Summary notes of behaviour therapy include: Introduction - Historical Background, 4 Areas of Development; Key Concepts - Current Trends in Behaviour Therapy, Basic Characteristics & Assumptions; The Therapeutic Process -Therapeutic Goals, Therapist's Function & Role, Client's Experience in Therapy,...
Chapter 9: Behaviour Therapy
Introduction
- Behaviour therapy focuses:
▪ directly observable behaviour
▪ current determinants of behaviour
▪ learning experiences that promote change
▪ tailoring treatment strategies to individual clients
▪ thorough assessment and evaluation
- used to treat: wide range of psychological disorders with specific client populations
▪ anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, eating/weight
disorders, sexual problems, pain management and hypertension
Historical Background:
- today, field has grown, become more complex & has diversity of views
- increasingly overlaps with other theoretical approaches
- use variety of evidence-based techniques
- 1960s: Albert Bandura developed social learning theory, which combined classical &
operant conditioning with observational learning. These focus on cognitive
representations of the environment rather than on characteristics of the objective
environment
- 1980s: characterised by a search for new concepts/methods. Increase attention to
role of emotions in therapeutic change & role of biological factors in psychological
disorders. the 2 most significant developments in the field were:
▪ 1.) continued emergence of CBT as a major force
▪ 2.) application of behavioural techniques to the prevention & treatment of
health-related disorders
- Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)
- Early 2000s: behavioural tradition broadened – enlarging the scope of research &
practice. Including: Dialectal Behaviour Therapy (DBT); Mindfulness-Based Stress
Reduction (MBSR); Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Acceptance and
Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Four Areas of Development:
- 4 major areas of development:
▪ 1.) Classical Conditioning ▪ 4.) Cognitive Behaviour
▪ 2.) Operant Conditioning Therapy
▪ 3.) Social-Cognitive Theory
- Classical Conditioning (Respondent Conditioning):
▪ Refers to what happens before learning that creates a response through
pairing
▪ Key figure: Ivan Pavlov – experiments with dogs:
1
, ➢ Placing food in a dog’s mouth leads to salivation, which is respondent
behaviour. When food is repeatedly presented with some originally
neutral stimulus (something that doesn’t elicit a particular response),
such as the sound of a bell, the dog will eventually salivate to the
sound of the bell alone. However, if a bell is sounded repeatedly but
not paired again with food, the salivation response will eventually
diminish & become extinct.
- Operant Condition:
▪ A type of learning in which behaviours are influenced mainly by the
consequences that follow them.
▪ If environmental changes brought about by behaviour are reinforcing – they
provide some reward to the organism/if they eliminate aversive stimuli – the
chances are increased that the behaviour will occur again
▪ If the environmental changes produce no reinforcement//produce aversive
stimuli, it becomes less likely that the behaviour will recur
▪ Positive and negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction techniques
show how operant conditioning in applied settings can help to develop
prosocial and adaptive behaviours
▪ Used in: parent education programmes and weight management programmes
- Social-Cognitive Theory (The Social Learning Approach):
▪ Developed by: Albert Bandura and Richard Walters (1963)
▪ Interactional, interdisciplinary and multimodal
▪ Involves a reciprocal interaction among 3 elements: the environment,
personal factors (beliefs, preferences, expectations, self-perceptions and
interpretations) and individual behaviour
▪ Environmental events on behaviour are mainly determined by cognitive
processes. These govern how environmental influences are perceived by an
individual and how these events are interpreted
▪ Basic assumption: people are capable of self-directed behaviour change &
person is the agent for change
▪ Self-efficacy: the individual’s belief/expectation that he/she can master a
situation and bring about desired change
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT):
▪ Represents: mainstream of contemporary behaviour therapy
▪ Assumes that what people believe influences how they act/feel
▪ Giving cognitive factors central role in understanding/treating emotional and
behavioural problems
▪ By mid-70s: CBT replaced BT as accepted designation
- Contemporary BT a lot in common with CBT: mechanisms of change is both cognitive
(modifying thoughts to change behaviour) and behavioural (altering external factors
that lead to behavioural change)
2
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller chlogilchrist. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $3.95. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
