Behavioral Therapies Flashcards
What are the two key theories that produce different therapies?
- Classical conditioning
2. Operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
- Learning is the association of things that take place together in time
When does classical conditioning occur?
- Repeated pairing of a neutral event (stimulus) –> unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
- One that evokes a response –> unconditioned response (UCR)
- So that the neutral stimulus eventually comes to evoke that same response –> conditioned stimulus (CS) and the conditioned response (CR)
When was classical conditioning discovered?
- Pavlov’s dog
- Pavlov gave dog meat powder when ringing a bell
- After repetition, the ringing of the bell made the dog salivate
In terms of Pavlov what was the UCS/UCR and CS/CR?
- UCS: meat powder
- UCR: salivation
- CS: bell ringing
- CR: salivation
What is extinction?
- Possible to extinguish this learned response of salivation by exposing dog to food without hearing bell
What was the case of little albert?
- Loud sound –> fear
- White rat + loud sound –> fear
- White rat –> fear (causing phobia of white rats)
What is generalization?
- When other similar stimuli/situation also becomes the CS for the CR
How is generalization seen in the case of little albert?
- Phobia of white rats causing a phobia of doctors causing a phobia of santa
How can behavioral therapy be used for phobias?
- Combine the feared stimulus with relaxation can cause a decrease in anxiety
What is done in systematic desensitization?
Step 1: Make a list – a hierarchy of fears
Step 2: Select a feared object/situation low on list and use relaxation to condition it until there is much less anxiety/fear
Step 3: Select a feared object/situation medium on list
Step 4: Select a feared object/situation higher on list
Step 5: Select a feared object/situation highest on list
What is operant conditioning?
- Learning is the association of things that take sequentially
When does operant conditioning occur?
- Responses that have a positive effect are likely to increase
- Responses that have an unpleasant effect are likely to decrease
What is reinforcement and punishment in operant conditioning?
- Reinforcement: results in increased behavior
- Punishment: results in decreased behavior
What is positive and negative in operant conditioning?
- Positive: Something is added
- Negative: Something is taken away
What is positive reinforcement?
- Something is added (financial incentive pay from insurance)
- Behavior increases (refers more patients for colonoscopy)
What is an example for positive reinforcement?
- Medicare adds extra money to payment for patient’s visit causing physician to increase the rate of referring patients for colonoscopy
What is negative reinforcement?
- Something is taken away
2. Behavior increases
What is an example of negative reinforcement?
- Child stops whining when parent buys candy at the cash register causing the parent to learn to buy more candy because it stops the whining
What is postive punishment?
- Something is added
2. Behavior decreases
What is an example of positive punishment?
- Child is made to made to kneel on rice after parent discovers lying causing the child to decrease lying
What is negative punishment?
- Something is taken away
2. Behavior decreases
What is an example of negative punishment?
- Freedom is removed by going to jail after commiting crime causing decreases in crime
What is a key point about reinforcements and punishments in operant?
- They must occur AFTER the behavior
How is operant conditioning different from classical conditioning?
- Classical conditioning is when the two stimuli occur together
Why is punishment often not effective?
- Punished behavior may be only temporarily suppressed rather than permanently eliminate
- When a behavior is punished in one situation, it may increase in another situation
- Reponse-punishment contingency may not be recognized
- Punishment often conditions negative emotional responses and may lead to escape and avoidance behaviors
- Punishment may lead to aggression
- Punishment does not illustrate the correct behavior
- Severe punishment may cause physical or psychological harm
What does spanking teach?
- That causing others pain is ok if you’re frustrated or want to maintain control – even those with those you love
