A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety disorders: It’s not what you thought it was - a summary by an article by Mineka, & Zinbarg
A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety disorders: It’s not what you thought it wasArticle by: Mineka, S. & Zinbarg, R. (2006)American Psychologist, 61, 10-26 Individuals with specific phobias show intense and irrational fears of certain objects or situations that they usually go to great lengths to avoid.Vicarious conditioning of fears and phobias Strong and persistent phobias can be learned rapidly through observation alone.Sources of individual differences in the acquisition of fears and phobias Many individuals who do undergo traumatic experiences do not develop phobias. From a diathesis-stress perspective, such findings are expected. There seems to be a modest genetically based vulnerability for phobias. This genetic vulnerability may well be mediated through genetic contributions to fear conditioning, which may in turn be mediated through personality variables such as high treat anxiety that also seem to serve as vulnerability factors, affecting the speed and strength of conditioning.Differences in life experiences among individuals can also strongly affect the outcome of conditioning experiences. Such experiential factors may serve as vulnerability (or invulnerability) factors for the development of phobias. The relevant differences in life experiences may occur before, during, or following a fear-conditioning experience, and they can act singly or in combination to affect how much fear is experienced, acquired, or maintained over time.Impact of prior experiences Latent inhibition demonstrates...
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