The best answer is probably yes. As usual, both operant and classical conditioning functions are involved.
I'm not sure how a phobia differs from an avoidance response maintained by a conditioned or unconditioned stimulus. The main question would be the function of the mother's fear response to the child. Does a mother's fear stimulate fear in a child without any prior conditioning history? If so, than it is an unconditioned stimulus, and the child's fear is an unconditioned response to it. The phobic stimulus (talking about a shower or a snake, or a snake in the shower for that matter) then becomes a conditioned stimulus, and avoiding it a negatively reinforced operant response. The details of the mother/child relationship are the prior conditioning history that makes the mother's response an effective stimulus for the child's behavior. On Feb 8, 2014, at 12:34 PM, Jeffry Ricker, Ph.D. wrote: > Hi all, > > When I was a child, I remember my mother telling me about a friend of hers > who developed a "shower phobia" after watching Hitchcock's Psycho. (By > today's standards, the scene is quite tame, but it was terrifying to many > people at the time the movie was released.) It seems obvious that the woman's > shower phobia developed through vicarious conditioning. > > A "textbook example" of vicarious conditioning I have often seen is the > development of an animal phobia (usually a snake or cockroach) in a child > after seeing his/her mother express extreme fear upon coming into contact > with that animal. I wonder, however, if classical conditioning is the better > way of describing the situation. That is, the mother's expression of terror > represents a UCS for the child because of the strong emotional bond between > them. It is not simply the degree of "empathy" the child feels for another > that leads to the conditioning of the fear response: the expression of fear > in a parent might be seen as a more direct indication of danger because of > the parent-child relationship. > > I hope I'm communicating this in a way that makes sense. If so, what are your > thoughts on this: is it better conceptualized as vicarious or classical > conditioning? > > Best, > Jeff Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=34046 or send a blank email to leave-34046-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
