1. Universidad Autónoma Del Estado De Hidalgo Sistema De Universidad Virtual Inglés 5 (English 5) UNIDAD 2 ACCIONES Y SUS CONSECUENCIAS REALES, FUTURAS E HIPOTETICAS. ( UNIT 2 ACTIONS AND THEIR REAL, FUTURE AND HYPOTHETICAL CONSEQUENCES) “Phobias” ETE. Karim Juárez Cortes Idea original y Diseño

2. Phobias

3. A phobia is an irrational fear of something. It is different from worrying about something which is dangerous. For example, if you live in a place where there are a lot of dangerous snakes, it is rational to worry about them; but if you live where there are no snakes, then worrying about them is a phobia. Psychologists are interested in phobias because they are very common. Probably about 8 per cent of adults have a phobia, but only about 1 per cent find that it interferes seriously with their lives.

4. The most common phobias are agoraphobia (fear of going out and meeting people); claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces) and acrophobia (fear of high places). Take the example of Martin. He is good at his Job and popular with his friends, but he has a phobia about spiders (arachnophobia). Martin lives in an area where there are no dangerous spiders. But every time he sees a tiny spider —or even if he sees a picture of a spider— his heart palpitates, he perspires and he shows indications of panic.

5. Instructions: Now answer the next questions to yourself in a word document to yourself. 1) What is the difference between a phobia and a worry? 2) Why are psychologists interested in phobias? 3) What phobia does Martin suffer from?

6. Instructions: Read again the previous text and answer the next questions to yourself. 1) Psychologists think about … people have phobias. a) 1 in 12b) 1 in 8c) 1 in 100 2) They think that about … people have serious problems because of their phobias. a) 1 in 12 b) 1 in 8 c) 1 in 100 3) A person who can't climb a ladder is probably suffering from … a) acrophobia b) claustrophobiac) agoraphobia 4) An indication of possible panic might be … a) spidersb) heart palpitations c) pictures

7. REFERENCES: Pictures taken from:  Arachnophobia: http://psychologyface.com/2011/05/phobia/  Claustrophobia: http://heroeswiki.com/User:Piemanmoo/Claustrophobia  Acrophobia: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/A/Acrophobia.asp Text taken from:  Luna M. & Taylor J. (1993) “New Impact 3” Mexico: Macmillan Editores, S.A de C.V. ( page 109)