Lesson 4.1.4.3

4.1.4.3 Behavioural approach to phobias Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 4.1.4.3, Behavioural approach to phobias: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 1: Introductory topics in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Which two processes are included in Mowrer's two-process model of phobias?

    • Observation and modelling only, which describe how a person copies a model without any reinforcement
    • Imprinting and monotropy, which are both innate processes that appear during a critical period
    • Imitation and identification, which are both processes of social learning that depend on a model
    • Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

  2. According to the two-process model, how is a phobia acquired?

    • Through operant conditioning alone, where the person is rewarded for fear
    • Through imprinting during a critical period
    • Through observing a model and copying their fear
    • Through classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus is paired with a frightening event

  3. According to the two-process model, how is a phobia maintained?

    • Through classical conditioning, because the fear is paired with a pleasant stimulus that makes avoidance unpleasant
    • Through imprinting, because the person became attached to the feared object during an early critical period
    • Through punishment of any approach to the feared object, which teaches the person that approaching is always dangerous
    • Through operant conditioning, because avoidance of the feared stimulus is negatively reinforced

  4. Which feature of systematic desensitisation involves gradually confronting the feared stimulus?

    • Repeated punishment of any avoidance, which teaches the person that avoiding the feared object is never allowed
    • Immediate exposure to the most feared stimulus, which is carried out in a single session without any preparation
    • A hierarchy of feared situations, moved through step by step
    • Immediate removal of the feared stimulus, which ends the fear response and stops the person from thinking about it

  5. Which technique is used alongside the hierarchy in systematic desensitisation?

    • Flooding, used to produce immediate fear
    • Relaxation, used to replace the fear response with a calm state
    • Aversion therapy, used to produce nausea
    • Cognitive restructuring, used to challenge thoughts

  6. What is flooding as a treatment for phobias?

    • Relaxation training that is repeated over several weeks
    • Gradual exposure through a hierarchy of steps
    • Full exposure to the most feared stimulus
    • Medication that reduces fear in the short term

  7. Which feature distinguishes flooding from systematic desensitisation?

    • Flooding is gradual, whereas systematic desensitisation involves immediate exposure that is carried out without any preparation
    • Flooding uses relaxation, whereas systematic desensitisation uses no relaxation and relies only on the person's own effort
    • Flooding involves immediate exposure to the most feared stimulus, whereas systematic desensitisation is gradual
    • Flooding uses rewards for avoidance, whereas systematic desensitisation uses punishment to remove the person's fear

  8. A person with a fear of dogs is asked to imagine a dog while relaxing, then to look at a picture of a dog, and then to be in the same room as a dog. Which treatment is being described?

    • Flooding, which uses immediate and prolonged exposure to the feared stimulus
    • Drug therapy, which uses medication to reduce the anxiety that causes the fear
    • Aversion therapy, which pairs the behaviour with an unpleasant stimulus
    • Systematic desensitisation

  9. A person with a fear of heights is placed on a high platform and not allowed to leave until the fear reduces. Which treatment is being used?

    • Flooding
    • Systematic desensitisation
    • Relaxation training alone
    • Cognitive behaviour therapy

  10. Which evaluation point applies to flooding as a treatment for phobias?

    • It only works for people who have no fear at all
    • It can be effective quickly but can be very distressing
    • It is never effective and should not be used
    • It is always more effective than systematic desensitisation in every case

  11. Which evaluation point applies to systematic desensitisation?

    • It cannot be used with relaxation, because the two techniques conflict and cannot be carried out together
    • It has been shown to increase phobias in all cases, since the hierarchy makes the fear grow stronger each time
    • It takes no time and works immediately for everyone, so no sessions or follow-up are needed in any case
    • It takes time, and some people may drop out before the hierarchy is complete

  12. Watson and Rayner's study of 'Little Albert' is linked to which explanation of phobias?

    • Operant conditioning through rewards for avoidance, which keeps the fear going because the person is always rewarded
    • Social learning through imitation of a model, where the person copies the fear response shown by someone close
    • Imprinting during a critical period, which fixes the fear in place from the earliest days after birth onwards
    • Classical conditioning of a fear response to a neutral stimulus

  13. Which feature of the two-process model explains why a phobia can persist for many years?

    • The phobic stimulus is always paired with food, which makes the person feel hungry whenever the object is near
    • Avoidance of the feared stimulus prevents the fear from being extinguished
    • Operant conditioning removes all fear responses, so avoidance leads directly to the complete loss of the phobia
    • Fear is always forgotten after a few days, so phobias rarely last longer than a week once they have started

  14. A person with a phobia avoids the feared situation, which makes them feel calmer. Which process best explains why the avoidance continues?

    • Classical conditioning, because avoidance is paired with food
    • Negative reinforcement, because avoidance removes the unpleasant feeling of anxiety
    • Positive reinforcement, because avoidance brings the person a reward
    • Imprinting, because the person is attached to the feared object

  15. Which evidence would best support the two-process model rather than a purely biological explanation of a phobia?

    • A phobia that was acquired through a conditioning experience and maintained by avoidance
    • A phobia that has no link to any learned experience, and which is present in the person from the day they are born
    • A phobia that appears only after a brain injury, with no link to earlier learning or to any past experience
    • A phobia that is found only in people with a specific genetic variant, which has no link to any learning experience

  16. A psychologist claims that systematic desensitisation works because it replaces fear with relaxation. Which evidence would best support this claim?

    • An increase in phobic fear whenever relaxation is used, since the relaxation makes the person more aware of the feared object
    • No change in fear whatever treatment is given, because phobias are fixed by the person's genes and cannot be altered
    • A reduction in fear only when the feared object is removed, and never when the person is gradually exposed to it
    • A reduction in phobic fear after relaxation is paired with each step of the hierarchy

  17. Which treatment is most likely to be chosen for a person who is very distressed and needs a rapid reduction in fear, according to evaluation points on flooding?

    • No treatment, because phobias are harmless and never need any intervention, and usually fade by adulthood on their own
    • Drug therapy, because it always works faster than all other treatments and produces no side effects in any patient
    • Systematic desensitisation, because it avoids the very intense distress of flooding
    • Flooding, because it avoids any distress and allows the person to face the feared object without any fear at all

  18. A person has a fear of injections. Which treatment would a behaviourist most likely recommend first?

    • Flooding by giving an injection without warning or preparation, with no relaxation
    • Cognitive restructuring of beliefs about illness only
    • Medication to remove all fear in one day
    • Systematic desensitisation, using a hierarchy from looking at a needle to receiving an injection

  19. Why might a behaviourist argue that phobias are better explained by learning than by inborn fear?

    • Phobias are present in all newborn babies at birth, and are only lost when the child learns to speak and reason
    • Phobias can be acquired through experience, and most people do not develop phobias to the same objects
    • Phobias are never learned and always present from birth, with each child inheriting the same fears from their family
    • Phobias are always caused by genes passed from parents, and the environment has no effect on whether they develop

  20. Which combination of treatment and its underlying principle is correct?

    • Systematic desensitisation: genetic change; flooding: imprinting
    • Systematic desensitisation: counter-conditioning with relaxation; flooding: exposure without escape
    • Systematic desensitisation: drug therapy; flooding: cognitive therapy
    • Systematic desensitisation: exposure without escape; flooding: counter-conditioning with relaxation

All AQA Psychology quizzes