Behavioral Theory of Abnormality Many psychologists and researchers support the idea that specific phobias are learned through conditioning1. This theory was tested in 1920 by Dr. John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in the case study of “Little Albert”. Little Albert was an 11-month-old boy who, when brought into contact with a white rat, showed no signs of fear towards it and reached instead to pet it. When little Albert reached to touch the rat, the researchers struck a metal bar behind Albert with a hammer. This happened for the next two times Albert attempted to approach the rat, and each time the bar was struck Albert burst to tears. The same process was repeated a week later. The result was that when Albert saw the white rat he began to …show more content…
Though they may sound quite reasonable, none of these theorems are without demerit. The model of brain chemistry supports the claim that phobias stem from increased responsiveness of fear and stress- related areas of the brain, to fearful stimuli. However, it is not clear whether it is this over-sensitiveness that triggers phobias, or if it is the phobia itself that is responsible for the development, with time, of the sensitiveness in the respective parts of the brain. As regards genetic inheritance, scientists are in two minds about whether it is the phobia that is inherited or a tendency for specific neurotic responses to certain stimuli. The main claim of the diathesis – stress model is refuted by studies showing that not all individuals suffering from a specific phobia have had traumatic experiences related to the phobic stimuli. The evolutionary model argues that the genes humans inherited from their pretechnological ancestors were formed due to the ancestors’ intense and long-lasting fear of certain stimuli, which posed a severe threat to them on a daily basis. This model though cannot account for all cases of specific phobias; only for those that have been in existence long enough to be incorporated into the human DNA. Newer phobias, such as keyboard phobia for example, cannot be explained by this