Exam 1 Flashcards
Why should we learn about
behavior modification?
Study habits
• Understanding and treating disorders
• Improving relationships
• Child rearing
• Pet training
• Who has used a learning technique?
Definition: Learning is…
• A change in behavior as a result of experience or practice.
• The acquisition of knowledge.
• Knowledge gained through study.
• To gain knowledge of, or skill in, something through
study, teaching, instruction or experience.
• The process of gaining knowledge.
• A process by which behavior is changed, shaped or
controlled.
• The individual process of constructing understanding
based on experience from a wide range of sources.
Behavioral language & labels
• What are some adjectives we can use to describe
someone and infer their behavior?
• Pros/Cons
General information
Pseudoexplanations & circular reasoning
Treatment Effects
• Excesses & deficits
Context matters
Behavior modification
Improving functioning by changing behaviors using
learning theory principles
• Define the problem
• Treatments change the environment
• Clear definitions of procedures
• Show treatment caused change
• Accountability
Behavior modifier
• Professionals
ABA
CBT
• You
Myth 1: Use of rewards by behavior modifiers to change behavior is
bribery.
• Myth 2: Behavior modification involves the use of drugs and
electroconvulsive therapy.
• Myth 3: Behavior modification treats symptoms; it doesn’t get at the
underlying problems.
• Myth 4: Behavior modification can deal with simple problems, such
as teaching toileting or overcoming fear of heights, but it is not
applicable for complex problems such as low self-esteem or
depression.
• Myth 5: Behavior modifiers are cold and unfeeling and don’t have
empathy for their clients.
• Myth 6: Behavior modifiers deal only with observable behavior;
they don’t deal with thoughts and feelings of clients.
• Myth 7: Behavior modifiers deny the importance of genetics or
heredity in determining behavior.
• Myth 8: Behavior modification is outdated
Myth 1: Use of rewards by behavior modifiers to change behavior is
bribery.
• Myth 2: Behavior modification involves the use of drugs and
electroconvulsive therapy.
• Myth 3: Behavior modification treats symptoms; it doesn’t get at the
underlying problems.
• Myth 4: Behavior modification can deal with simple problems, such
as teaching toileting or overcoming fear of heights, but it is not
applicable for complex problems such as low self-esteem or
depression.
• Myth 5: Behavior modifiers are cold and unfeeling and don’t have
empathy for their clients.
• Myth 6: Behavior modifiers deal only with observable behavior;
they don’t deal with thoughts and feelings of clients.
• Myth 7: Behavior modifiers deny the importance of genetics or
heredity in determining behavior.
• Myth 8: Behavior modification is outdated
• Parenting & child management
• PPP
• PPP
1. Ensuring a safe, supervised and
engaging environment
2. Creating a positive learning
environment that helps children
learn to solve problems
3. Using consistent, predictable and
assertive discipline to help children
learn to accept responsibility for their
behavior and become aware of the
needs of others
4. Having realistic expectations,
assumptions, and beliefs about
children’s behavior
5. Taking care of oneself as a parent
so that it is easier to be patient,
consistent and available to children
• Developing Positive Relationships
Spending quality time with children
Talking to children
Showing affection
Encouraging Desirable Behavior
Using descriptive praise
• Giving attention
Providing engaging activities
Teaching New Skills & Behaviors
Setting a good example
Using incidental teaching
Using Ask, Say, Do Use verbal and physical prompts to
teach new skills
Managing Misbehavior
• Ground rules Establish fair, specific and enforceable rules, 3-12
years
• Directed discussion Identify and rehearse the appropriate behavior,
3-12 years
• Planned Ignoring Intentionally ignore a problem behavior instead of
reacting or giving negative attention to the child, 1-7 years
• Clear, Calm instructions Give a clear instruction to start a new task,
or to stop a problem behavior and start the appropriate alternative
behavior, 2-12 years
• Logical consequences Remove the activity or privilege at the center of
a problem for a brief, set amount of time; Return the activity or
privilege so the child can try again, 2-12 years
• Quiet time When a problematic or serious behavior occurs and the
above strategies have not worked, move the child to the edge of the
activity for a brief, set amount of time; return child to activity when
s/he is calm so s/he can try again.. 18 months-10 years
• Time out
Education
What do you think it helpful when
designing a class? What makes a good
class?
• Instructional goals for a course are
stated in the form of study questions
and application exercises
• Students are given opportunities to
demonstrate their mastery of the course
content through frequent tests or some
combination of tests and assignments
• Students are given detailed information
at the beginning of a course about what
is expected of them on the tests and
assignments in order to achieve various letter
grades
Developmental Disabilities*
Intellectual disabilities
Self-help skills (e.g., dressing oneself)
Communication
Vocational
Social skills
• ASD
Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI)
Starts very early (under 30 months)
Social skills, communication, self-stimulation
Mental Health Settings
• Schizophrenia
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Healthcare
• Behavioral medicine & health psychology
• Preventative health care/healthy routines
• Treatment compliance
• Management of caregivers
• Stress management
• Geronotology
• Community psychology
Helping the whole community
• I/O psych
• Sport Psych
Diversity
Culture Matters
Interact with client
But the also the behaviors
Behaviorism
Environmental influence on observable behavior
Law of parsimony
Classical Conditioning
Pavlov
Classical Conditioning
Getting a neutral stimulus to produce a response after
being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces that
response
John Watson
Believed focus on conscious experience led to no results
with no practical significance
Vague
Unreplicable
Need for objectivity
Proponent of animal research
Watson’s behaviorism
Methodological/classical
Watson’s behaviorist theory focused not on the internal emotional and psychological conditions of people, but rather on their external and outward behaviors. He believed that a person’s physical responses provided the only insight into internal actions.
Watson’s behaviorism
Learning involves development of a connection between
event (stimulus) and behavior (response)
Behavior is reflexive
S-R theory
Complex behavior is made up of long S-R chains
Joseph Wolpe
Reciprocal inhibition
1. a technique in behavior therapy that aims to replace an undesired response (e.g., anxiety) with a desired one by counterconditioning.
Systematic desensitization
Systematic desensitization is an evidence-based therapy approach that combines relaxation techniques with gradual exposure to help you slowly overcome a phobia.
Operant Conditioning
Thorndike
Interested in animal intelligence
Don’t accept anecdotes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fanm–WyQJo
Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning, is a method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behavior. Through operant conditioning, behavior that is rewarded is likely to be repeated, and behavior that is punished will rarely occur.
BF Skinner
Radical behaviorism
The goal of behaviorism should be to understand the
environmental factors affecting behavior.
Internal events shouldn’t explain behavior, they are
behaviors that should be explained
Covert behaviors
Problem with internal events
Personal descriptions of feelings can be vague
Hard to determine relationship of thoughts and feelings
Can’t change directly
Pseudo-explanations
Radical behaviorism
Skinner rejected S-R for complex behaviors
Operants
Focus is not on expectations (Tolman) but on past
Consequences: rewards and punishments
Countercontrol
Manipulate the environment to change its impact
Radical Behaviorism is the school of thought pioneered by B. F. Skinner that argues that behavior, rather than mental states, should be the focus of study in psychology. Skinner’s science of behavior emphasizes the importance of reinforcement and the relationships between observable stimuli and responses.
Experimental analysis of
behavior (behavior analysis)
Practical application of OC
ABA
Disorder treatments
Education
Public policy
Social Learning
Albert Bandura
Social Learning Theory (social cognitive theory)
Imitation
Cognitive variables
Focus on
Broad patterns
Expectations
Internal events influence behavior
Self-referent thoughts
Led, in part, to CBT
Activity
You see a child hit another child, how would you explain
this behavior?
Watson
Skinner
Bandura
Activity
If you were a teacher how would this affect your
teaching, views, activities, etc.?
Watson
Skinner
Bandura
Behavioral Assessment in 4 Phases
• Intake/Screening
1. Is this an appropriate place to assist with the behavior?
2. Policies & Procedures
3. Screen for crisis conditions
4. Interview and test for diagnosis
5. Initial info about behavior to be assessed
• Baseline
• Current deficits/excesses
Behavioral Assessment in 4 Phases
• Treatment
• Design a program
• Continue to monitor/assess
• Follow-up
• Does behavior change after ending the program?
Indirect Assessment
• Interviews
• Rapport building
• Can help identify behavior
• Questionnaires
• Life history
• Self-report problem checklists
• Survey schedules
• What do you like to do/eat/drink/etc.
• Third-party behavioral checklists
• Role-playing
• Client self-monitoring
Variables Defined by Their Nature
Behavioral variables
• observable responses of the organism
Stimulus variables
• context/situation surrounding the behavior
Subject variables
• characteristics of organism
Variables Defined by Their Use
•Independent variable (IV)
• manipulated by the experimenter
•Dependent variable (DV)
• measured by the experimenter
• Extraneous variables
• Any variable, other than the IV, that might affect the DV
• Variables as constants
•Establish causality between IV and
DV
Practice
•One child hits another and takes his toy
• behavioral
• stimulus
• subject
• IV and DV
• Extraneous
Practice
•One child hits another and takes his toy
• behavioral
• stimulus
• subject
• IV and DV
• Extraneous
• Stimulus
• Event that can potentially influence behavior
•Response
• Instance of a behavior
• Stimulus
• Event that can potentially influence behavior
•Response
• Instance of a behavior
Behaviors
•Overt behavior
• Can be directly observed by other
• Covert behavior
• only perceived by actor
