Fear of heights
Psychology 211
December 16, 2013
University of Phoenix
Many individuals suffer from a phobia or a natural fear of something or a current situation that they may have been in or are in currently. One of the most common phobias is having a fear of heights, also called Acrophobia. Acrophobia is often mislabeled as vertigo. Researchers have said that “those with an extreme fear of heights, that the stronger their fear is, the bigger the error could be (Callaway, 2009).
The fear of heights in different learning perspectives Someone that is truly associated with acrophobia can go into panic mode when having to face that fear, normally right away their first thought is to grab ahold of something to help them feel more secure, but then there are others that will start shaking, sweating, holler, panic, or even break down and cry. When the individual that has this phobia starts to show all those signs that is their unconditioned responses starting to show. (Fritscher. 2011) The system that helps alert us is the unconditioned stimulus. (Ruden, 2012) At times their unconditioned stimulus will kick in to say and make them panic to the extreme levels of them crawling around on all fours or even as so much lay in a fetal position (Fritscher, 2011). Although every person handles their phobia in a different manner, most still find it difficult to trust in their own sense of balance and when this occurs, they can’t think properly because they are trying to deal with the fear of heights. (Fritscher, 2011).
An example could be that someone went on vacation, they went to New York with their family. Anyone that goes to New York more than likely knows about the many skyscrapers, one being The Empire State building. That building in particular has 102 floors and has about 1, 860 steps from top to bottom and stands tall at 1, 454 feet (www.esbnyc.com). Now, most that have acrophobia, their unconditioned responses kick in, they start thinking the worse possible thoughts.
December 16, 2013
University of Phoenix
Many individuals suffer from a phobia or a natural fear of something or a current situation that they may have been in or are in currently. One of the most common phobias is having a fear of heights, also called Acrophobia. Acrophobia is often mislabeled as vertigo. Researchers have said that “those with an extreme fear of heights, that the stronger their fear is, the bigger the error could be (Callaway, 2009).
The fear of heights in different learning perspectives Someone that is truly associated with acrophobia can go into panic mode when having to face that fear, normally right away their first thought is to grab ahold of something to help them feel more secure, but then there are others that will start shaking, sweating, holler, panic, or even break down and cry. When the individual that has this phobia starts to show all those signs that is their unconditioned responses starting to show. (Fritscher. 2011) The system that helps alert us is the unconditioned stimulus. (Ruden, 2012) At times their unconditioned stimulus will kick in to say and make them panic to the extreme levels of them crawling around on all fours or even as so much lay in a fetal position (Fritscher, 2011). Although every person handles their phobia in a different manner, most still find it difficult to trust in their own sense of balance and when this occurs, they can’t think properly because they are trying to deal with the fear of heights. (Fritscher, 2011).
An example could be that someone went on vacation, they went to New York with their family. Anyone that goes to New York more than likely knows about the many skyscrapers, one being The Empire State building. That building in particular has 102 floors and has about 1, 860 steps from top to bottom and stands tall at 1, 454 feet (www.esbnyc.com). Now, most that have acrophobia, their unconditioned responses kick in, they start thinking the worse possible thoughts.
References: • McLeod, S. A. (2008). Classical conditioing . Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org • Bailey, E. (2008). Treating fear of heights. Retrieved from http://WWW.healthcentral.com • Ruden, R. (n.d). Conquering the fear of flying. Retrieved from http://www.psychotherapy-center.com/fear_of_flying.html • Fritscher, L. (2012). Phobias. Retrieved from http://phobias.about.com/ • The offical site of the empire state building. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.esbnyc.com/explore_esb_about_esb.asp Tables