“Lay beliefs about phobias” 25 years later: Conceptually Replicating and Extending Furnham (1995), on the Treatment of Phobias, in 2020

Abstract

Following a change in the professional atmosphere over the last several decades, there has been mounting interest in furthering clinical understandings of client and layperson preferences within psychotherapy. Curious about lay beliefs about phobias in particular, we sought to replicate a 1995 study by Adrian Furnham in order to examine how beliefs by laypersons regarding phobias have changed in the 25 years from 1995 to 2020. Situating our results against a backdrop of research suggesting that people prefer therapist directivity, we find not only that that psychotherapy preferences have changed since 1995 but that in 2020, there is support for a gentler, more relational approach to psychotherapy and behavioral change. While people do indicate a desire for directivity and therapeutic techniques provided by the therapist, there is an indication in our data that they wish for these to be positive and blended with less directive methods, as seen in person-centered therapy approaches.