Public Speaking Phobia Paper

Introduction

Phobias can be said to be unjustified fears of situations of objects that people encounter in their day to day lives. Many phobias come as a result of observing the people who we regard as our role models. Watching someone that we are so close to whether a friend or a parent, or anyone influential go through some experiences that are negative, will have an impact on our entire lives. In this case bill has a fear of standing in front of other people while delivering his speech. Throughout his entire life, he has tried avoiding giving speeches, and with the current situation, it is obvious that he will be required to give speeches as part of his duties. In this paper, I will use behavioral and cognitive theory in analysis of public speaking phobia.

 Potential Ways Bill Could Have Developed This Phobia;

Classical Conditioning

One of the ways in which Bill could have developed this phobia is through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning occurs when one sees or hears something which in its sense produces some aspects of great fear (Ricker, 2011). This will make them to develop the same kind of fear against the same thing. In this case, it is most probable that while Bill was growing up, he might have seen people failing to deliver according to the expectations of their audience. This experience might have forced him to have the same perception that he might not be in a good position to offer what other people might be expecting of him. Classical conditioning can be said to be the association between two stimuli. Bill compares what he experienced in the past and what can happen given that he might be faced with the same under the present circumstances.

Operant Conditioning

Another way in which he could have developed this phobia is through operant conditioning. Operation conditioning involves a stimuli formation of an association occurring between a behavior and a consequence, contrary to classical conditioning which involves two stimuli. There are four possible consequences that can come as a result in as far as operant conditioning is concerned. One of the possible consequences is the fact that something bad can be presented by bill. This is what he fears. Throughout his career, he has developed and become someone believed to be of great output and contribution at his workplace, and he fears by being given such a responsibility, he might not be able to deliver as is expected of him.

Observational Learning

In this mechanism for the development of phobias, there is no involvement of traumatic experiences before the onset of the phobia. This means that emotional responses can be as a result of observing a certain model or a particular object. There are chances that Bill might have observed some people in his life that had a fear delivering speeches, and as a result the same fear was inflicted in him. This made him not to believe in himself as being in a position to be able to deliver quality speeches.

Process of Extinction in Overcoming Bill’s Phobia

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