Behavior Theory

B.F. Skinner
Skinner championed radical behaviorism,
which places primary emphasis on the
effects of environment on behavior. Skinner
was also a determinist; he did not believe
that humans had free choice. He
acknowledged that feelings and thoughts
exist, but he denied that they CAUSED our
actions. Instead he stresses the cause and
effect links between objective, observable
environmental conditions and behavior.
Environmental factors can be directly
observed and changed. In 197 Skinner wrote
a book Beyond Freedom and Dignity.

4 Areas of Development

Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Social Learning Theory
Cognitive Behavior Therapy

 Classical Conditioning- (respondent

conditioning)- refers to what happens prior
to learning that creates a responds thought,
pairing. Example- knee jerks, salivation
Operant Conditioning-most of the
significant responses we make in everyday
life. Examples are reading, writing, driving a
car and eating with utensils. Positive and
negative reinforcement, punishment and
extinction techniques, illustrates how
operant conditioning in applied settings can
be instrumental in developing prosocial and
adaptive behaviors.

 Social learning theory is interact ional,

interdisciplinary and multimodal. It involves a triadic
reciprocal interaction among the environment,
personal factors (beliefs, preferences, expectations,
self-perception and so forth), and individual behavior. A
basic assumption is that people are capable of selfdirected behavior change.

Cognitive behavior Therapy-this approach offers

various action-oriented methods to help people change
what they are doing and thinking.

View of Human Nature

The person is the producer and the product
of his or her environment
Developing producers that actually give
control to acts and thus increases their
range of freedom
It aims to increase peoples skills so that they
have more options for responding
Given the techniques and skills of self
change, people have the capacity to improve
their lives by altering one or more of the
various factors influencing their behavior

Basic Characteristics and Assumptions:

Behavior therapy are based on the principles and procedures

of the scientific method. Experimentally derived principles of
learning are systematically applied to help people change
their maladaptive behavior
Behavior therapy deals with the clients current problems and
the factors influencing them as opposed to an analysis of
possible historical determinants. At times understanding of
the past may offer useful info. About the environmental
events related to present behavior
Clients involved in behavior therapy are expected to assume
an active role by engaging in specific actions to deal with
their problems. Rather than simply talking about their
condition they are required to DO something to bring about
change. Behavior therapy is an action-oriented approach, &
learning is viewed as being at the core of therapy. Although
referred to as therapy this is an education approach in
which clients participate in a teaching-learning process.

Cont..

The Behavioral approach emphasizes teaching clients

skills of self-management with the expectation that they
will be responsible for transferring what they learn in the
therapists office to their everyday lives. Behavior therapy
is generally carried in the clients natural environment as
much as possible.
The focuses is on assessing overt and covert behavior
directly, identifying the problem, and evaluating change.
Therapists also assess their clients culture as part of their
social environments, including social support networks
relating to target behavior.
Behavior therapy emphasizes a self-control approach in
which clients learn self-management strategies.
Therapists frequently train clients to initiate, conduct, and
evaluate their own therapy. Clients are empowered
through this process of being responsible for their
changes.

Cont..

Behavioral treatment interventions are individually tailored

to specific problems experience by clients. What treatment,
by whom, is the most effective for this individual with that
specific problem and under which set of circumstances?
The practice of behavior therapy is based on a collaborative
partnership between therapist and clients and every attempt
as made to inform clients about the nature and course of
treatment
The emphasis is on practical applications. Interventions are
applied to all facets of daily life in which maladaptive
behaviors are to be increased
Therapists strive to develop culture specific procedures and
obtain their clients adherence and cooperation

Therapeutic Goals

The general goals of behavior therapy are to increase

personal choice and to create new conditions for learning
The clients with the help of the therapists defines specific
goals at the outset of the therapeutic process
The counselor provides rationale for goals, explain role of
goals, purpose of goals, and the clients participation in the
goal-setting process
Client identifies the outcomes specifying the positive
changes that he and she wants from counseling
Client is the person seeking help, and he or she can only
make the changes in their life
The benefit effect of all identified goals are explored and
counselor and client discuss the possible advantages and
disadvantages of these goals
Client and counselor then decide to continue pursuing the
selected goals, to reconsider the clients initial goals, or to
seek the services of another practitioner

Therapeutic techniques and procedure

Client keeps record of intensity or occurrences to devise

if the therapy is working
Some assessment instruments including; self-report
inventories, behavior rating scales, monitoring self form,
and simple observation techniques
Treatment outcomes are multifaceted, changes are all or
nothing
Behavior therapy is used for a specific person not some
random therapy
Behavioral therapy can be incorporated into other
approaches
Some approaches of the behavioral therapy ranges from
behavioral analysis, functional assessment model,
relaxation training, systematic desensitization, exposure
therapies, eye movement, assertion training, selfmanagement programs, self-direct behavior, and
multimodal therapy

Operant conditioning Techniques

Some key principles of operant conditioning are: positive

reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction,
positive punishment and negative punishment
Positive reinforcement involves the addition of something
of value to the individual as a consequence of a certain
behavior
Negative reinforcement involves escape or avoidance of
unpleasant stimuli. Individual motivated to exhibit a
desired behavior to avoid the unpleasant condition
Extinction can be used for behaviors that have been
maintained by positive reinforcement or negative
reinforcement. Doing so can eliminate certain behaviors.
Positive punishment aversive stimulus is added after the
behavior to decrease the frequency of a behavior
Negative punishment id reinforcing stimulus is removed
following the behavior to decrease the frequency of a
target behavior
Both kinds of punishment, the behavior is less likely to
happen again

Functional Assessment Model

The first step is to conduct a functional assessment

using both indirect and direct observation, and
information about antecedent events, including the time
and place of the behavior and the people present when
the behavior occurs
The therapist develops hypotheses about the nature of
the problem behavior and the condition contributing to
this behavior
Hypothesized to be maintaining the problem behaviors
Negative punishment procedures may be used to
decrease problem
After treatment methods have been used its very
important to develop strategies to maintain behaviors

Relaxation Training
Clients are given a set of instructions that
ask them to relax in a quite environment
and taking deep and regular breathing
patterns
Clients are suppose to let go
Clients are encouraged to actually feel
and experience the tension building up, to
notice their muscles getting tighter and
study the tension, to hold and fully
experience the tension
A normal relaxation practice lasts for 20
to 25 minutes
It helps relieve stress and anxiety

Systematic Desensitization

Clients are to imagine successively more anxiety arousing

situations at the same time that they engage in a behavior that
competes with anxiety
Gradually clients become less sensitive to the anxiety arousing
situations
The therapist conducts an initial interview to identify specific
information about the anxiety and to gather relevant background
information about the client
Background information gives the therapist a good understanding
of the client
Find out under what circumstances does the clients have anxiety
Therapist conducts a relaxation training before going to therapy,
Conducts anxiety hierarchy which stimuli that elicit anxiety in a
particular situation such as rejection, jealousy, criticism,
disapproval, or any phobia
Desensitization begins after several sessions, client reaches
complete relaxation with eyes closed, then imagine the least
anxiety arousing scene, therapist moves progressivly up the
hierarchy until the client signals anxiety, relaxation is introduced
again until little anxiety is experienced

Exposure Therapies

Exposure therapies are designed to treat fears and other

negative emotional responses by introducing client to the
situation that contributed to such problems
In Vivo desensitization involves the client exposure to the
actual feared situation in the hierarchy in real life rather
than simply imagining situations
Flooding which refers to either in vivo or imaginal
exposure to anxiety-evoking stimuli for a prolonged period
of time
Allows the anxiety to decrease on its own
Flooding can be used for many fearful anxieties such as
flying, riding in subways, riding in elevators and phobia of
certain animals
Because of the discomfort in this treatment with intense
exposure some clients may not elect these exposures

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR

EMDR is a form of exposure therapy that involves imaginable

flooding, cognitive restructuring, and the use of rapid, rhythmic
eye movement and other bilateral stimulation to treat clients
who have experienced traumatic stress
EMDR is applied to many populations that deal with
posttraumatic stress disorders, sexual abuse victims, combat
veterans, victims of crime, rape survivors, accident victims,
children, couples
It also deals with individuals that have anxiety, panic,
depression, grief, addictions and phobias
The client is instructed to visually track the therapists index
finger as they move it back and forth 12 to 24 times
Client is instructed to block out negative experience
momentarily and breathe deep and to report what he/she is
imagining, feeling and thinking
Client is asked the positive cognition and identify and body
tension
Do reevaluation in next session

Assertion Training

Useful for people who cant express anger or irritation,

difficult to say no, people who are overly polite and
allows others to take advantage of them, people who find
it difficult to express affection and other positive
responses, people who feel they have no right to express
their thought beliefs, and feelings and people who have
social phobias
The assumption underlying assertion training is so
clients can have the right to express themselves
A goal in assertion training is to teach clients to express
themselves in ways that reflect sensitivity to the feelings
and rights of others
Clients have the CHOICE of whether to behave
assertively in certain situations
Assertion does not mean aggression, assertive clients
dont stand up for their rights at all cost, ignoring the
feelings of others

Self Management & Self Direct Behavior

Involves psychologists being willing to share their

knowledge so that consumers can increasingly lead selfdirected lives and not be dependent on experts
Therapist teach clients skills that they will need to
manage their own lives effectively
Clients have a direct role of their own treatment,
techniques aimed at self-change tend to increase
involvement and commitment to their own treatment
Self management strategies include but limited to, self
monitoring, self reward, self contracting, stimulus control
and self as model
Five characteristics are combination of self management,
engage regularly over period of time, client make self
evaluation, use self reinforcement and a degree of
environmental support

Multimodal Therapy: Clinical Behavior Therapy

Multimodal therapy is a comprehensive, systematic,

holistic approach to behavior therapy develop
This model implies that we are social beings who move,
feel, sense, imagine and think
Multimodal is an open system, that encourages technical
eclecticism
New techniques are being introduced constantly and
existing techniques are refined
Therapist take great plain to determine what relationship
and what treatment strategies will work best with each
individual in a particular situation
Assumption of this approach is that because individuals
are troubled by a variety of specific problems it is
appropriate that multitude of treatment strategies be
used in bringing about change

Technical Eclecticism

Therapist borrow techniques from many other therapy

systems
Therapist recognize that many clients come to therapy to
learn skills, and therapist are willing to teach, coach,
train, model and direct their clients
Main function is provide information, instructions and
reactions
Therapist challenge self defeating beliefs, offer
constructive feedback, provide positive reinforcement
and are appropriately self disclosing
Failure to apprehend the clients situation can easily
leave the client feeling alienated and misunderstood

The Basic I.D.

B=Behavior
A=Affective responses
S=Sensations
I=Images
C=Cognitions

I=Interpersonal relationships
D=Drugs, biological functions, nutrition and
exercise

Role of Therapist
Therapist are very active during therapy sessions,
educators, consultants, and role models
Therapist provide information, instructions and
feedback as well as modeling assertive behaviors,
challenging self defeating beliefs, offering
constructive criticism and suggestions, offering
positive reinforcement and being appropriately selfdisclosing
Therapists need to make choices regarding different
styles of relating to clients
Over the years has been learning to blend
appropriate and effective techniques with the most
suitable relationship style