The Two-Process Model: A Sociocultural Explanation of Phobias (HL IB Psychology)

What is the Two-Process Model?

• The Two-Process Model (TPM) was suggested by Mowrer (1960) and takes as its basis the idea that behaviour is learned through experience via environmental stimuli

• Behaviourism is key to understanding the TPM

• The key assumptions and  mechanisms of Behavourism are:

  • Only observable behaviour can be measured

  • A human being is born as a ‘blank slate’ (tabula rasa) which life writes on via experience and learning

  • Behaviour can be conditioned via classical conditioning and operant conditioning

  • Classical conditioning involves the transformation of a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus e.g. the bell rung by Pavlov which produced salivation in dogs 

  • Classical conditioning is learning by association e.g. the association of the bell with food (which is the unconditioned stimulus as dogs - and people - do not have to learn to want to eat food)

  • Operant conditioning involves the role of reinforcement in behaviour e.g. the rats in Skinner’s experiments learnt to tap a lever in order to be rewarded with food (positive reinforcement) or to tap a lever in order to avoid an electric shock (negative reinforcement)

  • Operant conditioning is learning via consequences

• The TPM states that behaviours (such as phobias) are originally learned via the mechanisms of classical conditioning and are then maintained via the mechanisms of operant conditioning

Classical conditioning involves the pairing of a previously neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response.

The Two-Process Model as an explanation of phobias

• Classical conditioning is the starting point of the origin of a phobia according to the TPM

• An example of how classical conditioning may be responsible for the onset of a phobia is as follows:

  • Ivan has no real feelings towards cats: he neither likes nor dislikes them so in this case cats are the neutral stimulus (NS)

  • Ivan has an aunt he visits every Tuesday and his aunt owns a cat

  • Every time Ivan visits his aunt her cat scratches him (this is the unconditioned stimulus) which Ivan finds frightening and unpleasant (this is the unconditioned response)

  • After a few months Ivan finds that all cats now induce fear in him, whether the cat is real or on television or even depicted as a cartoon, thus all cats are now the conditioned stimulus and Ivan’s fear of them is the conditioned response

  • Ivan’s fear of one specific cat has now generalised to all cats i.e. he has a cat phobia (ailurophobia) 

• An example of how operant conditioning may be responsible for the maintenance of a phobia is as follows:

  • Ivan goes out of his way to avoid cats: he stops visiting his aunt; he turns the television off if a cat appears; he walks a different way to work so that he won’t pass a house in which a ginger cat sits in the window

  • Ivan’s avoidance of cats is an example of negative reinforcement as Ivan is taking steps to keep away from the phobic stimulus

  • Ivan’s avoidance of cats brings with it feelings of relief (his reward) which is an example of positive reinforcement thus he will repeat the behaviours that bring this reward thus he will keep avoiding cats and his phobia will persist

Hard to believe that anyone would be scared of this little kitty isn’t it?

Evaluation of the Two-Process Model explanation of phobias

Strengths

• The TPM (and the Behaviourist approach generally) offers the most convincing explanation of how phobias develop and are maintained which gives it good validity

• The model sets out the mechanisms via which phobias are conditioned which has resulted in the development of  therapies such as systematic desensitisation which work to reverse this process by to successfully treat phobias

Limitations

• The TPM only focuses on conditioning as a determinant of phobia development which does not account for phobias which may have an evolutionary origin (see the Biological Preparedness section of this revision resource)

• The TPM cannot explain why some people may have continuous aversive experiences and yet not develop a phobia e.g. people who were physically punished at school do not all develop school phobia (scolionophobia)

Which studies investigate a sociocultural explanation of phobias?

• Watson & Rayner (1920) - the conditioning of a phobia via classical conditioning