Final answer:
In classical conditioning, organisms learn to associate events or stimuli that repeatedly happen together, which can cause a phobia. Operant conditioning strengthens phobias through avoidance behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
In classical conditioning, organisms learn to associate events or stimuli that repeatedly happen together. For example, in Pavlov's dog experiments, the dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell (neutral stimulus) with the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus), and eventually, they started salivating (conditioned response) at the sound of the bell alone (now conditioned stimulus). This process can also apply to the development of phobias. For instance, if someone has a traumatic experience with a dog (unconditioned stimulus), they may subsequently develop a fear response (conditioned response) to encountering any dog (conditioned stimulus). This fear response is an example of classical conditioning causing a phobia.
Operant conditioning, on the other hand, involves learning through consequences. It strengthens phobias by using avoidance behavior. If someone has a phobia of dogs, for example, they may avoid situations where they might encounter dogs. By avoiding these situations, they are not exposed to the fear-inducing stimulus and therefore do not experience the fear response. This avoidance behavior is reinforced because it reduces their anxiety, making them more likely to continue avoiding the stimulus and strengthening their phobia.