The Role of Behavioral and Cognitive Theory in Phobia Development and Extinction

Document from the year 2018 in the subject Medicine - Medical Frontiers and Special Areas, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: This case study report provides a comprehensive discussion based on the psychological construction of emotions through the application of behavioral and cognitive theory in analyzing the given case study.

Phobia is increasingly becoming a central point of attraction in the field of emotion research. Research psychologists are interested in generating more evidence to reconcile the wide differences that exist from the current findings. From a critical perspective, consensus on the basis of fear or phobia appears to be unlikely in the foreseeable future. This is attributable to the fact that psychologists perceive phobia as a psychological construct, whereas biologists argue fear to be an aspect that is discoverable through scientific inquiry. Another aspect that has contributed to the controversy surrounding research on phobia is the lack of consensus on how to investigate this emotion. Despite these controversies, clinical scientists are still engaged in intensive research on fear as an underlying aspect in mood and anxiety disorders. From a real-life perspective, phobias are not new in animals, including humans. As such, Adolphs perceives fear to be a central state of organisms.