Behavioural approaches

Question 1

What are the 3 generations of behavioural therapies?

Answer 1

-Traditional/radical behavioural therapy
-Cognitive behavioural therapy
-‘Third wave’ behavioural therapy

Question 2

Describe the process of classical conditioning

Answer 2

-Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
-Learning through association of stimuli
-UCS = biologically important stimulus that elicits a certain response e.g. food
-UCR = natural response e.g. salivation
-CS = previously neutral stimulus that elicits learnt response when paired with UCS e.g. metronome
-CR = learned response elicited by CS

Question 3

Describe John Watson (1878-1958) view on behaviourism

Answer 3

-Felt like psychology should be considered a science, so is objective and based on observable evidence
-Emphasis on external behaviours compared to internal processes

Question 4

What is the study conducted by Watson and Rayner - Little Albert study (1920)

Answer 4

-9 month old baby who had limited fears and would happily play with furry animals
-Conditioned to fear rats as he was startled by a loud noise every time a white rat would be near
-Associated rats as him being fearful
-Generalisation occurred and so he began rot fear other white furry objects such as Santa, cotton wool, a white fur coat etc.

Question 5

Describe the process of operant conditioning

Answer 5

-Stated the CC was too simplistic
-States that we can learn through positive and negative reinforcement as they increase the likelihood of certain behaviours
-Positive reinforcement refers to receiving something pleasant in response to desired behaviour
-Negative reinforcement refers to something unpleasant getting taken away due to desired behaviour
-Positive punishment refers to something pleasant being taken away in response to undesired behaviour
-Negative punishment refers to something unpleasant being added due to undesired behaviour

Question 6

Describe maintenance of phobias

Answer 6

-Reinforcement can help to explain the maintenance of phobias
-Acquisition through CC and OC
-Can explain OCD where in a fearful situation, a behaviour can occur such as hand washing
-The threat subsides and so this behaviour is linked to fear being reduced and so is negatively reinforced and becomes a compulsion
-Lack of opportunity to unlearn behaviour

Question 7

What was Albert Bandura’s (1925-2021) view on behaviourism?

Answer 7

-Social learning theory/Social cognitive theory
-Found that when people observed others who had overcome a snake phobia by holding snakes, they were then less avoidant of the snakes than ppts who had been presented with systematic desensitisation
-Behaviours learnt through observation of role models

Question 8

What are the goals of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) ?

Answer 8

-Change observable and current behaviour
-Symptoms are the target of treatment
-Specific and measurable goals

Question 9

What are the characteristics of CBT?

Answer 9

-Will be given for up to 20 weeks
-Clients are actively involved in the process

Question 10

What are the 3 stages of CBT?

Answer 10

-Behavioural assessment
-Treatment
-Assessments

Question 11

Describe the first stage of CBT; behavioural assessments

Answer 11

-Client and therapist discuss issues using ABC model (antecedents, behaviours and consequences)
-Antecedent is whatever triggers behaviour
-Behaviour is the behaviour that they want to change
-Consequence is what happens when they react this way

Question 12

Describe the second stage of CBT; treatment

Answer 12

-Client decides their goals and they agree on a method that will be used

Question 13

Describe the third stage of CBT; assessments

Answer 13

-Whilst receiving treatment they will have periodic assessments which check their progress toward desired goals and see how effective the treatment is

Question 14

What is the process of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 14

-Joseph Wolpe (1915-1997)
-Classical conditioning to unlearn association that’s been made
-Reciprocal inhibition occurs as one response inhibits another response e.g. relaxation inhibits fear as you can’t feel both at the same time

Question 15

Describe the stages of systematic desensitisation

Answer 15

-Relaxation training - Involves muscle relaxations
-Anxiety hierarchy - Establishing what part of fear is the worst e.g. seeing spider crawl on bed, thinking about a spider
-Gradual exposure using relaxation techniques

Question 16

Describe the research conducted by Egara and Mosimege (2024)

Answer 16

-Maths anxiety and achievement within Nigerian schools was studied
-120 ppts (58 boys and 62 girls) with mean age of 15 years
-Scored more than 51 on Mathematics Anxiety Scale at baseline
-Split into 2 groups, 58 in the systematic desensitisation group and 62 in the control group
-Compared their scores on Mathematics Anxiety Scale and Mathematics Achievement Test before and 1 week after the SD programme
-Higher score meant more increased anxiety/better achievement

Question 17

What were the results of this study?

Answer 17

-Treatment group had lower post-intervention maths anxiety compared to controls
-Treatment group had higher post-intervention maths achievement compared to controls

Question 18

Describe the process of graded exposure

Answer 18

-In vivo - real life contact with feared stimulus until fear response disappears
-In vito - virtual reality experience
-It’s where you confront the fear in a safe space
-Controlled by hierarchal structure

Question 19

Describe the process of flooding

Answer 19

-Begin with most feared scenario
-Intense and prolonged exposure
-Requires high client motivation
-Can be stressful for patient and therapist (Schumacher et al. 2015)

Question 20

What is the research that was conducted by Emmelkamp et al. (2001)

Answer 20

-Compared in-vivo and in-vito exposure to treat phobia of heights
33 ppts (15 female, 18 male) with a mean age of 43.97 years
-Exposed to 3 environments; 4 storey mall in Amsterdam, 50 foot high fire escape in Amsterdam, 65 foot high roof garden on university building overlooking the mall
-Exposure was gradual in both conditions e.g. start on ground floor and then go up with therapist and then lean over railings and then go up alone

Question 21

What did the results of this study find?

Answer 21

-Both groups improved on measures of anxiety and avoidance and maintained improvement at the 6 month follow up
-No difference between groups

Question 22

Describe the process of aversion therapy

Answer 22

-Simultaneous pairing of target with aversive stimulus e.g. alcoholism and electric shock
-Used to be used to treat homosexuals as it was viewed as wrong and so viewed as a controversial approach
-Forming an association
-Type of aversive stimuli given may have an impact e.g. faradic (electrical) and chemical (emetic)

Question 23

Is aversion therapy effective or not, based on research?

Answer 23

-Bordnick et al., (2004) found that it was effective in reducing cravings for crack cocaine
-Saeed et al., (2024) found that it was ineffective in reducing smoking habits

Question 24

What is token economy programme?

Answer 24

-Allyon and Azrin (1968)
-Uses positive reinforcement to increase frequency of behaviour that is desired and reduce any unwanted behaviours
-Not massively used within clinical practices, but tend to be used in other settings such as in schools and prisons

Question 25

What is the process of modelling?

Answer 25

-Learning behaviour through others
-Bobo Doll experiment by Bandura (1969)
-Therapists can model certain appropriate behaviours to help reduce anxiety
-Requires high self-efficacy from client

Question 26

What are the 2 positives of the behavioural approach?

Answer 26

-Emphasis on research into techniques and assessment of outcomes
-Much success in helping people with anxiety disorders and OCD

Question 27

What are the 2 negatives of the behavioural approach?

Answer 27

-Less useful in understanding other disorders such as depression
-Purely behavioural approach, doesn’t consider other factors such as the influence of cognition