Discuss the theory of evolutionary preparedness and how it may apply to specific phobia, social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder
What will be an ideal response?
Our evolutionary history has affected the stimuli we are most likely to fear.
People and primates seem genetically prepared to quickly associate certain objects with fear rather than other objects. While there are many types of specific phobias, most involve animals and situations that were a threat to our ancestors. Those primates and humans who had this rapid acquisition of fear were more likely to survive and pass on their genes. The fear itself is not inherited, the tendency to make certain connections quickly is. It was also advantageous to acquire fears of social stimuli that signaled danger - angry or contemptuous faces. So social phobias may have an evolutionary basis. The most common obsession in OCD - contamination and dirt - was also a threat to our ancestors and may have the same type of preparedness component. GRADING RUBRIC - 10 points, 4 for explanation of preparedness, 2 for each disorder.
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