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Title: In her 1924 article, “A laboratory study of fear: The case of Peter,” Mary Cover Post by: colleen on May 30, 2012 In her 1924 article, “A laboratory study of fear: The case of Peter,” Mary Cover Jones reported the successful treatment of a 3-year-old boy with a “home-grown” phobia of rabbits.
• Name the method that was used by Mary Cover Jones. • Describe the principles of her technique. • What steps needed to be taken to ensure that the fear of rabbits wouldn’t be generalized to pleasant stimuli? • What is the variation of her procedure that has been used to treat phobias in adults? Title: Re: In her 1924 article, “A laboratory study of fear: The case of Peter,” Mary Cover Post by: ThePsychic on May 31, 2012 Mary Cover Jones used counterconditioning to help the child get over his fear of rabbits.
Counterconditioning involves pairing the conditioned stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response incompatible with the unwanted response. In this case, a snack of crackers and milk was paired with presentation of the rabbit (CS). The snack produced pleasant feelings incompatible with fear (CR). To prevent fear of the rabbit from generalizing to the snack, the rabbit was initially kept at a distance and only gradually moved closer to Peter. Systematic desensitization is a variation of this procedure sometimes used for treating phobias in adults. |