Chapter 14

Question 1

anxiety hierarchy

Answer 1

a list the therapist and client create together in which anxiety-producing experiences are listed in ranked order from least to most anxiety-provoking

Question 2

assertiveness training

Answer 2

a specific application of classical conditioning that targets clients’ social anxieties

Question 3

aversion therapy

Answer 3

a type of behavioral therapy that involves repeat pairing an unwanted behavior with discomfort.

Question 4

Albert Bandura

Answer 4

suggests that observation and modeling play a primary role in how and why people learn.

Question 5

baselines

Answer 5

the pre-treatment durations of behaviors

Question 6

behavior therapy

Answer 6

the clinical application of behavioral principles.
*goal is observable change

Question 7

behavioral activation

Answer 7

a form of behavioral therapy originally designed to treat depression, based on the simple yet profound notion that in the day-to-day lives of depressed people, there is a shortage of positive reinforcement

Question 8

behavioral consultation

Answer 8

an indirect, flexible method of therapy involving the client, the consultee (usually a parent, teacher, or caretaker), and the therapist/consultant, that generally progresses through five stages

Question 9

classical conditioning

Answer 9

a passive style of learning exemplified by Pavlov’s dog studies, with four distinct components

Question 10

conditioned stimulus

Answer 10

a stimulus associated with a response through experience and learning (e.g., the sound of the bell)

Question 11

contingencies

Answer 11

“if… then…” statements about our actions and their outcomes

Question 12

contingency management

Answer 12

changing the consequences of behavior in order to shape the behavior itself

Question 13

counterconditioning

Answer 13

re-pairing a feared object with a new response that replaces and blocks the fear response

Question 14

discrimination

Answer 14

when the conditioned response is not evoked by such a stimulus

Question 15

empirical data

Answer 15

Scientific collection of data at a starting baseline, mid-points, and as a final assessment of change

Question 16

exposure and response prevention

Answer 16

involves guiding the client through gradual exposure to the obsessive thoughts or situations that elicit obsessive-compulsive thoughts, while simultaneously preventing the problematic response that the client typically uses to bring temporary relief

Question 17

exposure therapy

Answer 17

the clinical psychologist’s version of “facing your fears”, where repeated exposure to the problematic stimulus without the aversive outcome weakens or eliminates the negative association

Question 18

extinction

Answer 18

the removal of an expected reinforcement that results in a decrease in the frequency of a behavior

Question 19

extinction burst

Answer 19

immediately after the reinforcement is removed, the client’s undesirable behavior increases temporarily

Question 20

flooding

Answer 20

a behavioral therapy technique that involves exposing a person to their greatest fear without warning, so they can’t avoid it

Question 21

generalization

Answer 21

when the conditioned response is evoked by stimuli that are similar to, but not an exact match for, the conditioned stimulus

Question 22

graded exposure

Answer 22

a type of exposure therapy that involves gradually exposing yourself to feared situations in a way that allows you to control your fear at each step

Question 23

imaginal exposure

Answer 23

an exposure where the client imagines an anxiety-provoking object or situation (without real exposure)

Question 24

imitation

Answer 24

the client simply observes and mimics the modeled behavior, without any observation of the effect the modeled behavior may have

Question 25

in vivo exposure

Answer 25

an exposure where the client experiences the anxiety-provoking object or situation in real life, and may be interoceptive (focusing exclusively on the sensations within the client’s own body rather than anything outside the client

Question 26

introspection

Answer 26

speculative mental processes, not directly observable and so unable to be empirically supported or refuted

Question 27

law of effect

Answer 27

a theory that states all organisms pay attention to the consequences (or effects) of their actions; pleasurable consequences mean they are more likely to repeat the action, while unpleasant actions mean they are less likely to repeat the action

Question 28

negative punishment

Answer 28

“losing something good”

Question 29

negative reinforcement

Answer 29

“losing something bad”

Question 30

observable change

Answer 30

objective, outward demonstrations of change

Question 31

observational learning

Answer 31

noticing contingencies that apply to others’ lives and assuming the same contingencies will apply to our lives, too

Question 32

operant conditioning

Answer 32

an active style of learning when an organism “operates” on the environment, notices the consequences of the behavior, and incorporates those consequences into decisions regarding future behavior

Question 33

Ivan Pavlov

Answer 33

a Russian medical researcher who studied the digestive systems of dogs
-Discovered “classical conditioning”

Question 34

positive punishment

Answer 34

“getting something bad”

Question 35

positive reinforcement

Answer 35

“getting something good”

Question 36

punishment

Answer 36

any consequence that makes a behavior less likely to recur in the future.

Question 37

reinforcement

Answer 37

any consequence that makes a behavior more likely to recur in the future

Question 38

shaping

Answer 38

a technique in which the behavior therapist reinforces “baby steps” toward the desired behavior

Question 39

B.F. Skinner

Answer 39

argued that operant conditioning (the mechanism by which the law of effect influenced behavior) was just as great an influence on human behavior as classical conditioning

Question 40

systematic desensitization

Answer 40

similar to exposure therapy, involves exposure to anxiety-provoking stimuli along with re-pairing or counterconditioning the feared object with a new response incompatible with anxiety

Question 41

teacher training

Answer 41

similar to parent training, but the emphasis is on behaviors that take place at school, and the consultees are teachers rather than parents

Question 42

testable hypothesis

Answer 42

theories that can be supported, refuted, modified, and retested

Question 43

token economy

Answer 43

a setting in which clients earn tokens for completing predetermined target behaviors

Question 44

unconditioned response

Answer 44

an inborn response that requires no experience or learning to associate with the stimulus (e.g., the dog salivating)

Question 45

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 45

a stimulus that requires no experience or learning to evoke a response (e.g., the dog’s food)

Question 46

vicarious learning

Answer 46

the client observes not only the modeled behavior but also the model receiving consequences for that modeled behavior

Question 47

John Watson

Answer 47

an American psychologist who argued that psychology should study only overt, observable responses and the stimuli that precede them