A phobia is a fear of a stimulus in which real danger does not exist. Weall know of some common phobias such as arachnophobia, claustrophobia,homeworkaphobia. Since there is no real danger inherent in any of thosesituations there should be nothing to be afraid of. However, due to anunfortunate incident with one of the mentioned stimuli, i.e. spiders andhomework, at a former time one can, through stimulus generalization,generalize the associated negative response, a bad grade and a reprimand, withall future stimuli. These phobias are easily transfered through vicariousconditioning, that is learning it from watching others such as our parents. One method for overcoming one's phobias is desensitization. Desensitizationinvolves exposing the person to increasing amounts or degrees of the problemstimulus. For example, if you are afraid of snakes, believe it or not yourbest medicine is to hold a snake.