Marcus has a debilitating fear of lifts (elevators). He developed this phobia after being trapped in a small, dark lift during a power cut at work. Since then, he has avoided them entirely, opting to use stairs. Marcus recently tried to overcome his fear by forcing himself to ride a busy lift, but this resulted in a severe panic attack, causing him to exit at the very next floor.
Marcus has just been promoted to a new role located on the 15th floor of a high-rise office building. Eager to take up the job and avoid climbing 15 flights of stairs every day, Marcus is considering systematic desensitisation to treat his phobia.
Discuss how systematic desensitisation could be used to help Marcus with his fear of lifts.
205 exam-style questions on Edexcel A Level Psychology Content, covering Main features of classical conditioning, Pavlov (1927) salivation in dogs, Main features of operant conditioning, Properties of reinforcement, Behaviour modification and shaping, Main features of social learning theory, Social learning stages, Bandura (1961, 1963) Bobo doll experiments, Bandura (1965) vicarious reinforcement, Learning theories and phobias, Treatments for phobias, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.