Editing Phobia (section)

==== Vicarious conditioning ====
Vicarious fear acquisition is learning to fear something, not by a subject's own experience of fear, but by watching others, oftentimes a parent ([[observational learning]]). For instance, when a child sees a parent reacting fearfully to an animal, the child can also become afraid of the animal.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://behavenet.com/vicarious-conditioning | title=vicarious conditioning | publisher=BehaveNet | access-date=2013-06-21 }}</ref> Through observational learning, humans can learn to fear potentially dangerous objects—a reaction observed in other primates.<ref name="Snakes">{{cite journal | vauthors = Mineka S, Davidson M, Cook M, Keir R | title = Observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys | journal = Journal of Abnormal Psychology | volume = 93 | issue = 4 | pages = 355–372 | date = November 1984 | pmid = 6542574 | doi = 10.1037/0021-843x.93.4.355 }}</ref> A study on non-human primates, showed that the primates learned to fear snakes at a fast rate after watching parents' fearful reactions.<ref name="Snakes"/> An increase in fearful behaviours was observed as the non-human primates observed their parents' fearful reactions.<ref name="Snakes"/> Although observational learning has proven effective in creating reactions of fear and phobias, it has also been shown that by physically experiencing an event, increases the chance of fearful and phobic behaviours.<ref name="Snakes"/> In some cases, physically experiencing an event may increase the fear and phobia more than observing a fearful reaction of another human or non-human primate.