4.1.5 Learning theories of phobias and their treatment Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 4

The 20 questions

1. According to learning theory, how is a phobia acquired?

   • Through the id, in which an unconscious childhood conflict is repressed and expressed as a fear of an external object
   • Through conscious choice, in which the individual decides to fear a stimulus after weighing up its likely dangers
   • Through classical conditioning, in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a frightening event and becomes a source of fear
   • Through biological inheritance alone, in which a gene directly codes for a fear of one specific object from birth

2. According to the two-process model, what maintains a phobia once it has been acquired?

   • Social learning alone, because the phobia is maintained only by watching other people avoid the feared object in public
   • Operant conditioning through negative reinforcement, because avoiding the feared object removes anxiety and so strengthens avoidance
   • Operant conditioning through positive punishment, because approaching the object is always followed by pleasant feelings of calm
   • Classical conditioning alone, because the phobia is maintained only by repeated pairing of the object with a neutral stimulus

3. In learning theory, what is systematic desensitisation?

   • A treatment that removes all environmental stimuli from the patient's home, so that they never encounter any phobic object again
   • A treatment in which the patient is immediately exposed to the most feared stimulus, without any preparation or relaxation
   • A treatment that pairs relaxation with a graded hierarchy of feared stimuli, so the fear gradually weakens through counterconditioning
   • A treatment that uses electric shocks to punish the patient each time the phobic object is mentioned during the therapy session

4. Which is the correct order of the steps in systematic desensitisation?

   • Relaxation training, followed by construction of a fear hierarchy, and then gradual exposure to each step while relaxed
   • Exposure to the most feared stimulus, followed by relaxation training, and then a gradual list of less feared stimuli
   • A hierarchy of feared stimuli, followed by punishment for any anxiety, and then a final test in the feared setting
   • Asking the patient to imagine the phobic object, followed by an immediate return to normal life with no further sessions

5. What is flooding as a learning-based treatment for phobias?

   • A treatment in which the patient is given a drug that removes all emotional responses to any object in the environment
   • Prolonged exposure to the feared stimulus at full intensity, without relaxation, so anxiety wears out
   • A gradual exposure in which the patient moves up a hierarchy of fears one step at a time, with rest between each step
   • A treatment in which the patient is asked to avoid the feared object at all times, to reduce any chance of conditioning

6. What is aversion therapy?

   • A treatment that pairs an unpleasant stimulus with an unwanted behaviour, so that the behaviour becomes associated with discomfort
   • A treatment that uses a talking therapy to explore the unconscious causes of a phobia in the patient's childhood history
   • A treatment that pairs a pleasant stimulus with a feared object, so that the object becomes associated with positive feelings
   • A treatment that removes all reinforcement from the patient's environment, so that no behaviour is ever followed by any reward

7. Which feature of systematic desensitisation is based on classical conditioning?

   • The use of punishment for each act of avoidance, which is an operant process that has no place in classical conditioning at all
   • The replacement of fear with relaxation, which acts as a new response to the phobic stimulus through counterconditioning
   • The use of a conscious choice to avoid the object, which is a cognitive process that relies on the patient's free will alone
   • The use of an unconditioned response, which is the natural fear response that the patient produces when first exposed to an object

8. A patient with a fear of spiders is treated with systematic desensitisation. Which order of stimuli on the fear hierarchy would be most appropriate?

   • Starting with looking at a photograph of a spider in a book, then a cartoon spider, then a real spider in a closed box
   • Starting with the spider's sound effects played at full volume, and then moving directly to handling a live tarantula at once
   • Starting with holding a real spider in the hand, and then gradually moving to looking at a photograph of a spider in a book
   • Starting with being locked in a room full of spiders, so that the patient is forced to confront the feared object immediately

9. Which evaluation point about learning theory explanations of phobias is most accurate?

   • Learning theory explains all phobias fully, since every phobia is caused by pairing alone and no other factor has any influence
   • Learning theory explains how phobias can be acquired and maintained, but it may not fully explain why only some people develop them
   • Learning theory cannot explain phobias at all, since no phobia has ever been linked to any learning experience in research
   • Learning theory explains phobias only in animals, so it cannot be applied to any human patient in a clinical setting at all

10. Which strength of learning-based treatments for phobias is most often cited?

    • They rely on unconscious conflicts, which means that they can be tested only through dream analysis in a clinical session
    • They work only through biological drugs, which means that psychological approaches have no part to play in the process
    • They never work for any patient, so they are unlikely to be recommended by clinicians in any setting for any phobia at all
    • They have a strong evidence base, with research showing that systematic desensitisation is effective for many specific phobias

11. A patient fears flying. Which treatment approach would be most consistent with learning theory?

    • A diet change, which alters brain chemistry and thereby removes the learned association between flying and fear
    • Gradual exposure to flying-related stimuli, paired with relaxation, to replace the fear with a calm response
    • Asking the patient to avoid all travel for life, which removes any chance of conditioning to the feared stimulus
    • Psychoanalysis of the patient's childhood dreams, to identify the unconscious conflict that is causing the fear

12. Which concept explains why a phobic patient's fear may persist after a long period without exposure to the feared object?

    • Spontaneous recovery, in which the conditioned fear returns after a rest period, without new pairing
    • Extinction of the unconditioned stimulus, in which the feared object loses its power to cause harm after a few exposures
    • Operant shaping, in which the patient gradually builds a new behaviour by being rewarded for each successful step taken
    • Stimulus discrimination, in which the patient learns to tell the feared object apart from all other stimuli in the environment

13. Which is a limitation of learning theory explanations of phobias?

    • They may not explain phobias that do not seem to be linked to any direct learned experience, such as some fears that are common
    • They ignore all treatment options, since learning theory has never been used to design any clinical intervention for any patient
    • They explain all phobias through a single childhood event, so they cannot be applied to any adult with a fear in later life
    • They rely on unconscious conflicts that cannot be tested, so the explanation is unfalsifiable and therefore has no scientific value

14. Why might a clinician prefer systematic desensitisation over flooding for some patients?

    • Because flooding always fails, so no clinician has ever chosen it for any patient with any phobia in any clinical setting
    • Because systematic desensitisation avoids all contact with the feared object, which is the only form of safe treatment in practice
    • Because systematic desensitisation is gradual and controlled, which may be less distressing and more acceptable to some patients
    • Because systematic desensitisation involves electric shock, which is more effective than any exposure-based technique available

15. A researcher designs a study to compare desensitisation with a control group on a phobia of snakes. Which control group would be most appropriate?

    • A group that is given electric shocks for each snake they see, so that the study can measure the effect of punishment only
    • A group that is told the snakes are harmless, so that the group's beliefs can be compared with the treatment group's beliefs
    • A group that receives no treatment during the same period, so the effect of desensitisation can be compared with no treatment
    • A group that is exposed to snakes at full intensity with no relaxation, which is identical to the treatment group in all respects

16. Which of these best describes how learning theory accounts for individual differences in phobias?

    • People differ only in their genetic makeup, so learning experiences play no part in the development of any phobia at all
    • People differ in the experiences they have had with stimuli and in what they have observed, which affects which phobias develop
    • People differ only in their superego strength, so the environment cannot influence which phobias develop in any individual
    • People differ only in their age, so learning theory predicts that all adults develop the same phobias in identical ways

17. Which statement best describes the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning in the acquisition and maintenance of phobias?

    • Classical conditioning maintains the fear through reward, while operant conditioning acquires it through the pairing of stimuli
    • Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both acquire fear only, and neither can maintain a phobia over time at all
    • Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both maintain fear only, and neither can acquire a phobia in the first place
    • Classical conditioning acquires the fear through pairing, while operant conditioning maintains it through avoidance and reinforcement

18. A therapist says a phobia treated with exposure is cured forever. Which learning theory concept challenges this claim?

    • Modelling, since the therapist's own fear of the object is the only factor that influences the patient's recovery at all
    • Stimulus generalisation, since a fear of one object cannot spread to any similar object in the patient's environment at all
    • Primary reinforcement, since the body's biological needs must always be met before any phobia can be treated successfully
    • Spontaneous recovery, since the conditioned fear can return after a rest period, even after extinction or treatment

19. Which is an application of learning theory to a phobia that goes beyond treatment?

    • Designing a prevention strategy that removes all neutral stimuli from every child's life, so that no pairing can happen at all
    • Designing prevention strategies that reduce pairings of harmful experiences with neutral stimuli, especially in childhood
    • Designing a prevention strategy that relies on telling children that all animals are dangerous, so they avoid all contact with them
    • Designing a prevention strategy that uses only brain surgery, which removes the capacity for conditioning in every child

20. What is the role of the fear hierarchy in systematic desensitisation?

    • It lists the drugs that the patient must take before any exposure, arranged in order of their strength and cost
    • It records how often the patient avoids the feared object each week, so that progress can be measured in numbers
    • It ranks feared stimuli from least to most feared, so exposure can progress in small, manageable steps
    • It lists the patient's childhood memories, which are used to find the unconscious source of the phobia during therapy

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