Explaining Phobia

Sally is a 23-year-old woman who has a severe phobia of dogs. She has had this phobia since she had a negative experience with dogs when she was in the second grade. She now goes out of her way to avoid dogs and places that dogs may be. This causes her to experience anxiety when she meets someone new and is invited to an unfamiliar area.

 

 

 

Write a 1,500- to 1,750-word paper that uses behavioral and cognitive theory to analyze dog phobia.

 

 

 

Analyze the three potential ways Sally could have developed this phobia: operational (stimulus-responseàconsequence), classical (CS-UCS-UCR-CR), and observational.

 

 

 

Discuss how extinction and cognitive learning could help Sally recover from her phobia.

 

 

 

Address the following in your paper:

 

 

 

·         Describe Sally’s phobia using inference and research of the development of simple phobias, such as dog phobias.

 

·         Describe, in detail, how the phobia could be explained by the following:

 

 

 

o    Classical conditioning

 

o    Operant conditioning

 

o    Observational learning

 

 ·         Discuss how the process of extinction could be used to help Sally overcome her phobia.

 

·         Discuss how the tenets of cognitive theory could be applied to help Sally overcome her phobia.

 

 

Cite at least two references in your paper to support your assessment