Deck 7: Specific Phobia

Question 1

Which of the following is not classed as a specific phobia?

A) Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)
B) Agoraphobia (fear of being in public places where escape may be difficult)
C) Acrophobia (fear of heights)
D) None of the above

Answer 1

None of the above

Question 2

Seligman's (1971) preparedness theory suggests that:

A) People are born with a predisposition to learn to fear certain stimuli
B) People are born with certain phobias
C) People develop certain phobias because of a negative experience of a stimulus
D) People only develop fears about fear-relevant stimuli

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is not a limitation of Seligman's preparedness theory

A) People can develop phobias of stimuli that are non-threatening to humans
B) Certain phobias are more common than others
C) Elephant and woolly-mammoth phobias are rare
D) It is not possible to prove what posed specific threats to our ancestors

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What does Mowrer's (1960) theory suggest about the learning of fear?

A) A person associates a stimulus with an unpleasant outcome, resulting in a fear response
B) A person learns to avoid a feared stimulus, to reduce their fear response
C) Relief at avoiding a feared stimulus acts as an incentive for further avoidance,
D) All of the above

Question 5

What information does a cognitive behaviour therapist need, in order to formulate a client's specific phobia?

A) Information on what triggers the client's phobia
B) Information on what the client does when they feel afraid
C) Information on whether anyone else does anything that helps or hinders when the client is afraid?
D) All of the above

Question 6

Which of the following does the human body not do during the fight-flight response to fear?

A) The heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to the muscles
B) Blocks the secretion of adrenaline
C) Takes blood away from the stomach and intestines
D) Heightens the senses

Question 7

How is modern cognitive-behavioural exposure to a feared stimulus (e.g. dogs) typically conducted?

A) Asking the client to imagine that they are stroking a dog
B) Gradually exposing the client to a mildly fearful version of the stimulus (e.g. pictures of dogs) and working gradually up to the most fearful version (e.g. stroking a large dog)
C) Asking the client to stand in a room with lots of dogs, early in therapy.
D) Giving the client lots of written information about dogs

Question 8

Why do clients relapse after treatment for specific phobias?

A) Therapy does not generalise from the psychologist's office to other situations
B) The client does not practice their confident behaviour
C) Both of the above
D) Clients rarely relapse after treatment

Question 9

How effective are exposure-based therapies for treating specific phobias?

A) Very effective - so much so that there has been little change in how specific phobias are treated since the 1960s
B) Reasonably effective - about 40% of people treated using exposure-based therapies recover
C) A little bit effective - about 25% of people treated using exposure-based therapies recover, but many relapse
D) Not at all effective - recovery rates are very low