Intro To Psychology

2 Pages 531 Words

Writing Assignment: Compare and Contrast
For Introduction to Psychology




I chose to use the article “Genes, Fears, Phobias, and Phobic Disorders” by Gregory Carey. I thought that this particular article would be interesting because I would like to know about fears and phobias that are pasted genetically. I personally have unfortunate experience of anxiety or “panic attacks”, and my mother and my sister have suffered from this disorder also. My mother has been taking medication for her anxiety for about twenty years now, but mine was never that serious. I have always believed that my anxiety was past on to me through my genes.


My only problem with this assignment is that I do not really like to read, and especially medical type of information. I chose a subject that was interesting to me, so that made it a little easier. But I do prefer to write personal experience or opinion papers. I did like that we were giving good instructions and that helps me know how to complete my assignment correctly. We also were given plenty of time to turn in this assignment and that made it less stressful.


In the text book it briefly talks about how phobias focus on dangers faced by our ancestors and our compulsive acts typically exaggerate behaviors that contribute to our species survival, and also how some people more than others being genetically predisposed to fears and high anxiety. The original author, Gregory Carey, goes more into examining the history of fears and phobias and defining different phobic disorders. The text used an example taken from the original author’s material of identical 35-year-old female twins who were raised separately and both developed claustrophobia and a fear of water. I thought that this story was very interesting. The text also explain that anxiety, panic attacks, and obsessive and compulsive disorders are biologically measurable as an over arous...