THE BEHAVIOUTUST APPROACH- Therapy- systematic desensitisation

Question 1

what does the behaviourist approach believe we are born as

Answer 1

a ‘tabula rasa’

Question 2

what does the behaviourist approach believe about all our behaviour

Answer 2

learned

Question 3

learning occurs as a result of two main types of conditioning. what are these types called and how do we earn through them

Answer 3

classical conditioning [learning though association] / operant conditioning [learning through the consequences of our actions]

Question 4

what’s the main assumption of the bahaviourist approach

Answer 4

all behaviour is learned

Question 5

why do behaviourist therapies in general draw on the principles of classical and operant conditioning

Answer 5

to help people ‘unlearn’ learned behaviour

Question 6

the underlying principles of behavioural therapies are based on the notion that most forms of mental illness occur through what

Answer 6

maladaptive[abnormal] or faulty learning

Question 7

because the underlying principles of behavioural therapies are based on the notion that most forms of mental illness occur through abnormal or faulty learning, what do they believe can be done and what is the key term for this

Answer 7

a person can re-learn how to behave in a more normal/functional, healthy way [behaviour modification]

Question 8

which conditioning type principles is systematic desensitisation based mainly on and how

Answer 8

classical conditional principles/ the idea of stimulus- response association

Question 9

who developed systematic desensitisation and when did he develop it

Answer 9

Joseph Wolpe, in the 1950s

Question 10

what was systematic desensitisation used to treat and what was assumed in this procedure in terms of classical conditioning

Answer 10

phobic disorders, assuming the client learned to associate the phobic object with fear

Question 11

SD is based on the idea of counterconditioning. what is this

Answer 11

where the client learns to associate the phobic object with being relaxed rather than being anxious

Question 12

counterconditioning is the idea of reciprocal inhibition .what’s the idea of reciprocal inhibition

Answer 12

that we cannot easily experience two contrasting states of emotion at the same time

Question 13

how are operant conditioning principles featured in SD therapy

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

what are the 3 main components [ principles] of systematic desensitisation [SD]

Answer 14

1- counterconditioning / 2- desensitisation hierarchy / 3- different forms of SD

Question 15

COUNTERCONDITIONING- what does the process of SD begin with learning

Answer 15

relaxation techniques

Question 16

what’s the eventual aim of SD [ counterconditioning]

Answer 16

acquire a new stimulus- response link, moving from responding to a stimulus with fear, to responding to a feared stimulus with relaxation

Question 17

why is counterconditioning called counterconditioning

Answer 17

the client is taught a new association that runs counter [opposite] to the original association

Question 18

what else did Wolpe call counterconditioning

Answer 18

‘reciprocal inhibition’

Question 19

why did Wolpe call counterconditioning also reciprocal inhibition

Answer 19

because the relaxation inhibits [prevents] the anxiety.

Question 20

DESENSITISATION HIERARCHY- what is a desensitisation hierarchy

Answer 20

a series of gradual steps that are determined at the beginning of therapy when the client and therapist work out a hierarchy of feared stimuli from least fearful to most fearful

Question 21

in the early days of SD, clients would learn to confront their feared situations directly [in person] by learning to relax in the presence of objects or images that would normally arouse anxiety. what type of desensitisation is this called

Answer 21

vivo desensitisation

Question 22

In more recent years, rather than actually presenting the feared stimulus, the therapist asks the client to imagine the presence of it. what two names is this type of desensitisation called

Answer 22

vitro or covert desensitisation

Question 23

has research [ Menzies and Clarke, 1993] found that vivo or vitro and convert techniques are more successful

Answer 23

vivo

Question 24

Often a number of different exposure techniques are used- in vivo , covert and also modelling, what does the client do [Comer, 202]

Answer 24

client watches someone else who is coping well with the feared stimulus

Question 25

an alternative is self- administered SD. what does this mean

Answer 25

self- directed

Question 26

Humphrey [1973] reports that self- administered SD has proved effective with, for example what phobia

Answer 26

social phobia

Question 27

what does Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning explain

Answer 27

previously neutral stimuli [such as snakes, supermarkets or even clocks can provoke anxiety in some people because they have become associated with a different event that we naturally find distressing

Question 28

what does a distressing event, e.g. being bitten [UCS- unconditioned stimulus] produce

Answer 28

a natural fear response [UCR- unconditioned response]

Question 29

An NS [neutral stimulus] e.g. presence of a dog, becomes associated with what

Answer 29

the UCS [being bitten]

Question 30

Because the NS [ presense of a dog] becomes associated with the UCS, what does the NS then produce

Answer 30

a UCR [ fear]

Question 31

after the UCR [fear], what are the stimulus and response now called

Answer 31

CS [conditioned stimulus]/ CR [conditioned response]

Question 32

what’s the reverse side to classical conditioning and how

Answer 32

counterconditioning as it involves reducing a conditioned response [such as anxiety] by establishing an opposite response [relaxation] to the same conditioned stimulus[e.g. snake, etc.]