P 15.3 NEXT - These are all lesson work notes for component 2 of psychology. These are for PDF

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These are all lesson work notes for component 2 of psychology. These are for component 2 so may contain social, biological, cognitive, individual differences and developmental. They may also include section B and C so issues and debates. ...

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Section C Baked Beans are ruining my life. A cook had to quit his job because an uncontrollable fear of baked beans. Rob Griffiths feels faint every time he sees what he calls the ‘orange devils’. He said: “I get shaky and I just have to run if they’re anywhere near me”. Rob thinks he developed rare leguminophobia, the fear of baked beans, after his brothers threw them at him when he was a child. He said: “I was a pub chef and breakfast was hard. Staff had to prepare the beans while I hid in the back”. Now a window cleaner, Rob, of Milton Keynes, says he can’t even go near the beans when they’re safely in tins in Tesco. “It is very distressing”, he added. Leading behavioural scientist Prof Cary Cooper said: “It sounds like a classic phobia but there

a) Identify one psychological issue raised by the above article. Support your answer with evidence from the article [4] One psychological issue in the article is that it says how his phobia of beans may be a learnt behaviour. When he was younger his brothers threw beans at him which Rob was clearly distressed by. This could have led him to associating beans with an uncomfortable feeling of distress and panic after which the presence of beans would trigger the same negative emotions. Over time this association has been strengthened by Rob avoiding contact with beans which has further reinforced his phobia. b) Briefly outline one piece of psychological research and explain how it could relate to the issue you identified [8] Little Albert was a 9-month-old infant who was tested on his reactions to various stimuli by Watson and Rayner. He was shown a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey and various masks. His reactions were unemotional and initially he showed no fear to any of these objects. The experimenter then took a hammer and struck it against a steel bar behind his head. The sudden noise startled him and caused him to cry. When he was 11 months old, the white rat was presented to him and the hammer struck the bar again. This was done 7 times over the following 7 weeks. Each time it caused him to cry. Now, whenever he saw the rat he showed every sign of fear as he would cry and attempt to crawl away. This links to the issue I identified because it shows how a phobia can be learnt through association. For example, Rob associated beans with distress and upset when he was young but prior to this event he showed no fear towards beans, similar to little Albert not showing any fear of white rats. c) Explain how one area or perspective could explain Rob’s phobia of baked beans [5] Psychodynamic psychologists believe that phobias are caused by repressed fears related to a critical period of development (our childhood). Phobias stem from fearful thoughts or memories that are too painful to acknowledge consciously so the true fear is repressed into the unconscious mind but these repressed thoughts are expressed in other ways, normally attached to a fear of something else less traumatic than the memory. In Rob’s case, some form of emotional trauma in childhood happened, which was then repressed into his unconscious mind. This repressed thought is expressing itself as a phobia of baked beans but the true fear is actually linked to something else, possible unresolved fear of his father linked to not fully resolving his Oedipus Complex between the ages of 36. d) Use your psychological knowledge to suggest how Rob could manage his phobia [8] Rob could use flooding, which involves forced, prolonged exposure to the actual stimulus that provokes the phobic response. This would involve filling a room full of tins of baked beans and forcing Rob to sit in the room alone for a prolonged period of time, e.g. 6

hours. Rob will have no choice but to stay in the room and confront his fears and when the panic subsides he will realise he has come to no harm and that beans should not really be feared.

e) Discuss problems with the suggestion you made in d) [10] Using flooding to try and help Rob control his phobia could be seen as unethical. Because you are exposing him to his phobia on his own, for a prolonged period of time where he cannot get away with it does not allow him the right to withdraw. But, you couldn’t allow Rob to withdraw because he would then not manage his phobia but would continue to run away with it, rendering it as ineffective. Plus, when he was able to leave the room at the end then it would feel more rewarding. Another ethical issue is protection from participants because you are not easing him into his fear, you are submerging him fully which would lead to severe issues with protection of participants, as he is most likely to feel anxiety from being with his phobia. Another problem with this issue is that Rob may not want to manage his phobia. This would be a problem with commitment. Rob may not want to manage it so may not engage fully in the experiment and may be resistant and because it involves intense exposure them and flooding may not actually help to control his phobia and could potentially make him feel worse. Also, we know all people are different from the individual differences area, so flooding may work for some people but may not work for Rob so it would be wasted on him and would be rendered ineffective. One final problem is to do with the nature vs nurture debate. Although Rob believes that his phobia was caused by exposure from his brother (following the nurture debate), it may actually be down to his genes. Which would follow the nature side of the debate. So, flooding would try and help him manage his phobia if it was from the nurture side as he could control it but if it was to do with his genes then being exposed to beans would not help him manage his phobia but may just make it worse and make him just feel anxiety as if it is down to his genes then it may be hard for him to manage....