The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias
A phobia is an intense, irrational fear of a specific object or situation. Psychologists describe phobias using three types of characteristic: what a person does, feels, and thinks.
Real World
A contestant on I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! refused to enter a dark cave containing spiders, showing avoidance behaviour. They reported feeling dizzy and sick (emotional), and later said they knew the spiders were harmless but couldn't stop believing they'd be bitten (cognitive distortion).
Exam Focus
Always give one specific example per characteristic category — examiners award separate marks for behavioural, emotional, and cognitive.
Evaluation Scaffold
A four-step framework for high-quality evaluation. Use this for 'assess', 'evaluate', and 'to what extent' questions.
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