their parents and
continues with this response every time they see
a dog.
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The pattern of behaviour becomes entrenched
and is by definition unreasonable
Negative reinforcement
When we get anxious around phobic
stimuli heights, needles etc we avoid
them.
 This prevents the anxiety and acts as
negative reinforcement.
 Again the behaviour becomes entrenched.
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Operant Conditioning and Phobias
Behavioural Explanations
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These may operate alone or in conjunction
with each
other to explain the development of a
phobia
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Can you explain how these could cause
any disorders in the DSM or ICD?
Watson, J.B., & Rayner, R.
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Watson theorised,
emotional responses exist
in us because we have
been conditioned to
respond emotionally to
certain stimuli in the
environment. ( We learn
our emotional reactions).
Watson believed that all
human behavior was a
product of learning and
conditioning.
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Most psychologists, as
well as public opinion in
general, were not ready
to accept these new ideas
So Watson set out to
demonstrate that
emotions could be
experimentally
conditioned
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Watson theorised that if a
stimulus that
automatically produces a
certain emotion in you
(such as fear) is
repeatedly experienced at
the same moment as
something else, it will
become associated in
your brain with the fear
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We are not born to fear
rats, such fears are
learned through
conditioning
This formed the
theoretical basis involving
a subject named “Little
Albert”
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The subject, Albert, was
recruited for this study at 9
months
In order to see if Albert was
afraid of certain stimuli, he
was presented with a white
rat, a rabbit, an other white
furry objects.
At no time did this infant
ever show fear in any
situation.
To determine if a fear
reaction could be produced
in Albert, a steel bar was
struck with a hammer behind
him. This noise startled and
frightened him and made
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Every time the white rat
came near Albert, he would
hear the loud noise and it
would frighten him. This was
repeated with other white
furry objects (rabbit) This
proved that the emotion of
fear could be conditioned
After 31 days (rest period),
he was presented again with
the white rat and was still
very afraid( learned
emotional response persisted
over time)
Terminology
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Unconditioned Stimulus (US) - a stimulus that evokes an
unconditioned response without any prior conditioning
(no learning needed for the response to occur).
b) Unconditioned Response (UR) - an unlearned
reaction/response to an unconditioned stimulus that
occurs without prior conditioning.
c) Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - a previously neutral
stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the
capacity to evoke a conditioned response.
d) Conditioned Response (CR) - a learned reaction to a
conditioned stimulus that occurs because of prior
conditioning.
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a)
b)
Watson’s Fundamental goals
in this experiment:
To demonstrate that the
Freudian conception of
psychology, that our behavior
stems from unconscious
processes, was wrong.
To demonstrate that all
human behavior stems from
learning and conditioning.
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This study proved that
emotional behavior could be
conditioned through simple
stimulus response techniques
and also launched behaviorism
Their main point was that they
had demonstrated with little
Albert that emotional
disturbances in adults cannot
always be attributed to sexual
traumas in childhood, as the
Freudian view was commonly
interpreted
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Fear in its extreme form,
can produce serious
negative consequences
known as phobias
Many psychologists
believed that phobias are
conditioned much like
Little Albert’s fear of furry
animals
Watson’s research has
been incorporated into
many recent studies
about the origins and
treatments of phobias
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Kendler, Karkowski, and
Prescott (1999)- Evidence
that the development of
phobias may include a
substantial genetic
component.
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“Give me a dozen healthy infants, wellformed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in, and I'll guarantee to
take any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might
select–a doctor, lawyer, artist, merchantchief, and, yes, even into a beggar-man
and thief, regardless of his talents,
tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of
his ancestors.” [Watson, 1924, p. 10]
Stimulus Generalization
In addition to demonstrating that emotional
responses could be conditioned in humans,
Watson and Raynor also observed that stimulus
generalisation had occurred.
 After conditioning, Albert feared not just the
white rat, but a wide variety of similar white
objects as well.
 His fear included other furry objects including
Raynor's fur coat and Watson wearing a Santa
Claus beard.
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Criticisms of the Little Albert
Experiment
While the experiment is one of psychology's most
famous and is included in nearly every introductory
psychology course, it has also been criticised widely
for several reasons.
 First, the experimental design and process was not
carefully constructed.
 Watson and Raynor did not develop an object means
to evaluate Albert's reactions, instead relying on their
own subjective interpretations.
 Secondly, the experiment also raises many ethical
concerns.
 The Little Albert experiment could not be conducted
by today's standards because it would be unethical.
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What Ever Happened to Little
Albert?
The question of what happened to Little
Albert has long been one of psychology's
mysteries.
 Watson and Raynor were unable to attempt
to eliminate the boy's conditioned fear
because he moved with his mother shortly
after the experiment ended.
 Some envisioned the boy growing into a man
with a strange phobia of white, furry objects.
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What Ever Happened to Little
Albert?
Recently, however, the true identity and fate of
the boy known as Little Albert was discovered.
 As reported in American Psychologist, a sevenyear search led by psychologist Hall P. Beck led
to the discovery.
 After tracking down the location of the original
experiments and the real identity of the boy's
mother, it was discovered that Little Albert was
actually a boy named Douglas Merritte.
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What Ever Happened to Little
Albert?
The story does not have a happy ending,
however.
 Douglas died at the age of six on May 10,
1925 of hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid
in his brain. "Our search of seven years
was longer than the little boy’s life," Beck
wrote of the discovery.
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Task
In bullet point write out the procedure/or
you can use a cartoon storyboard
 Explain reasons to why Little Albert
formed a phobia (10)
 Evaluate the study (15)
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