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Are you afraid? Irrational Phobias and Fear.

Ananya Sood


Remedial for Missed Quiz 6


Why Do We Develop Certain Irrational Phobias?


Katherina K. Hauner, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, attempts to answer the posed question by Andrew Watts and decipher the prominent causes of different phobias and in her answer, suggests different treatments to these phobias. She begins her article by highlighting the fight or flight response which is predominantly caused by fear. Fear is normally considered a reaction to a stimulus. This stimulus is one that immediately threatens a person's safety and security. The author distinguishes this response to threatening stimuli with maladaptive reactions, which are known as irrational fears or phobias. 
According to Butcher, Phobias come under the diagnostic category of anxiety disorders, which are broadly divided into 5 different categories. The first is Specific phobias, also focused on in Katherina's article. The second is the social anxiety disorder otherwise known as the social phobia. The third anxiety disorder is the panic disorder, followed by agoraphobia and generalized anxiety disorder. Each of these has unreal and highly irrational fears, some of which are to a disabling extent and cause extreme anxiety as their principle manifestation. 
Katherina Hauner chooses to focus on the first and most widespread category, of anxiety disorders, which is the Specific Phobia. A specific phobia, according to Hauner is a persistent fear of certain object or situation. This phobia tends to cause excessive anxiety and overwhelming stress. Specific phobias interfere with the daily life to an extent where the response to stimuli often represents a panic attack. "Common subtypes of specific phobias include the fear of small animals, insects, flying, enclosed spaces, blood, and needles." (Watts) 
The author furthers the article by highlighting the possible causes of why people may develop certain phobias and what factors do our environment and genetics play in these irrational fears. The author suggests that genetics contribute to about 25-60% of the development of our phobias.She argues that even though genetics contribute to a large aspect of the formation and development of these phobias, there is no single gene that can be identified as the sole cause of this. Instead, several different genes play a combinatory role in predisposing an individual to a certain type of phobia.
Further research into this field of psychological factors that might cause a phobia to develop shows that there are two possible ways stemming from our environment. Phobias can be learned through observational behavior and vicarious conditioning. Based on the learning theory, development of phobias can be done through classical conditioning. The fear response is learned towards a neutral stimulus if the stimulus is placed near a traumatic situation or event. The vicarious conditioning situation is when a person has a terrifying experience in the presence of a neutral object or situation and resonates that with the terrifying experience. 
Hauner concludes her article by suggesting exposure and cognitive behavioral therapy to help cure and deal with phobias and the irrational anxiety caused by them. 



Article - 

Watts, Andrew. “Why Do We Develop Certain Irrational Phobias?” Scientific American, Scientificamerican.com, 1 Jan. 2014,










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