Biological Explanations Of Phobias

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Genetics could explain why some individuals inherit the condition. Specific but not social phobias seem to run in families to some existent but this behaviour could be learnt by imitation. A way to find out whether phobias have a genetic component is to look at family history. Phobic people are more likely to have close relatives with phobias than non-phobic people. However this is inconclusive as families all share the same environment. People inherit phobias from their parents, though genes. Family studies show phobias are at least partly caused by innate factors. Strength of genetic explanation comes in research support on twins from Torgenson.He found a 31% concordance rate for agoraphobia in MZ twins but a 0% rate in DZ twins. In addition Bennett Levy found that most people have a greater fear of animals that are considered harmful and ugly (e.g snakes) than of other animals-suggesting we are all born with a readiness to fear certain objects. Also Fyer et al (2000) found that phobic individuals had 3x as many phobic relatives than matched controls. Similarly Solyom et al 1974 found that 45% of phobics had a close relative with phobia compared with 17% for the general population. Twin studies could separate nature from nurture.Sheilds and Slater 1969 showed concordance rates of MZ identical twins to be higher (49%) than that of DZ (Fraternal twins (4%) only 45 pairs of twins. However our environment is dynamic and shaped by our own interactions with others. It is likely that the social environment for pairs of MZ twins is more similar than it is for DZ twins. Similarly it is unsurprising that phobia ‘runs’ in families, clearly families provide the ideal environment for ‘vicarious’ learning.Explaning these patterns with reference to genetic and other biological factors is arguably unnecessary. One weakness of the genetic argument is that the participants in the
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