Behavior Therapy

Life of Burrhus Frederic (BF) Skinner (1904-1990) Born in Susquehanna, Penn. Had one younger brother; described family life as “warm and stable” Had an inclination towards building things (i.e., a cabin in the woods, small motor cars, etc.) Heavily influenced by Francis Bacon’s theory of inductive method in science. He was also influenced by the writings of Pavlov and Watson Became involved with training pigeons to guide missiles during WWII Made a contribution to education through “programmed instruction” where students were taught information that is broken down into sequential steps, while given immediate feedback after completion of each step

Behavior Therapy A clinical approach to treat a variety of disorders, in various settings, with a wide range of populations How is this different from behavior modification?

Behavior Therapy was very popular during the 1950’s and 1960’s Why do you think this era supported this theory?

Four Areas of Behavior Therapy 1. Classical Conditioning: behaviors elicited from passive organisms (i.e., salivation, knee jerks) 2. Operant Conditioning: behaviors are influenced by the consequences that follow them 3. Social Learning: behavior is influenced by stimulus events, external reinforcement, and cognitive mediational processess 4. Cognitive Behavior Therapy: cognitive processes linked with behavioral strategies and techniques to elicit change

Modern Behavior Therapy Proposes that the person is the producer and the product of their environment Clients are helped to increase their skills to expand their viable options, thus creating individual freedom

Behavior Therapy Assumes… 1. Therapy should be modeled after the scientific method 2. Therapy should deal with current problems and less with past events 3. Clients are actively engaged in therapy and assume responsibility for change by taking action (doing something) 4. Clients will take what they learn in counseling and apply to their natural environment 5. Assessment and evaluation are an important part of the therapeutic process in order to determine if change is due to interventions used 6. Clients will learn to self-manage 7. Interventions will be uniquely tailored to fit the client ant presenting problem 8. Collaboration between client and therapist 9. Interventions will be culturally sensitive, practical, and applicable to every day life

Goals of Therapy Goals defined by client but agreed upon by the counselor Goals must be concrete, clear, and able to be measured or assessed Increase personal choice Create new conditions for learning

Therapist’s Role Active and directive Function as consultant and problem solver Use technques such as summarizing, reflection, clarification, and open-ended questions Conduct functional assessment prior to counseling to identify systems that maintain problem behavior, situational antecedents, dimensions of problem behavior, and consequences/reinforcers of behavior Develop and implement a treatment plan Evaluate success and conduct follow-up assessments

Multicultural Application of Behavioral Therapy Strengths Fits well with clients who come from a cultural background that stresses “doing” over “feeling” and supports action ??? Weaknesses Focus on narrow dimensions of client instead of the whole client Cultural implications and consequences of change ???