PHOBIAS AND ADDICTIONS Justin “Isaac” Wisniewski PSY/300 Sept 1st, 2013 Instructor: Karen Croley Introduction Addictions and phobias are emotional mental conditions that have the ability to complicate an otherwise normal life. Phobias are defined as “a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it” (phobias, n.d.). These fears continue regardless of an individual’s understanding or reassurance of the lack of danger. Addictions are defined as, “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma” (addictions, n.d.). While both of these conditions can be detrimental to the emotional status of the individual, they are caused by different issues.
They would learn that when they heard the bell, they would get fed. Eventually, just ringing the bell made the dogs salivate. They learned to expect food at the sound of a bell. We call the food an unconditioned stimulus, and we call salivation the unconditioned response. Nobody trains a dog to salivate over some steak.
It was a large woolly dog, half Airedale, half pariah. For a moment it pranced round us, and then, before anyone could stop it, it had made a dash for the prisoner and, jumping up, tries to lick his face. Everyone stood aghast, too taken aback even to grab at the dog. The appearance of the dog symbolizes humanity and empathy for the prisoner. The observation of the dog’s action makes people aware of the reality of what is happening.
The dog began to recognize that worker would bring meat every single time. Pavlov learned that certain sounds and lights would make the dog prepare for the arrival of the meat. Pavlov had it set up that he would ring a bell to let the dog know there was food. After a couple of times doing that the worker would then show up with no meat. The dog would still respond as the worker was coming with the meat.
Jacquelyn Sanchez Phobias and Addiction Psy 300 Phobias and Addictions Classical and operant conditioning are two common behaviors, yet are very common ways in which humans learn behavior. Many times we learn without be aware we are learning. The results of both classical and operant conditioning contribute to the individual's ability to thrive and function normally. Although and Individual may experience some addictions or phobias each individual will learn to adapt to the difficulties of human society (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Phobias and Classical Conditioning A phobia is a constant irrational fear of an object, situation, or activity that the person feels impelled to avoid (Kowalski & Westen, 2011).
The end results, or outcomes, due to classical and operant conditioning, play a huge role in how an individual functions in society as we know it. Which is why, emotional difficulties (phobias and addictions) come about when dealing with each conditioning method. (Kowalski & Westen, 2011) Phobias A phobia is a state of mind where a fear is present in a situation, activity, or object. These phobias cause an organism to feel that something has to be avoided. This may effect an individual’s ability to socialize, work, or carry out tasks in their own life.
The conditioned response, or the CR, is the response that occurs whenever the unconditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus (Spielman, 2014). The example of Ivan Pavlov’s study with dog’s can show how this occurs; when food is presented with a bell, the dogs will salivate. Eventually the dogs will salivate when they hear the bell alone. The bell is the neutral stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus is the food, and the conditioned response is the salivating (Spielman, 2014). Extinction occurs when a decrease in the CR occurs because the unconditioned stimulus is not continually presented with the conditioned stimulus (Spielman, 2014).
After a while, he could ring the bell and their mouths would drool, because he learned to relate the bell with the food. That shows that the dog became unconscious. That also happens to the human be like me when I smell my favorite food I feel hungry. Unconditioned Stimulus Food Unconditioned Response Salivation Conditioned stimulus Bell Conditioned Response Salivation Those were the key concepts of classical conditioning. The unconditioned stimulus it’s something that is naturally and automatically and the unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus.
Although we are all individual, stress, anxiety, phobias and habits are influenced by the environment and genetics. How we are raised and where we live will play a large part in how we deal with the above, especially when it might involve losing our sense of reason. Stress ‘Stress occurs when an individual perceives that the demands of an external situation are beyond their perceived ability to cope with’ (Lazurus). Stress is there in our everyday lives and people are regularly exposed to it. Certain types of stress can be good for you such as the stress caused by a romantic encounter or the anticipation of a reward (Hadley and Staudacher 1996).
Stress can cause a habit as with smokers. A phobia causes stress and anxiety. If a client has a phobia of spiders this causes stress and anxiety. Both anxiety and stress are completely natural responses to situations that we are unsure of, or that we perceive have the potential to be unpleasant, or cause us harm. This is the brain’s way of preparing both body and mind to reduce the risk, known as the ‘fight or flight ‘response.