How does SD therapy link with the assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

Question 1

What does SD use?

Answer 1

Uses principle of classical conditioning or learning through association. Stimuli which have been previously associated with fear are conditioned through therapy to be associated with relaxation. This will lead to extinction of the fear response (another assumption of the behaviourist approach)

Question 2

How does SD use generalisation?

Answer 2

It is impossible during therapy for the therapist to account for every possible fearful situation that the client may encounter, but the relaxation responses learned in response to one set of stimuli, should be generalisable to other similar stimuli.

Question 3

How is operant conditioning used in therapy?

Answer 3

When the client successfully feels relaxed in the presence of the phobic object, this is rewarding, and such positive reinforcement encourages the client to move up the hierarchy to more feared situations.