The causes of specific phobias, also known as "simple phobias," are not entirely understood. Specific phobias are irrational fears of specific things, and are different from agoraphobia and social phobia.
Specific phobias are thought to be caused or influenced by genetics and/or childhood trauma. In addition, these phobias can be learned through a type of learning called classical conditioning, also known as operant conditioning.
Pavlov, Classical Conditioning and Specific Phobias
Classical or operant conditioning can be best understood by remembering Pavlov’s dogs, in Psychology 101 class. Ivan Pavlov noted that every time dogs are fed, they salivate. This is a natural bodily response to a stimulus. Then Pavlov started ringing a bell just before feeding the dogs. He did this over a period of time so every time the bell was rung, the dogs were fed and then they salivated. And then something exciting happened.
Pavlov rang the bell but did not feed the dogs. The dogs salivated anyway, despite the absence of food. The fact that the dogs responded to the bell by salivating demonstrates that the dogs learned to associate the bell with feeding, so much so, that their bodies actually responded to the bell as if there were food there. This process of learning to associate one thing with another is known as classical conditioning.
Example of a Specific (Simple) Phobia in a Human
With a specific phobia, the person is presented with some object, for example, a spider. This object can be compared to Pavlov’s bell. The spider doesn’t cause anxiety in the human body, just like bells don’t cause dogs to salivate. Indeed, many people are not afraid of spiders.
But something else, for example, a thought like, “What if the spider bites me and I die?” causes the anxiety, similar to the food causing the salivating. Or it could be a deeply encoded natural human tendency to fear insects plus a genetic predisposition for strong anxiety reactions that is at the root of the fear. Whatever the cause of the fear, each time a spider is presented anxiety results. Eventually, the mere thought of a spider is enough to trigger the bodily response, just as the bell triggered the salivating.
This is how a phobia is learned through classical conditioning.
Classical Conditioning Reinforces Specific Phobias
If the person with the phobia merely thinks of going some place where there might be spiders, the person experiences uncomfortable fear and anxiety, as if he or she were already there with a bunch of spiders.
In contrast, when he or she thinks about avoiding the situation entirely, he or she feels better and the anxiety goes away. This is how classical conditioning and avoidance of the feared object makes a phobia worse.
Phobias may have several different causes, including genetics or childhood trauma, but classical conditioning seems to play an important role in either causing or reinforcing simple phobias, or both. Through conditioning, people repeatedly associate the feared object with terrible anxiety, strengthening the fear.
This can spill over into daily life, so much so that the person with the phobia goes to great lengths to avoid numerous situations with any remote possibility of encountering spiders. This can become a time consuming preoccupation that can cause intense suffering and pervasive avoidance patterns that interfere with life.
Systematic desensitization is effective treatment for specific phobias, and for agoraphobia.
Click here for the list of names of phobias
 |
