Explain How Classical Conditioning,operant Conditioning,and Preparedness Relate to Phobias

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--Acquisition: Classical conditioning: a previously neutral stimulus-say,a dog-is paired with an unpleasant stimulus (the UCS)-a dog bite-resulting in the dog becoming a CS that elicits a CR of fear.
--Maintenance: Once someone is phobic,they start to avoid their feared stimulus whenever they see it.And because they avoid the feared stimulus whenever they see it,they don't allow sufficient opportunity for their fear response to extinguish.For example,if they have a dog phobia,they may cross the street whenever they see someone walking toward them with a large German shepherd.When they do,they experience an immediate reduction in anxiety-a surge of relief-which negatively reinforces their tendency to avoid dogs in the future.
--Preparedness: We're evolutionarily predisposed to fear certain stimuli more than others.According to Seligman,that's because certain stimuli,like steep cliffs and poisonous animals,posed a threat to our early human ancestors.In contrast,household items and appliances didn't,because they weren't around back then.In the words of Susan Mineka and Michael Cook (1993),prepared fears are "evolutionary memories": emotional legacies of natural selection.

Explain How Classical Conditioning,operant Conditioning,and Preparedness Relate to Phobias

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