How would you answer an essay question on the behavioural approach to treating phobias?

In any essay question, you need to split it into two parts - outline (AO1) and evaluate (AO3). The AO1 is worth 6 marks out of the total 16, so you would want to briefly describe the key features of the behaviourist approach, and how this is applied to phobias, but not in too much detail. It's always good to try and include an example of piece of research into the AO1 as well to show depth of knowledge. So, you might talk about systematic desensitisation first, describing the process of this and making sure you link it to the behaviourist approach really clearly by stressing that it works using the principle of classical conditioning. I would then go on to talk about flooding, which removes the option of avoidance behaviour, and give an example of this e.g. someone who was scared of dogs may be locked in a room with a dog until they learn that it's not going to hurt them, and so they stop associating the conditioned stimulus (the dog) with the unconditioned stimulus (being bitten) and will not produce the conditioned response of fear. For the AO3, you need to evaluate the behavioural approach to treating phobias, making sure you look at both strengths and weaknesses. This is worth 10 marks, so you ideally want a minimum of three paragraphs, but the number of points you make will depend on how detailed each point is. It's really important for your evaluations to be structured clearly, starting with a "signpost" that tells the examiner what you're going to argue (i.e. is it a strength or weakness of the approach), and then follow this up with evidence for your point and a link back to the question, just like the typical PEEL structure. For example, one evaluation point would be that a strength of systematic desensitisation, and therefore of the behavioural approach to treating phobias, is that it is found by researchers to be very effective. You would then use a study e.g. Gilroy et al to back up your point, and lastly explain how this supports the approach.