Principles of Behavior Change

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Principles of Behavior Change

• David M. Lewandowski, Ph.D.
• Winter 2002
• Psych 524

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• Office hours Tuesday 330 430
• Wednesday 330 430
• or by appointment
• Office is located in the Department of
  Psychology and Counseling Room 34060
• Phone number 534-4972
• E-mail d-lewand_at_govst.edu

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Principles of Behavior Change

• Introduction Basic Principles

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Terminology and Scope

• The major goal of behavior therapy is to help
  clients deal with psychological problems.
• Furthermore, application of the procedures have
  focused on assisting people in improving everyday
  behaviors.

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What is Behavior Therapy?

• Scientific an approach that involves precision
  and empirical evaluation.
• Active Action oriented therapy rather than
  verbal therapy.
• Present focus deal with the here and now.

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Self-control three advantages

• Client involvement assures that the change may
  last
• Personally empowering
• Learn skills that may last a life time

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• Learning focus Based on theories of learning.
  Most of our behavior is learned, therefore, can
  be unlearned.
• Other Characteristics
• Collaborative, individualized, stepwise
  progression, brevity, and treatment package.

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Behavior Therapy is also called

• Behavior Modification
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Conditioning Therapy

They all refer to the systematic application of
scientifically established principles of learning
in the area of changing human behavior.
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Historical background
Although behaviorism can be traced back to 1st
century Rome, the term behavior therapy, wasnt
introduced until the 1950s by Ogden
Lindsey. Two publications that helped establish
this new discipline were Skinners Science and
Human Behavior and Wolpes Psychotherapy by
Reciprocal Inhibition. In the 1970s behavior
therapy emerged as a major force in Psychology,
also impacting on psychiatry, social work, and
Education.
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Many of the other therapies have long since
disappeared!
The reason being, unlike Behavior Therapy, they
had no significant empirical data to back their
claims. Over 5000 articles and hundred of books
have been published on the various behavioral
approaches. Also, the relationship between the
client and the therapist is collaborative,
similar to other applied sciences.
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People we should know in the areas of behaviorism

• Psychology 101 revisited!

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William James

• In 1890, included a chapter on Habits in his
  text book
• Many of the principles that are important to
  Behavior Therapy today were discussed in this
  chapter
• Most importantly, he changed the view from
  introspective to behavioral

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Edward Thorndike

• Important contributor to the underlying theory of
  behavior modification
• He was the precursor of the various Skinnarian
  paradigms
• Thorndikes Law of Effect is the major
  underpinning of Skinners Law of Reinforcement

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Ivan Pavlov

• First to try to modify the behavior of animals
• During the 1920s he made dogs neurotic than
  tried to cure them!
• Developed the classical or respondent
  conditioning model

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John Watson

• Considered the father of behaviorism in this
  country
• Used respondent conditioning to create a phobia
  in a child (little Albert)
• Once stated that he could take 12 children and
  make them into whatever he wanted using these
  principles
• Died before he could cure Albert Mary Cover
  Jones did the desensitization!

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B.F. Skinner

• Consider the most influential psychologist since
  Freud
• Book Science and Human Behavior formed the
  foundation for future work in the area
• Looked at human behavior in terms of operant
  conditioning
• Gave hippies a reason to exist in the 1960s!

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Hippie

• A young person who adopts unconventional dress
  and behavior, questioning the middle class life
  it values

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Skinner disciples

• Ogden Lindsey coined term Behavior Therapy
• Teodoro Ayllon Work was critical in overcoming
  the resistance to the behavioral model
• Nathan Azrin Developed the first token economy

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Joseph Wolpe

• Conceptualized neurosis in terms of Pavolvian and
  Hullian learning principles
• Further developed the behavioral techniques of
  systematic desensitization and assertiveness
  training.
• Cashed in on the work done by Andrew Salter on
  more than one occasion!

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Albert Bandura

• Developed social learning theory
• This included not only principles of classical
  and operant conditioning, but also observational
  learning
• Theory emphasized the role of cognitions

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The Cognitive Behaviorists

• Aaron Beck
• Albert Ellis
• Donald Meichenbaum

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Assumptions Underlying Behavior Therapy

• The cornerstones for the course!

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OneRelative to psychotherapy, Behavior Therapy
tends to concentrate on maladaptive behavior
itself, rather than on some presumed underlying
cause.
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For example

• Psychoanalyst would agree that the client is
  experiencing anxiety when confronted with the
  snake. However, they would believe that it is due
  to a unconscious perception of the phallic like
  properties of the snake, repressed thoughts of
  castration, and of course, a sexual love for the
  mother!

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Various behaviorist would look at it differently

• For Wolpe, the underlying cause is the anxiety
  and he would deal with that
• Ellis would deal with the irrational beliefs held
  bout the snake
• Skinner would reinforce successive
  approximations, since the problem would be
  defined as snake avoidance

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Professors note
The psychoanalytic model is a medical or
disease model and is thus, perpetuated by
those trained in the medical professions. Therefo
re, maladaptive behavior is assumed symptomatic
of underlying pathology. If the underlying
cause is not treated with this type of approach,
symptom substitution - appearance of
another symptom - would result. This doctrine is
an offshoot of psychoanalytic theory.
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TwoBehavior Therapy assumes that maladaptive
behaviors are, to a considerable degree, acquired
through learning.
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There is no theory today that would discount the
role that the environment plays on human
development.
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For example.Not all maladaptive behavior is a
consequence of an unfortunate learning history.
Case in point, someone who has experienced
traumatic head injury.Also, more importance is
being given to biological predisposing factors
(biochemical imbalance leading to schizophrenia).
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ThreeBehavior Therapy assumes that
psychological principles, especially learning
principles, can be effective in modifying
maladaptive behavior.
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• Research abounds in the this area in relation to
  working with the mentally retarded.

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FourBehavior Therapy involves setting specific,
clearly defined treatment goals.
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Professors noteMaladaptive behavior is not a
result of a disturbed personality. Therefore,
the focus is not on the restructuring of the
personality, but rather on alleviating a specific
problem.
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FiveThe behavior therapist adopts his/her
method of treatment to the clients problem.
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SixBehavior Therapy rejects classical trait
theory.
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Trait How do we define it?

• A predisposition to similar behavior in a wide
  variety of situations. That is to say, relatively
  stable and enduring personality characteristics.

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Two alternatives to trait theory

• Situationalism - maintains that the behavior is
  under the direct stimulus control, thus highly
  situation specific (I.e. acting aggressively in
  presence of certain stimuli).

• Interactionism - is a midway position. That is
  to say, that the behavior is a result of the
  interaction between external stimuli and person
  variables.

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SevenBehavior Therapy concentrates on the here
and now.
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• Insights may be distorted. Plus, there is no
  guarantee that this will lead to the reduction of
  maladaptive behavior.

Boy I thought that tree was bigger!
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• The behavioral therapist will employ different
  procedures, depending on the presenting concern
  of the client.

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Therefore, as opposed to the dynamic therapists,
behavioral therapists are more likely to accept
the clients presenting concern as accurate.
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Professors noteMust remember, however, that
ninety percent of the time, the presenting
concern isnt always the real problem!
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Overt and Covert Behaviors

• Overt behaviors are actions that can be directly
  observed.

• Covert behaviors are things we do that cannot be
  directly observed.

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ABC Model Why we behave the way we do

• Antecedents are events that occur or are
  present before the behavior is performed.
• Behavior that occurs
• Consequences are events that occur after the
  behaviors have been performed.

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Triadic Reciprocal Determinism
Environment
Covert behavior
Overt behavior
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Maintaining antecedents

• Serve two functions
• 1. They serve as prerequisites for the
  behavior I.e. going to the movies
• 2. Provide situational cues for
  performing the behavior set the
• stage for the behavior to occur

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EightBehavior Therapy is supported by empirical
evidence.
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• Behavior Therapy is seen as an extension of the
  assessment process. As a result, emphasis is
  placed on gathering information to support

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The Practice of Behavior Therapy

• An Overview

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The eight step process

• Clarifying the problem Presenting concern is
  often stated in vague terms needs to be
  operationalized. That is to say, defined in
  behavioral terms. The who, what, where, when and
  why of the behavior.

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• Designing a target behavior a narrow, discrete
  aspect of the problem that can be clearly defined
  and easily measured.
• 1. Narrow in scope
• 2. Unambiguously defined
• 3. Measurable (pg 51)
• Frequency
• Duration
• Intensity
• Amount of by-product
• 4. Appropriate for the problem and client
• 5. Measuring the baseline

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• Formulating treatment goals Goals are developed
  in conjunction with the client, and the client
  assuming the majority of the responsibility for
  deciding on the therapy goals.
• Therapist takes a more active role if the
  clients goals are deemed unrealistic or to
  result in negative consequences.

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• Identifying maintaining conditions This is a
  critical step in the process, since this is the
  focus of change in order to change the target
  behavior.
• Designing a plan to change the maintaining
  conditions
• Implementing the change plan
• Evaluating the success of the change plan
• Conducting follow-up assessment

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Behavioral Assessment

• Objectivity vs Subjectivity

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The Traditional Approach
This is the approach that most people are
familiar with and is often represented. It
involves the use of projective techniques, which
require a subjective interpretation. Projective
methods give the subject an abstract,
unstructured stimuli, such as an inkblot or an
incomplete sentence, and require the person to
interpret the stimulus and respond.
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The Objective Approach
There is no subjective interpretation of the
results. Observations are made and scored with a
quantitative analysis of the person being the
end result. This is then compared to other
people in their age group to determine if there
is a statistically significant difference in the
behavior.
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Goals of Behavioral Assessment

• Select and define target behaviors precisely
• Identify the maintaining conditions of the target
  behaviors
• Measure the changes in the target behavior over
  the course of treatment

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Behavior assessment is

• Multimodal measurements are made of two or more
  modes of behavior
• Multimethod assessment use two or more methods
  to gather information (pg 75)

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Characteristics of behavior assessment

• Individualized used to gather information about
  clients problem and maintaining conditions.
  Therefore, diagnosis is not a goal.
• Present focus Here and now is important
• Directly samples relevant behavior See it and
  measure it

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• Narrow focus Looks at discrete behaviors and
  specific circumstances
• Integrated with therapy Assessment is a integral
  and continuous part of therapy

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Behavioral Interviews

• Initial interviews have four parts
• 1. Establishing rapport with the client
• 2. Understanding problem/target behavior
• 3. Gather data about maintaining
  conditions
• 4. Educate client about technique

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Establishing rapport

• This step involves developing a relationship of
  mutual trust. Unconditional acceptance of the
  client is the key.

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Gaining an understanding

• Often clients describe their presenting concerns
  in a vague manner using trait terms. Need to
  operationalize so that a target behavior can be
  selected.

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Data gathering

• Looking for the antecedents and consequences of
  the behavior (ABC model). The who, what, when,
  where, how and how often of the experience.

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Educate the client

• Provide client with information about the
  technique and behaviorism in general. What the
  client can expect to happen.

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Methods for collecting data

• Direct self-report inventories direct questions
  requiring a yes or no, true or false response.
  Highly efficient way of gathering information.
• Behavioral Checklists and Rating Scales
  Completed by someone other than the client.
  Accuracy depends on the informant.

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• Self recording Involves the client observing and
  recording their own behaviors. Three possible
  problems with this method are clients ability to
  be accurate and honest interrupts ongoing
  activities, and the client may change as a result
  of recording their behavior.
• Systematic naturalistic observation recording
  specific behaviors as they are naturally
  occurring.

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• Simulated observation setting up an environment
  that closely resembles that in which the problem
  behavior occurs.
• Role playing client enacts the problem behavior
  for the therapist and how they typically would
  handle the situation.
• Physiological measurements direct measurements
  of physiological responses are made such as heart
  rate, blood pressure, etc.

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All things considered Behavioral Assessment

• Each behavioral assessment method has its
  strengths and limitations and should be looked at
  in light of the type of information needed.
  Multimethod and multimodal assessment helps
  overcome the limitations of single methods and
  provideds more complete information about the
  clients problem.