Transcript Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002

Behavioral Therapy
"The major problems of the
world today can be solved only if
we improve our understanding of
human behavior" About
Behaviorism (1974)
BURRHUS FREDERIC SKINNER
1904 - 1990
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
General points about the behavioral approach
Whereas affective approaches stress the way
clients feel, behaviorally oriented approaches
stress observable behavior in clients and the
way they act.
Tabula Rasa, therefore all behavior is learnt.
Focus = current influences not historical determinants.
Scientific: Importance of empirical evidence.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
B. F. Skinner
View of human nature
Humans can have the closest approximation to
‘freedom’ through recognizing that we can control
and shape behavior in our culture and our families
if we choose.
Basic assumptions
Behavior is affected by its consequences.
Everything we do is shaped by our experience of
punishment and reward.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
About Skinner
B. F. Skinner is considered by many authorities
to have been the greatest behavioral
psychologist of all time.
Influenced by Pavlov and Watson
Watson:
*the first scientist to propose a coherent
framework of behaviorism
*founder of the American school of
behaviorism.
*wanted resolutions based on principles
observable in nature, and not on ideologies
formed through introspection.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Watson’s influence on Skinner…
Watson also argued against the traditional
concern with consciousness because he viewed
that introspective psychology was not relevant
to the problems that people faced with every
day problems. Conscious experience may exist
but it is unfit for any form of scientific
treatment, but on the other hand any unique
facts about consciousness do not exist.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Skinner’s Fundamental Ideas
As a student – goal of relating behavior to
experiment.
Built a “cumulative recorder” – to record rats’
responses (pressing of a bar) to stimulus ( food). He
found that the rate with which the rat pressed the
bar depended not on any preceding stimulus but on
what followed the pressing of the bar.
He called this
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Operant conditioning: behavior is affected by
its consequences, BUT the process is not trialand-error learning but realization of
consequences. Can be used to shape behavior.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Fundamental Ideas…
Reinforcement: behavior that is reinforced is
maintained, behavior that is not reinforced will
be extinguished.
Therefore, schedules of reinforcement =
important to maintain behavior.
Reinforcers may be positive or negative:
Positive reinforcers reinforce when it is presented;
negative reinforcers reinforce when it is withdrawn
(negative reinforcement is not punishment).
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Ideas in action…
Baby Tender
Skinner designed a crib that would be safer than
the typical crib – safe, enclosed, and heated,
with a plexiglass window
Walden Two
Utopia, commune, happy and industrious behaviors are
carefully shaped using behavioral techniques.
The competitive urge of parents to favor own children
converted to a more equal concern for all youngsters –
babies brought up communally, rather than in families.
Both men and women work. Jobs earn work credits that are
weighted so that one can work for a shorter time on
undesirable jobs and longer at desirable ones…
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Teaching machines and Programmed Instruction
His daughter’s fourth grade math class:
“Through no fault of her own the teacher was
violating almost everything we knew about the
learning process.”
** Connection between “Shaping” and
reinforcement, and performance/ learning…
** The importance of sequencing
** Computer-based learning
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Therapeutic goals
To help client achieve more satisfying lives
through learning more effective behaviors.
Function and role of the counselor
The counselor must assume an active, directive role in
the process.
Functions as a teacher, director, and expert in diagnosing
maladaptive behavior and in working with the client to
eliminate those behaviors.
The counselor has to be very clear about specific
methodologies and goals.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
A behaviorally oriented counselor
** has an interest in the response pattern
itself
and the particular situations in which it
occurs;
** utilizes techniques that enable the
determination of the functional relationship
between the maladaptive behavior and the
environmental stimuli that are affecting it.
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
A behaviorally oriented counselor attempts
to collect information that will enable
him/her to determine:
1. What behavior requires modification?
2. What environmental factors are
maintaining those behaviors?
3. What positive reinforcement or punishing
events can be used to alter individual
behavior?
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Contributions
1. Focus on specifics and systematic application of
techniques.
Example:
Client: I feel unloved and; life has no meaning.
Humanist counselor might most likely nod in acceptance,
The behaviorist might respond:
“Who specifically is not loving you? What is going on
in your life to bring about this meaninglessness?
What are some of the specific things you might be
doing to contribute to the state you are in?
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Contributions…
2. Wide variety of specific behavioral techniques
at the disposal of the counselor.
3. Techniques have been useful for working with a
range of clients including the mentally retarded,
autistic and aggressive children; people with
eating disorders, depression…
4. Expanded into other fields: education,
especially programmed instruction; computer
based learning…
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003
Criticisms
1. Can change behavior but can’t change feelings…
2. Does not provide insight…
3. Ignores historical causes of present behavior…
4. Involves control and manipulation by
the counselor…
Emmaus Counseling Training Programme 2002-2003