Max has a phobia of the sea. On a family holiday as a child, he was carried away by the tide and had to be rescued by a lifeguard. Now he has a family of his own. Max refuses to go on beach holidays.

Max has a phobia of the sea. On a family holiday as
a child, he was carried away by the tide and had to
be rescued by a lifeguard. Now he has a family of his
own. Max refuses to go on beach holidays.
Discuss the two process model of
phobias. Refer to Max’s phobias of the
sea in your answer. [16 marks]
Mowrer (1947) proposed the two process
model – a behaviourist explanation that
states that phobias are acquired through
classical conditioning and continuously
maintained through operant conditioning.

The two process model firstly suggests that
an individual acquires a phobia through
classical conditioning, which is the process
of learning by associating two stimuli
together to condition a response – therefore
it is said that phobias can be acquired
through associative learning. This process of
classical conditioning can explain how we
learn to associate something that we do not
fear (the neutral stimulus) with something
that automatically triggers a fear response
(the unconditioned stimulus). In Max’s case,
the neutral stimulus can be quickly
identified to be the sea, and the
unconditioned stimulus to be the event in
which he was carried away by the tide, and
then rescued by a lifeguard on a family