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Description (AO1)Evaluation (AO3) (100)Competing arguments (100)Balanced conclusion AO1: Acquisition and Maintenance (approx. 100 words): Mowrer’s 2 process theoryAO3 Strengths (50)Mowrer rat studyExtrapolating to humans – cerebral cortexLittle AlbertSingle participant, hydrocephalusAO3 Weaknesses (50)Di Nardo Dog StudyPeople might not be able to remember trauma tic experiences, doesn’t mean they didn’t have themRole of biological factors, twin studies, some phobias more easily conditioned than othersSkre (1993)social phobias may be learnt - very similar concordance rates in MZ and DZ twins-274320302260Prompt Essay: The learning theories provide various explanations of how phobias are acquired and maintained.Evaluate one way in which learning theorists might explain the acquisition and maintenance of phobias. (8)00Prompt Essay: The learning theories provide various explanations of how phobias are acquired and maintained.Evaluate one way in which learning theorists might explain the acquisition and maintenance of phobias. (8)3928110-34925Analyse the questionHighlight the command term; what does this term mean?Underline numbers in the question; which ‘way’ will you choose?Put a box round the content of the essayWhich AOs are being assessed?How long should the essay take roughly? How much time will you spend on each AO?0Analyse the questionHighlight the command term; what does this term mean?Underline numbers in the question; which ‘way’ will you choose?Put a box round the content of the essayWhich AOs are being assessed?How long should the essay take roughly? How much time will you spend on each AO? Mowrer (1960) proposed the two-process model of phobias suggesting phobias are acquired via classical conditioning and maintained via operant conditioning. The person associates a neutral stimulus (e.g. wasps) with an unconditioned stimulus, (e.g. being stung). Being stung triggers pain (the UCR). The person then learns to associate wasps (CS) with being stung (UCS) and the consequent pain (UCR). Now whenever they see a wasp (CS) they are immediately scared (CR). Through stimulus generalisation, they may also come to fear other flying insects. They now avoid situations where wasps may be present, e.g. summer picnics and the reduction of anxiety about wasps is a source of negative reinforcement, which serves to maintain their phobia. Avoidance means people with phobias person never learn that their feared object cannot really harm them, meaning their fear is never extinguished. (135 words of AO1)4184650137033000One strength of Mowrer’s theory is that he showed how a rat could be conditioned to avoid an electric shock by jumping over a barrier. This suggests that avoidance behaviours may be stamped in through negative reinforcement and this may also be true in humans. This said, although rats and humans share similar physiology, the cerebral cortex in humans is far more developed, allowing for higher order thinking. This means that humans may be able to use self-talk to explain to themselves that they should not be scared and therefore this animal experiment may tell us little about fear conditioning in humans. (102 words of AO3, including a competing argument)Further support for Mowrer’s theory is provided by Watson and Rayner (1920) who classically conditioned an 11 month old child to fear a white rat. After 7 leanring trials where the smashing of iron bars (UCS) was paired with a white rat (NS), Little Albert cried and crawled away (CR) when the rat (CS) was presented. On the one hand, this study provides experimental evidence that fear can be learnt; however, this is evidence is weak due to the use of just one participant. Little Albert may not be representative of other toddlers and although his true identity remains unclear, many argue he had hydrocephalous, so fear may not be acquired as readily in healthy children or adults. (118of AO3, including a competing argument)Some extra chains of reasoning that may be required in longer essays:A weakness of this theory is that many phobic people can’t recall any traumatic experiences with their feared object, e.g. Di Nardo found 50% dog phobics could not recall any such trauma and many of the control group recalled traumatic experiences but did not have phobias. This is important because it suggests that classical conditioning is oversimplified as an explanation of phobias. (62 words of AO3)Individual differences may be explained by the fact that extinction may be more or less likely in some people. For example, conditioning might take place following a traumatic experience, but in absence of the UCS, the learning becomes extinguished for some but not for others. This could be genetically pre-programmed and this argument is supported by the fact that the concordance rate for phobias between MZ twins is higher than the concordance rate for DZ twins.A final strength of this theory is has led to highly successful treatments such systematic desensitisation. The effectiveness of this treatment was highlighted by Capafons who helped 90% of people with aerophobia to reduce their anxiety when flying. The application of this theory to real life strengthens its usefulness as an explanation of phobias.In conclusion, whilst Mowrer’s theory seems plausible, research evidence is mainly from animals experiments is limited in generalisability and studies suggest that other factors may also at play, e.g. biological as some fears are easier to condition than others. ................
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