Week 3

Behavioral Theories Review Classical Conditioning Good example is when your email “dings” so you check it! Operant Conditioning Positive reinforcement - increasing a behaviour by providing a positive reinforcer when the behaviour occurs Child does something good so you give them a cookie Negative reinforcement - increasing a behaviour by removing a negative reinforcer when the behaviour occurs Punishment - decreasing a behaviour by providing a negative reinforcer when the behaviour occurs Time out when a kid does stupid shit Extinction - decreasing a behaviour by removing a positive reinforcer when the behaviour occurs Not picking a “go hard” in class… Serves them right Extinction Burst – Final attempt at an activity to see if reinforcement cycle can be reinstated Continuous – Reward every time behavior occurs Partial – Reward every so often, not every time. Social Learning Theories Bandura (1960s) Developed out of behavioural theory Reinforcement is not always necessary for learning to occur You see other people winning at a casino so you are influenced to gamble Aggressive behaviour can also be obtained as a result of seeing others be aggressive. (ie Bobo the Clown) Certain periods in a child’s life are more prone to impressionability than other periods, like when their older they don’t observe as much Reinforcement does not have to occur in this type of behavior Social modeling and observational learning can also lead to acquisition and change of maladaptive behaviour Behavior Therapy Present focus with less emphasis on mental world Less insight needed Identify triggers and responses that maintain behavior The focus is what happens before behavior, what causes it? The environment the child enters is also important (who is there, etc) Behavior Modification Change behavior by applying operant learning principles Behaviors don’t come from no where, shaping must be used in order to move towards a new behavior. We start in the zone of proximal development, or our comfort zone, and build from there. Behavior is broken into little steps and built using reinforcement Some Behavior Therapy Techniques Token Economy Awarding stars for certain things Giving a treat or some sort of reward for a certain type of behavior Good way to get children to behave in a classroom The token itself could be a positive reinforcement, and sometimes the end goal of a certain number of tokens could be an added incentive Exposure Therapy (e.g., flooding, systematic Desensitization) In order to develop a new conditioned response, you need to be exposed to that situation If someone has social anxiety, and they avoid social situations, they need to be exposed to social environments in order to adapt to being sociable This is systematic desensitization If someone is gradually exposed to their feared stimulus, they will be able to “get over their fear” Flooding is thrusting someone to the extreme of their fear, so if someone is petrified of snakes, putting one in their hands would be an example of this Potential to make someone even worse as a result Modeling Showing someone else not being affected by a certain stimulus Ex. Showing someone holding a snake and not being afraid of it Role Play Aversion Therapy Avoiding the feared stimulus Distraction Doing something else to distract you from your fear, like saying the alphabet Krystashit counts tiles when she has to get a needle Pros and Cons: Behavior Theories Look in the book dude Cognitive Behavioral Theory Ellis, Beck Developed out of behavioural theory Emphasizes the role of information processing (e.g., perception, attention, and memory) as well as attitudes, beliefs, and interpretation of the world People actively construct meaning from experiences and act in accordance with this schema or way of seeing the world Going to a restaurant and expecting to be seated and a waiter coming to take order; behaviour is determined by previous experiences ASSUMPTIONS Abnormal and normal behaviour are both learned Psychopathology is associated with distorted thinking Cognition affects behaviour Cognition can be monitored, analyzed, and altered We can restructure these cognitions based on our experiences Changing your thoughts can lead to behaviour change (i.e., change the situation or the interpretation of the situation) Cognitive Theory Learned Helplessness and other attributions (Seligman, 1975) Is this something I have control over Aaron Beck – Cognitive triad and global assumptions Self Negative thoughts: I’m stupid World The world is merked Future Nothing good will ever happen to me Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Focus on changing maladaptive thought or interpretations about events and replacing them with more adaptive thoughts Being afraid of flying and then going on a flight and nothing bad happens More helpful that stating that plane crashes are unlikely Aaron Beck Cognitive Strategies Identify thoughts and unhelpful patterns of thinking (cognitive distortions) Challenge unhelpful patterns of thinking (cognitive restructuring) and develop new ways of thinking (schemas) BehaviouralAssignments and Exposures 10 Common Cognitive Distortions All-or-Nothing Thinking Black or white; stupid or smart; popular or a loser Not seeing the grey in the world Therapy would involve demonstrating why there are degrees in everything Overgeneralization Take one instance of something and apply it to everything Mental Filter Observe the world through your own set of glasses Could be positive or negative skewed view of the world Glass half full vs. half empty Need to look at how the world is both good and bad Disqualifying the Positive Don’t look at the happy tings Jumping to Conclusions Mind Reading/Fortune Telling: Thinking of what other people think of you, “Everyone thinks I’m stupid” Magnification or Minimization Not doing the reading, so I’m gonna fail the course Extreme reactions to small things Emotional Reasoning You feel very sad or angry and reason based on that feeling Labeling and Mislabeling Labeling of yourself as stupid and not moving from that label Unlovable is another example Personalization If youre in a meeting and the boss indicates that the numbers for the quota is bad, you need to increase sales (as in to the whole group) and you think that it only applies to you! All the blame is on your shoulders Should Statemen