Psy 300 Phobias And Addictions

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Phobias and Addictions Your Name PSY/300 - General Psychology University of Phoenix Carlton Bowden As humans, just as any other living organisms, it is essential to learn how to guide our behaviors in order to survive and adapt to our environment. Our behaviors are formed by various factors that most may not be even aware of such as our genetics, culture, our environment, or by a form of conditioning. Although each one of these factors takes a role in shaping our behaviors, we will focus on conditioning and the phobias and addictions that can be portrayed as a result of the conditioning; in addition, extinction through conditioning will be discussed. Have you ever been reminded of a special someone…show more content…
According to Kowalski and Westen (2011), “A phobia is an irrational fear of a specific object or situation,” (pg.167). Phobias are classified as anxiety disorders because they create such an extreme level of fear and anxiety that interferes with the individuals normal functioning. For a specific phobia, someone is put in a situation that has them in a high place, such as on an airplane. This can be compared to Pavlov’s bell because the roof of the plane alone does not cause anxiety in a human body, just as a bell does not make a dog salivate. Many individuals are not afraid of heights, but something such as the thought of crashing to the ground and dying in a plane crash can cause anxiety; much like the food causing the dog to salivate. No matter the cause of the fear, each time a person with a phobia of heights is put in that situation, or thinks about it, they begin to feel anxiety, just as the bell began to trigger the dogs to begin salivating; if they are thinking about it, they develop the fear and anxiety as if they were already in an airplane or another high place. However, the anxiety and fear dissipates when the situation is avoided entirely. This shows how classical conditioning and avoidance of the situation (the phobia) can make it worse…show more content…
While positive and negative reinforcement strengthen behavior, while punishment and extinction weaken behavior. Positive reinforcement strengthens behavior by providing a positive consequence, such as a child receiving money for cleaning his or her room. This would cause the child to clean his or her room again to receive the money. In contrast, with negative reinforcement a particular behavior is strengthened to stop or avoid a negative consequence (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). For instance, when you go fishing you put on sunscreen to avoid getting sunburn, and if you hear thunder or see lightening you immediately turn the boat to the docks and get out of the water to avoid being struck by lightning. While positive and negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior, punishment and extinction decrease the likelihood of the behavior. For example, as parents we punish our children for biting or hitting other children. If a child were to bite or hit another child, punishing by a time out or a way you see fit, the child would decrease the likelihood of the “bad” behavior from occurring again because it produced a negative consequence for the child that did the biting or hitting. Extinction in operant conditioning is used to weaken a behavior by not experiencing the positive condition or stopping a negative one (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). For
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