Counterconditioning

In Chapter 5 on Page 161, the section is on learning. The text says, ”The reasoning behind counterconditioning is this: if fears, as Watson has shown, can be conditioned by painful experiences, perhaps fears can be counterconditioned by substituting pleasant experiences.”
Often times when people have fear, they want to learn how not to be afraid anymore. This can be done by flooding, where the person with the fear is forced into the situation over and over again unti l the fear is no longer a fear. Another way to do it, and I feel this is preferred, is counterconditioning.
Counterconditioning is where someone is doing their favorite thing, and the fear is gradually implemented into their environment.
Just over a year ago I was in a traumatic car accident. Three and a half days after I was …show more content…
I couldn’t help but have a fear of being in a vehicle and having another accident. I was exposed to flooding, where I often had to be in the car since that is a method of transportation used often. About 9 months ago I got my permit, and driving was a form of counterconditioning for me. The constant exposure to cars and the counterconditioning helped me to almost completely get over my fear since I am happy when I do