Transcript Learning Theories & Behavioural Social Work

Learning Theories &
Behavioural Social Work
Definitions
• According to The Social Work Dictionary
Robert L Barker (ed) NASW Press 1999
• Theory
• A group of related hypotheses, concepts,
and constructs, based on facts and
observations that attempt to explain a
particular phenomenonnon
Methods
• Methods in Social Work
• The specific types of interventions and
other activities used by social workers in
their professional practices. The term is
used especially by social work
educators……..
Theories examined today
• Respondent Conditioning or sometimes
called Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Observational Learning or Social
Learning Theory
Behaviourist Approach in
Psychology
• Emphasises Learning
• Experiments on Animals can explain
human learning
• Concerned with behaviour and evidence
not thoughts
JB Watson’s Behaviourist
Manifesto
• All behaviour is learned. When born our mind is tabula rasa.
• We learn how to behave in response to our environment, by forming
stimulus-response (S-R) units of behaviour.
• Behaviours can be 'unlearned' by breaking these previously formed,
stimulus-response (S-R)
connections.
• What behaviourism discovered concerning stimulus-response
learning in animals is equally applicable to human beings.
• The mind is private and personal and consists of concepts difficult to
study in a scientific way. An organism's observable outcomes - their
behaviour - should therefore be the focus of study in psychology.
• For psychology to be thought a true science, its theories need to be
supported by empirical data obtained through the careful and
controlled observation and measurement of behaviour in an
experimental setting.
Ivan Pavlov (1849- 1936)
• Studied salivation in dogs 1891- 1900
• Discovered that dogs started to salivate
even when there was no food present
• 1903 published a paper stating the taught
salivatory response of dogs is learned
Pavlov’s Experiment
Classical Conditioning
Extinction
• After a while the dog stops salivating.
• The conditioned response is inhibited by
non-appearance of food
Reinforcement
• After extinction to resurrect the
conditioned response Pavlov had to repeat
stage 2 of the conditioning process
• Occasional re-occurrence of the bell and
food together brought back the
conditioned response.
• Reinforcement makes the learned
association more permanent
Spontaneous Recovery
• After extinguishing the conditioned
response by not using reinforcement, later
ringing sometimes saw the salivation
(conditioned response) re-occur. Generally
this was weaker than before.
• This suggests we never entirely forget
what we learn
Stimulus generalisation
• If dogs were conditioned to a particular
tone then dogs would also respond to a
slightly higher or lower tone.
• Organisms respond to stimuli that seem
similar to the original stimulus.
Stimulus Discrimination
• Dogs presented with bells very different
form the original did not respond
• The dogs learned to respond only to
particular tones
Can You Think of Examples of this
kind of learning?
• Mothers learn to discriminate the sound of
their own baby.
• Does the sound of a dentist drill make you
respond in particular way?
• Have any of you been bitten by a dog in
childhood?
• Or developed other phobias?
An Example
• Social worker is bitten by dog on a visit
• Social worker generalises stimuli to all
places where dogs might be – parks,
beaches, streets etc and starts to avoid
these
• Social Worker generalises fear to all dogs
– Pekinese, Labradors etc
Systematic Desensitization
• A technique used for anxiety and
avoidance reactions
• Assess the stimuli – in this case dogs
• Establish a hierarchy – large fierce dogs,
medium size barking dogs, small yappy
dogs, quiet Labradors
• Client is taught to relax
• Client imagines moving up the ladder or
hierarchy
Systematic Desensitisation
Child with School Phobia
• Education staff help a child to return to
school
• Gradually getting used to the bus route
• Then the playground
• And finally the classroom perhaps for a
short period
• Eventually the child can attend school
normally
Operant Conditioning Theory
BF Skinner
• Actions operate on the environment to
produce behaviour
• Behaviour is altered by its’ consequences
• If the changes are reinforcing then the
behaviour is more likely to re-occur
• Based on the work of BF Skinner
Skinner Box
Skinner’s Theory
• “the behaviour is followed by a
consequence, and the nature of the
consequence modifies the organism’s
tendency to repeat the behaviour in the
future”
• A reward is a positive reinforcer
• An unpleasant consequence is a negative
reinforcer
Two kinds of Reinforcer
• Primary Reinforcer – a stimulus form the
environment whose ability to reinforce our
response is based on an innate drive e.g. our
need for food water warmth etc
• Secondary reinforcer – an environmental
stimulus that has become associated with a
primary reinforcer. Secondary reinforcers help
precipitate primary reinforcers e.g. we use
money to buy food etc
Positive Reinforcement
• The ABC of Behaviour (Hudson and
MacDonald 1986) is a useful method
• Sometimes called a “Functional Analysis
of Behaviour”
• Sometimes people have been reinforcing
the wrong behaviour
• EG a child screams and gets a sweet
Antecedents of Behaviour and its
Consequences
Antecedents
Behaviour
Mother refuses
Sweet
Child Screams
Consequences
Gets Sweet
• Concrete reinforcers such as sweets
should be gradually withdrawn
• To be replaced by social reinforcers such
as smiles praise and attention
Examples in Practice
• Operant Behaviour therapy with long stay
psychiatric patients to improve and develop
social skills and reduce unwanted bizarre
behaviour
• Use of Star Charts and Smiley Faces with
children
• Child Guidance clinics helping parent to reward
the positive rather than the unwanted behaviour
• Chaining – a technique to help people with
learning difficulties learn tasks
Chaining & Backward Chaining
• Break a complex behaviour into small
tasks or links in a chain
• Reinforce the person for performing the
last link
• Making a bed – the last link is tucking in
the sheet
• Then reward the person for performing the
last two links and so on
Negative Reinforcement
• Termination of something unpleasant
• E.g. children keep quiet to avoid the pain
of being shouted at
• Problem is the shouting may become
rewarding –perhaps some attention is
better than none
• Not to be confused with punishment
• Positive rewarding of wanted behaviour is
much more effective
To decrease or extinguish
unwanted behaviour
• Example of 10 year old child with learning
difficulties and communication problems in
residential care who regularly whined
• Ignore whining – to extinguish this
behaviour
• Reward wanted behaviour – stimulated
her with mirror and played with her when
she was quiet
Time Out
• Time Out from reinforcement is an
extinction process
• It can be successful – but must only be
used for short periods
• Lengthy time out is not an extinction
procedure but a punishment
• This is ethically wrong
• And also much less effective than a
combination of extinction and reward
Do these theories explain all
learning?
• Does behaviour have to be rewarded for
learning to occur?
• According to Albert Bandura we can learn
something without trial and error.
Social Learning Theory
• Bandura demonstrated that behaviour can
be changed without rewards
Bandura et al (1963)
• 96 children age 3-6 years
• Split into four groups
• Group 1 saw an adult behave aggressively
towards “"Bobo"” doll – shouted punched
and hit with hammer
• Group 2 saw the above on film
• Group 3 saw this as a cartoon
• Group 4 shown no violence
Bandura et al (1963) ctd
• Put in room and secretly observed
• Given toys to play with including a "Bobo"
doll
• Children's favourite toys were taken to
annoy them
• Observed for 20 minutes
Bandura et al (1963) ctd
Results
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
observed adult 99 aggressive acts
film
92 aggressive acts
cartoon
83 aggressive acts
no aggression 54 aggressive acts
Bandura’s Conclusions
• Children who had observed aggression
were more likely to behave aggressively
• Children are more likely to copy real
aggression than filmed or cartoon
aggression
• Some models were more likely to be
copied than others
• Children more likely to imitate models
similar to themselves e.g. the same sex
Three Effects of Modelling
• We can learn new skills or ideas by
observing
• Social skills can be imitated and practised
• People can practice and learn to inhibit or
reduce their fear responses –
• e.g. if a client is anxious about doing
something we can model the action then
he can practice the action in a safe
environment before doing it for real
Examples of Social learning
• The child who observes aggression at home and acts
this out at school
• The importance of care workers modelling appropriate
behaviour to clients e.g. calm, confident, attentive,
socially skilled
• Care workers in every day work modelling particular
skills e.g. how to make a phone call
• Demonstrating particular skills deliberately for clients to
observe and learn
• Setting up groups to help people learn particular skills
e.g. social skills – how to interact with other people in
particular situations
Implications for Social Care
• People copy what they observe
• Behaviour does not always have to be rewarded
for learning to occur
• Workers need to be extremely self aware about
how they behave and act
• Clients will learn from the situations and
behaviour they observe in all situations –
outings, trips, daily life, and family contact, as
well as in formal settings set up to change
behaviour
Questions?
• Can you identify which methods are used in your
placement?
• Can you distinguish between a theory and a method?
• Which problems are more likely to be helped by which
methods?
• Which methods involve the client in partnership and
empower them?
• Can you see ethical or moral problems in using some
approaches if clients are not involved in setting goals?
• Can you apply the ABC approach in your placement?
Video
• As you watch the video try and identify the
tools of assessment
• What were the conclusions of the initial
assessment?
• The methods used – which of these were
covered in the lecture today?
• Evaluation – were clients involved in this?
• Were the aims and objectives achieved?