Phobias

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the characteristics of phobias, focusing in particular on: (i) how we define a phobia when compared to a fear; (ii) how the term ‘excessive’ ties into rationality, and how the view of what is rational is very context dependent; (iii) an emotional perspective with which to view phobias, considering the emotions, in addition to fear, that tie into a phobia; (iv) a behavioural perspective, which considers the behaviours people might undertake to avoid that which they fear; (v) a cognitive perspective which views phobias as ‘satellite thoughts’, as well as how all of these concepts link to panic attacks.

About the lecturer

Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Dr Bouguettaya’s research interests are in social psychology and how knowledge from that field can be applied to others, particularly health, including how we can apply social identity theory to societal problems, as well as investigating the different perspectives one might take on those issues. Some of Dr Bouguettaya’s recent publications include 'The relationship between gambling advertising and gambling attitudes, intentions and behaviours: a critical and meta-analytic review' (2020) and 'The Effect of a Food Addiction Explanation Model for Weight Control and Obesity on Weight Stigma' (2020).