Behandeling: Interventies binnen de orthopedagogiek
Literatuur: Martin, G., & Pear, J. (2019). Behavior modification: What is it and how to do it.
Chapter 1: Introduction
What is behavior?
Behavior (generally) = anything that a person says or does
Behavior (technically) = any muscular/ glandular/ electrical activity of an organism
Products of behavior = consequences of behavior
Overt behavior = could be observed by/ recorded by an individual other than the one
performing the behavior (public)
Covert behavior = cannot be observed by others (private); also cognitive behaviors e.g.
private self-talk (thinking in words), imagining
Characteristics of behavior that can be measured; dimensions of behavior
a. Duration = length of the time that it lasts
b. Rate = number of instances that occur in a period of time
c. Intensity/ force = psychical effort or energy involved in emitting the behavior
Behavioral language = Summary labels for behavior - to talk about concept behaviorally; e.g.
intelligence, attitudes, creativity
Positive reasons for use of summary labels/ labels for behavior patterns
- Useful for quickly providing general information on how an individual might perform
- Labels may imply that a particular treatment program will be useful
Disadvantages for the use of summery labels
- Pseudo-explanations (false) of behavior; circular reasoning
- Can negatively affect the way an individual might be treated
Defining problems as
- Behavioral deficits = too little behavior of a particular type
- Behavioral excess = too much behavior of a particular type
Because
- Avoidance using general summery labels (problems)
- Behavior causes concern and behavior must be used to alleviate the problem
- Specific procedures are available that can be used to improve behavior (= behavior
modification)
Behavior modification = systematic application of learning principles and techniques to asses and
improve the overt and covert behaviors of individuals in order to enhance their daily
7 main characteristics of behavior modification
1. Strong emphasis on defining problems in terms of behavior that can be measured in some
way and using changes in the behavioral measure of the problem as the best indicator of the
extent to which the problem is being helped
, 2. Treatment procedures and techniques are ways of altering an individuals current
environment Stimuli = physical variables that make up a person’s environment; people/
objects/ events currently present in one’s immediate surroundings that impinge on one’s
receptors and that can affect behavior
3. Methods and rationales can be described precisely
4. The techniques of behavior are often applied by individuals in everyday life
5. The techniques stem from basic and applied research in the science of learning
6. Behavior modification emphasizes scientific demonstration that a particular intervention or
treatment was responsible for a particular behavior change
7. Places high value on accountability for everyone involved in behavior modification programs
Target behaviors = behaviors to be improved in a behavior modification program
Behavior assessment = the collection and analysis of information and data, in order to
a. Identify and describe target behaviors
b. Identify possible causes of behavior
c. Guide the selection of an appropriate behavioral treatment
d. Evaluate treatment outcome
Classical/ Pavlovian/ Respondent conditioning
Pavlov Demonstrated with a dog that pairing a stimulus such as a bell with food taught
the dog to salivate to the bell alone
Watson & Rayner Demonstrated Pavlovian conditioning of a fear response in an 11-
month-infant
Jones Demonstrated “de-conditioning” of a fear in an infant
Wolpe Developed a behavioral treatment for specific phobias
Eyseneck First to refer to Wolpe’s approach as behavior therapy
Operant conditioning
Skinner
Distinguished between Pavlovian conditioning and operant conditioning (= type of learning in
which behavior is modified by its consequences; rewards and punishers)
Application of operant conditioning is behavior modification
Applied Behavior Analysis
Baer, Wolf, Risley
Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis
a. Focus on measurable behavior that is socially significant
b. Strong emphasis on operant conditioning to develop treatment strategies
c. Attempt to clearly demonstrate that the applied treatment was responsible for the
improvements in the behavior that was measured
d. A demonstration of generalizable and long-lasting improvements in behavior
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Ellis Help people with irrational beliefs, replace them with more rational self-statements
,Beck Assumed that dysfunctional thinking could cause depression and other problems, referred to
strategies for recognizing maladaptive thinking and replacing it with adaptive thinking; cognitive
therapy/ cognitive behavior modification/ cognitive behavior therapy
Behavior analysis
Behavior analysis = study of scientific laws that govern the behavior of human beings and other
animals
3 types of individuals that behavior modification refers to
1. Applied behavior analysts
2. Cognitive behavior therapists
3. Everyone else
Notes for further learning
1. Behavioral assessment emerged as alternative to traditional psychodiagnostic assessment
2. Psychoanalytic approaches to abnormal behavior originated with Freud a.o. who viewed
abnormal behavior as a symptom of underlying mental disturbance in personality
3. Major purpose of traditional diagnostic assessment was to identify the type of mental
disorder underlying the abnormal behavior (assumption)
4. DSMs beginning 1987 much improved
Research instead of theory
Categories of problem behavior
Multidimensional recording system
Official diagnoses needed for agencies/ insurance
Chapter 2: Areas of application
Parenting and child management
Behavioral techniques have been applied to help parents teach their children to walk,
develop initial language skills, use the toilet and perform household chores
Parents have also been taught behavioral strategies for solving their children’s sleep
problems and decreasing problem behaviors, such as nail biting, temper tantrums, aggressive
behaviors, disregarding rules, noncompliance with parents’ requests and frequent arguing
Some behavior problems are so complex that parents an behavioral therapists both treat the
problem
Education
Behavior modification approach to university teaching (Keller, 1968)
a. The instructional goals for a course are stated in the form of study questions and application
exercises
b. Students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the course content
through frequent tests or some combination of tests and assignments
c. Students are given detailed information at the beginning of the course about what is
expected of them on the tests and assignments in order to achieve various letter grades
, Result: A great majority of students are more motivated to remain focused on the task at hand and a
high percentage earn As/Bs in the course
Personalized System of Instruction - PSI (Keller)
Mastery criteria (students must perform at a high level on a test or written assignment
before proceeding to the next part of the course)
Use of student assistants (to immediately score tests or written assignments
Computer-aided PSI – CAPSI
Students in the same course who mastered a given unit of study material can act as proctors
Measurable feedback accuracy by peer reviewers and compliance with feedback by students
May enhance creativity
Receive more feedback
Developmental disabilities
Intellectual disabilities Many studies demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioral techniques for
teaching behaviors, such as toileting, self-help skills, communication skills, other social skills, leisure-
time behaviors and a variety of community survival behaviors
Autism Spectrum Disorder Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) = Teach social and play
behaviors, eliminate self-stimulatory behaviors, develop language skills; long-lasting gains
Schizophrenia Teaching positive social interaction, communication skills, assertiveness skills, job
finding skills, alleviating problems caused by hallucinations or delusions
Psychological problems anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, stress-related
problems, depression, obesity, marital problems, sexual dysfunction, habit disorders
Self-management and personal problems
Successful self-modification requires a set of skills that can be learned, these require ways of
rearranging your environment
Medical and health care
Behavioral medicine = broad interdisciplinary field concerned with the links between health, illness
and behavior
Health psychologists have applied behavior modification in 5 major areas
1. Direct treatment of medical problems; e.g. biofeedback (= continuously providing the
individual with their physiological information)
2. Establishing treatment compliance
3. Promotion of health living
4. Management of caregivers
5. Stress management
Nisbet & Gick (2008): Health psychology could help save the planet, because healthier living leads to
a cleaner environment
Gerontology
Developing and learning new routines
