Can Classical and Operant Conditioning Account for the Development of Phobias?

Can classical and operative conditioning account for the explainment of phobic neurosiss? Classical conditioning involves pairing an unlearned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus then produces a conditioned response. Operant conditioning then refers to associations between the response and the outcome. The following(a) essay will examine evidence supporting classical and operative conditioning as a cause of phobias.Other theories, such as biological and evolutionary, will also be taken into account, as conditioning surmise is criticised for a number of reasons. Psychologists have suggested phobias develop as a exit of conditioning, and many phobics cigarette remember a specific instalment which caused the infringement of their phobia (Freud, 1909 Ost and Hugdahl, 1981). However, research suggests it is not necessary for a specific episode to occur to change behaviour. Kirsch et al (2004) studied rats in a maze.They were left over(p) to explore b efore food was introduced, at which point errors in the rats avenue through the maze were reduced significantly. This suggests the rats learned to navigate when they were not beef up for learning, and they formed cognitive maps without reinforcement. This evidence of latent learning suggests learning can occur without classical conditioning. Davey (1992) also found many phobics do not remember a particular aversive conditioning episode, claiming they have had their phobia since they could remember.This suggests their phobia whitethorn have developed without conditioning. Instead there may be, for example, a biological aspect of developing phobias. There are certain(p) phobias, such as for snakes and spiders, which are more common than others. Mineka and Ohman (2002) suggested primates and populace can quickly associate these objects with frightening events because they have evolved to do so these objects posed a threat to their ancestors.To support this evoluntionary theory, Cook and Mineka (1989) exposed monkeys to divers(a) objects, and found they easily acquired new hero-worships of toy snakes and crocodiles, but did not develop fears of flowers. They suggested this is because they had no prior exposure to flowers in a frightening episode. go this research may still suggest conditioning theory is a factor in the development of phobias, as the primates still learnt to fear the object, evolution may also be a factor of phobia development.