Experimental Models

As B. F. Skinner’s laboratory discoveries of the principles of instrumental
conditioning began to be applied to humans in the 1940’s and 1950’s, experimental
models of phobias in animals were developed. In the 1950’s, Joseph
Wolpe created phobia-like responses in cats by shocking them in experimental cages. He was later able to decrease their fear by feeding them in
the cages where they had previously been shocked. Based on this counterconditioning
model, Wolpe developed the therapy procedure of systematic
desensitization, which paired mental images of the feared stimulus with
bodily relaxation.
Social learning theory as advanced by Albert Bandura in the 1960’s was
also applied to phobias. Bandura conducted experiments showing that
someone might develop a phobia by observing another person behaving
fearfully. It was later demonstrated that some phobias could be treated by
having the patient observe and imitate a nonfearful model. Cognitive approaches
to phobias were also developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s by therapists
such as Albert Ellis and Aaron T. Beck. These theories focus on the role
of disturbing thoughts in creating bodily arousal and associated fear. Therapy
then consists of altering these thought patterns. 636