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5BBA2040 Psychology Classical Conditioning Essay

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This is the final essay I submitted for my Psychology module, and I got a first (73%). Hope this helps!

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  • January 23, 2025
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“Discuss how classical conditioning research has been applied to advance our
understanding and treatment of fear and/or anxiety related disorders in humans. Use
experimental evidence to support your arguments.”


Classical conditioning (CC), an associative learning process, serves as a fundamental mechanism that
allows us to understand and treat fear and anxiety disorders. By examining classic experiments such as
Ivan Pavlov’s work with dogs and the case study of “Peter” by Mary Cover Jones (1991), we explore how
CC principles contribute to formation and treatment of phobias, such as Systematic Desensitisation (SD),
Exposure Therapy (ET) and its modern counterpart, Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET). This
essay will contrast the efficacy of CC-based therapies with pharmacological treatments, advocating for a
more multifaceted, individualised approach to treat anxiety/fear related disorders, moving beyond the
confines of CC to embrace a more holistic approach to treat anxiety disorders.


CC is an involuntary associative learning process where a neutral stimulus (NS) becomes associated with
an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), leading to a conditioned response (CR) (Rehman, 2017). In Ivan
Pavlov's experiment (1920), the ringing of a bell (NS) initially evokes no response in the dog. However, a
UCS is a stimulus which naturally causes an automatic response (UCR), such as food (UCS) causing
salivation (UCR). Through repeated pairings of the NS and UCS, the bell, which was initially a NS,
becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS), causing salivation (CR) even in the absence of the food (UCS). The
principle of CC underpins the development of anxiety disorders and phobias. For example, a harmless
stimulus like a balloon (NS) can become a source of fear (CR) if consistently paired with an aversive UCS,
such as the balloon popping. This process not only establishes the fearful response (UCR), which then
becomes a CR, but can also intensify it over time, even in the absence of the original fear-inducing
stimulus, contributing to the persistence and escalation of anxiety (Rehman, 2017). Furthermore,
extinction is a concept in which the association or the CR (e.g fear) decreases over time when the
conditioned stimulus (balloon) is repeatedly presented without the UCS (balloon popping), which
underpins the principle behind ET (Rehman, 2017).


This principle is vividly illustrated in Mary Cover Jones' 1924 study with "Peter", which showcases CC’s
role application in phobia treatment. In this study, Peter, a young child initially fearful of rabbits (CR),
was gradually exposed to one (CS) while engaged in enjoyable activities (UCS), effectively diminishing his
fear through counterconditioning (Jones, 1991). This early example of counterconditioning, a form of
CC, highlights the potential to replace a fear response (CR) with a positive or neutral one by associating
the fear-induced stimulus (CS) with positive experiences. A strength of this study is the lack of
experimenter bias involved, as Jones asked psychology students and instructors to objectively rank
Peter's reactions in a tolerance series, minimising experimenter bias. However, its generalisability is
limited, as it focused on a single case, making it challenging to apply findings broadly across diverse age
groups, cultural backgrounds, and individual learning and emotional regulation capacities. Despite these

, limitations, Jones' pioneering work in counterconditioning laid essential foundations for future therapies
like systematic desensitisation (SD) , marking a significant advancement in the field.


SD, based on CC’s counterconditioning principle, aims to reduce anxiety by pairing relaxation techniques
(UCS) with gradual exposure to feared stimuli (CS). The study by Prayetno et al. (2020) demonstrates
SD’s capacity to reduce anxiety in individuals with specific phobias, employing a quasi-experimental
design with six participants aged 19-30. Over three weeks, participants engaged in six SD sessions that
included relaxation exercises, developing a hierarchy of anxiety-inducing stimuli and imagining these
stimuli while maintaining relaxation. The study reported a statistically significant reduction in anxiety
levels (p=0.014) and physical responses after six treatments, validating SD's effectiveness in mitigating
specific phobia-related anxiety. However, the small sample size of six participants and absence of a
control group limit the generalizability of the findings and the ability to conclusively attribute anxiety
reduction to SD. Additionally, the study's short duration leaves the long-term efficacy of SD unexplored.
An overall limitation of the use of SD is the reliance on the patient's ability to achieve relaxation, which
may not be achievable for individuals with severe anxiety or those unable to master relaxation
techniques. Despite these limitations, this research highlights the application of CC principles,
specifically counterconditioning, illustrating SD's potential in the broader context of anxiety disorder
treatment.


Along with SD, CC research has also significantly influenced the development of ET. ET is a treatment
based on the process of extinction; the patient is gradually and repeatedly exposed to the feared object
(CS), without any accompanying UCS (balloon popping), thus the CR (fear) gradually diminishes
(Rehman, 2017). Over time, the association between the CS and UCS is reduced through repeated
exposures. Evidence to support the efficacy of ET, or specifically Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
(VRET) comes from Gujjar (2019), where 30 randomised patients who met the diagnostic criteria for
dental phobia, were randomised to either VRET or Informational Pamphlet condition. In VRET
condition, the patients were exposed to 5 gradually increasing fear - arousing conditions (e.g from dental
instruments surrounding them to virtual dentists carrying a drill towards the patient). In the IP
condition, the patients only received a pamphlet about how to overcome dental anxiety. Both groups
completed self-reported questionnaires before and after the treatment. The results showed that VRET
significantly decreased their anxiety scores compared to the IP condition. The superiority of VRET over
control was also evident at 6 month follow up for the VRET group, showing the efficacy of VRET in
treating specific phobias in the long term. However, a limitation of this study is that the 5 conditions that
the patients were exposed to could trigger different reactions in each patient due to individual
differences. However, VRET may be superior to in vivo ET, as well as SD, due to its ability to mimic
multiple contexts (e.g for patients who suffer from agoraphobia); ET and SD tends to be context specific
and exist in the therapist’s office and not in the actual location where the UCS-CS association formed
(dental clinic). Thus, it’d be more effective if fear extinction occurs in the same location as where the
UCS-CS association occurred.

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