Human Emotion of Fear; The Psychology of Phobias and The Little Albert Experiment
Introduction:
One of the most vital emotion that is a part of a human emotion spectrum is fear. At face value, it is an emotion felt by everyone on a day-to-day basis when one see or feel something around that may harm them. Diving deeper into it psychologists tend to define fear as a defensive primitive emotion that triggers a biochemical and emotional response, urging us to keep a distance from the danger around us. At times the fear we feel might become unproportionate to the danger causing it. When experiences of intense fear towards a certain danger, object, or living organism consistently start becoming unproportionate, it is termed as a Phobia. According to an Article by MedicalNewsToday Phobias are defined as “A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that causes an individual to experience extreme, irrational fear about a situation, living creature, place, or object.” The purpose of this research paper is to understand the phenomena of phobias in-depth, such as their causes, the experiments conducted regarding them, and their treatments.
An Analysis of Phobias and its Psychology:
Although countless phobias exist and are experienced by people, according to an Article by the World Health Organization (WHO) all phobias can be specified in 3 groups. Group 1 is “Social Phobias” These include feeling anxious or afraid regarding any social interaction or activities. Group 2 “Agoraphobias”, consists of an exaggerated feeling of anxiety and dread in situations where escape may not be possible or help may not be available, such as in public transport spaces. Group 3 “Specific Phobias” involves fear or anxiety that is triggered by definite objects or situations.
Although past experiences play a major role in phobia development, they may not always be the cause. According to an article by Rene Garcia, Specific Phobias that develop due to prior experiences are termed “experiential-specific phobias”, while specific phobias that develop with no relation to past events are known as “nonexperiential-specific phobias” or “non-associative specific phobia”
Even though it is unclear how non-associative specific phobias develop, the most common explanation is that they may be genetic, thus passing down from one generation to the other. A study by Richie Poulton and Ross G. Menzies states that non-associative phobias follow the route of natural selection as species that are naturally afraid of certain dangers and objects without prior experiences are more likely to survive and avoid risk.
Two schools of thought were discussed in their study. The Darwin and Rachman model suggests that non-associative fears are completely genetic passing from one generation to the other without any environmental impact. The more recent Menzies and Clark models suggest that although these fears are non-associative they are to an extent impacted by the environment. Such as a chick's fear of locomotion may be due to the illuminations it observed while in the shell. This model suggests that the environment matures the genes in such a way that genetically organisms become afraid of certain objects or organisms in their environment.
To further prove non-associative fears a study was conducted in which a group of undergraduate students were divided into fearful of heights group and non fearful of heights group. These groups were made based on FSS-III (A tool made to observe changes in phobias and fears). Later the Fearful of Heights group was conditioned and from them, only 18% admitted to having prior experiences with heights that led to their fears forming. The remaining had no such experiences. This study strengthens the argument that many phobias might occur randomly due to genetics, thus being non-associative.
Associative Phobias:
The associative phobia model is one of the earliest attempts made to understand the psychology behind phobias. This model states that phobias that an organism experiences are directly linked with past experiences, such as a threat experienced on high land can generate a phobia of heights.
One of the earliest experiments done that proved the Associative Phobia model was the “Little Albert Experiment”. In the experiment behaviorist John B. Watson and Rosalie Ryan conditioned 9-month-old Albert to fear white rats. The experiment was conducted by showing Albert a plethora of objects including masks, a rabbit, and a white rat. At the beginning of the experiment, Albert displayed no signs of distress when shown these objects. Later on, every time Albert was shown the white rat a loud noise was created, startling Albert and causing him to cry. This was done repeatedly to the point that when Albert saw the white rat he began crying and showing signs of distress even if the loud noise did not accompany it. It was mentioned in an article by Kendra Cherry posted on the Verywell Mind website:
“Watson and Rayner wrote: "The instant the rat was shown, the baby began to cry. Almost instantly he turned sharply to the left, fell over on [his] left side, raised himself on all fours and began to crawl away so rapidly that he was caught with difficulty before reaching the edge of the table." ”
Although this experiment proves the Associative Phobias model, the Associative model has still grown to become less popular as outside of experiments, many of the general that experience phobias have not experienced any such events, or have been triggered towards certain objects that would cause them to develop a phobia towards them. Moreover, experiments such as the Little Albert experiments have been reduced due to their unethical and dangerous methods.
Treatment for Phobias:
Phobias can be treated using a variety of methods, these include both pharmaceutical methods and therapy methods. The pharmaceutical method has proven to be less effective as in an article by the National Institute of Health (NIH), it was stated that about 40% of the phobia patients that chose the pharmaceutical treatment experienced only limited relief from their phobias over a long period.
In therapy-induced treatments, there are 4 different types of treatment, these include Exposure Therapy,Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness Therapy, and Virtual Reality (VR). The most successful treatment is Exposure therapy with a success rate of 80-90%. Exposure therapy includes the patients being introduced to their phobias in a controlled environment. This exposure at the beginning is indirect and with time it is made more direct causing patients to be able to face their phobias.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) includes changing the way someone thinks about a certain object or environment that may cause them to feel afraid. CBT patients are introduced to a trained therapist who helps them control their thoughts and with time these controlled thoughts start showcasing themselves in their day-to-day actions. CBT therapy can be done on its own or be paired with Exposure therapy.
Mindfulness therapy is similar to CBT but instead of focusing on thoughts its main area of focus is controlling the emotions one may feel around their phobia. With time this therapy helps patient be able to control their fear and continue their daily life tasks without being worried about their phobias.
Virtual Reality helps take exposure therapy to the next step. It may be used when exposing patients to their fears may be too expensive or not possible in a controlled manner. The results of Virtual Reality have been quite promising and with more research regarding it being done it may just be the future of treatment for phobias.
Conclusion:
Briefly explained, phobias are a branch of anxiety disorder. These disorders display themselves in 3 different forms. The first form is “Social Phobias”, the second form is “Agrophobias” and the third and most common form is “Specific Phobias”. Further research on Specific Phobias indicates 2 separate models that explain these phobias. The Non-Associative model suggests these phobias are mainly genetic while the Associative model suggests these phobias are a result of past experiences, as proved by the Little Albert Experiment. Treatment for the phobias can range from pharmaceutical medication to a range of therapies the most successful of which is Exposure therapy which is being further studied in the form of virtual Reality therapy. With more research being conducted on these phobias each passing day we hope to understand the psychology of phobias such as that of Agrophobias and Social Phobias in more depth in the later coming years.
Brazier, Y. (n.d.). Phobias: Symptoms, types, causes, and treatment. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Phobias. https://applications.emro.who.int/docs/WHOEMMNH234E-eng.pdf
Garcia, R. (2017, August 16). Neurobiology of fear and specific phobias. Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580526/
Poulton , R., & Menzies, R. G. (n.d.). Non-associative fear acquisition: a review of the evidence from retrospective and longitudinal research. Pergamon; University of Otago.
Cherry, K., & MSEd. (2024, July 11). What was the little Albert Experiment?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-little-albert-experiment-2794994
Treating Phobias. NIH. (n.d.). https://obssr.od.nih.gov/sites/obssr/files/2021-11/BSSR Fact Sheet - Phobias - FINAL.pdf
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