Comparing Bandura's Theory Of Anxiety And Classical Conditioning

A phobia is an intense, unreasonable fear of situations, objects, activities, etc. The fear and distress is so intense that the person will do whatever they can to avoid coming into contact with the object of their fear, and often spend time thinking about whether they're likely to encounter it in a given situation. “A phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by an intense and irrational fear that is out of proportion to the danger elicited by the object or situation. In comparison, fear is a realistic response to a threatening situation” (631). Phobias are fears that haunt people and can cause much harm if the intensity of the fear is high. Phobias can develop through many different ways. One of those ways is through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning that was accidently discovered by Ivan Pavlov. “Classical conditioning is a kind of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by a different stimulus” (196). This type of learning is
The idea that humans mimic others actions and learn from observation is a key part of Albert Bandura’s theory. “Social cognitive theory emphasized the importance of observation, limitation, and self-reward in the development and learning of social skills, personal interactions, and many other behaviors” (225). It can take place at any point in life, it tends to be the most common during childhood as children learn from the authority figures and peers in their lives. There are a number of factors that increase the likelihood that a behavior will be influenced. We are more likely to imitate people we perceive as warm and nurturing. people who receive rewards for their behavior, when you have been rewarded for imitating the behavior in the past, when we are unaware what to do in certain situations, people who hold high authority powers, and people that we