THE BEHAVIOUTUST APPROACH- Therapy- systematic desensitisation Flashcards
what does the behaviourist approach believe we are born as
a ‘tabula rasa’
what does the behaviourist approach believe about all our behaviour
learned
learning occurs as a result of two main types of conditioning. what are these types called and how do we earn through them
classical conditioning [learning though association] / operant conditioning [learning through the consequences of our actions]
what’s the main assumption of the bahaviourist approach
all behaviour is learned
why do behaviourist therapies in general draw on the principles of classical and operant conditioning
to help people ‘unlearn’ learned behaviour
the underlying principles of behavioural therapies are based on the notion that most forms of mental illness occur through what
maladaptive[abnormal] or faulty learning
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
a person can re-learn how to behave in a more normal/functional, healthy way [behaviour modification]
which conditioning type principles is systematic desensitisation based mainly on and how
classical conditional principles/ the idea of stimulus- response association
who developed systematic desensitisation and when did he develop it
Joseph Wolpe, in the 1950s
what was systematic desensitisation used to treat and what was assumed in this procedure in terms of classical conditioning
phobic disorders, assuming the client learned to associate the phobic object with fear
SD is based on the idea of counterconditioning. what is this
where the client learns to associate the phobic object with being relaxed rather than being anxious
counterconditioning is the idea of reciprocal inhibition .what’s the idea of reciprocal inhibition
that we cannot easily experience two contrasting states of emotion at the same time
how are operant conditioning principles featured in SD therapy
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.
what are the 3 main components [ principles] of systematic desensitisation [SD]
1- counterconditioning / 2- desensitisation hierarchy / 3- different forms of SD
COUNTERCONDITIONING- what does the process of SD begin with learning
relaxation techniques
what’s the eventual aim of SD [ counterconditioning]
acquire a new stimulus- response link, moving from responding to a stimulus with fear, to responding to a feared stimulus with relaxation
why is counterconditioning called counterconditioning
the client is taught a new association that runs counter [opposite] to the original association
what else did Wolpe call counterconditioning
‘reciprocal inhibition’
why did Wolpe call counterconditioning also reciprocal inhibition
because the relaxation inhibits [prevents] the anxiety.
DESENSITISATION HIERARCHY- what is a desensitisation hierarchy
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
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
vivo desensitisation
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
vitro or covert desensitisation
has research [ Menzies and Clarke, 1993] found that vivo or vitro and convert techniques are more successful
vivo
Often a number of different exposure techniques are used- in vivo , covert and also modelling, what does the client do [Comer, 202]
client watches someone else who is coping well with the feared stimulus
an alternative is self- administered SD. what does this mean
self- directed
Humphrey [1973] reports that self- administered SD has proved effective with, for example what phobia
social phobia
what does Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning explain
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
what does a distressing event, e.g. being bitten [UCS- unconditioned stimulus] produce
a natural fear response [UCR- unconditioned response]
An NS [neutral stimulus] e.g. presence of a dog, becomes associated with what
the UCS [being bitten]
Because the NS [ presense of a dog] becomes associated with the UCS, what does the NS then produce
a UCR [ fear]
after the UCR [fear], what are the stimulus and response now called
CS [conditioned stimulus]/ CR [conditioned response]
what’s the reverse side to classical conditioning and how
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.]
