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Phobias
Term | Definition |
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Phobia | A severe fear of an object or situation which prevents a person from living a normal life. |
Classical conditioning | A learning process which builds up an association between two stimuli through repeated pairings |
Association | The link between the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus that makes the neutral stimulus cause the same response. |
Generalisation | When a conditioned response is produced to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus. |
Extinction | The loss of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeated many times without the unconditioned stimulus. |
Social learning theory | Learning new behaviours by watching and imitating others. |
Vicarious reinforcement | Learning through the positive consequences of others rather than ourselves - we are more likely to copy a behaviour if we see a person being rewarded for it. |
Modelling | Imitating the behaviour of someone. |
Preparedness | The tendency to learn some associations more easily, quickly and permanently than others. |
Nature-nurture debate | Whether it is biological factors or our environment that makes us who we are |
Questionnaire | A research method using written questions that can be given to lots of people. |
Open questions | Questions that ask for description and detail. |
Closed questions | Simple questions with few possible answers. |
Rank-style questions | Questions with answers that are in a particular order/can be chosen. |
Standardised instructions | Guidance for participants that is the same for everyone. |
Response bias | When participants fall into pattern when answering questions, e.g. always saying 'yes' |
Social desirability | When participants give the answer that they think will be acceptable to others |
Flooding | A therapy which forces a person to confront their fear until they are able to deal with it. |
Systematic desensitisation | A therapy which encourages a person to confront their fear but by creating a hierarchy of fears and dealing with the least feared first. |
Hierarchy of fears | A list of fears that are arranged from most to least feared. |
Collectivist culture | A culture that encourages group dependence, cooperation and group identity. |
Individualist culture | A culture that encourages independence, personal achievement and competition |
Clinical psychologist | A person who works with people who have problems or illnesses and focuses on problem-solving, support and positive thinking |