Lay beliefs about phobia

One hundred fifty people completed a two-part questionnaire that investigates beliefs about the nature and cure of phobia. The questionnaire was derived from interviews with people as well as a content analysis of salient literature. Both parts of the questionnaire had a fairly complex, but interpretable, factor structure. Five factors emerged from the 23-item attitude section: the idea that certain personality factors related to phobia; there are physical correlates of phobia; observational learning causes phobia; phobias are caused by behavioral pairing; and, finally, Freudian ideas of unconscious association. The 13-item treatment section showed four factors: alternative medical practices; psycho-analytic practices, desensitization, and flooding. There was a clear and logical relationship between perceptions of the causes and treatment of phobia. The study demonstrates that lay people have coherent theories of the etiology and cure of phobia.