Behavioral Change

Story

Terms

antecedents
anxiety stimulus hierarchy
behavior modification
bridge signal
chaining
change yourself first
checklists
classical conditioning
clicker
clicker training
consequences
context
contingent
continuous variables
coping skills
current behavior
duration
extinction
fading
frequency
generalization
goal specific
gymnastics
hierarchy of fear
incompatible response
increase behavior
influence
intensity
intervention
jackpot
limits of rewards
long-term goals
lure
pace
patience
positive reinforcement
precision
primary reinforcer
prompt
proportional reward
Pryor, Karen
punishment
raise finger
reinforcement
reinforcers
relaxation
reward
secondary reinforcer
shaping
success signal
successive approximations
superstitious behavior
systematic desensitization
systematic exposure
target definition
target selection
task analysis
task clarification
thinning
thirty-four steps
tracking
triggers
variable ratio
Wolpe, Joseph

Quiz

1. Behavioral Change focuses on behaviors that are:

a. voluntary
b. reflexive
c. habitual
d. skilled

2. What happens before a behavior (beliefs, experiences, etc.) are:

a. superstitious behaviors
b. extinction bursts
c. unimportant
d. antecedents

3. An unexpectedly large reward for extra effort is called a:

a. calming signal
b. release word
c. jackpot
d. cluster

4. Grandma’s Law (if you eat your peas, you can have pie) is an example of:

a. auto-shaping
b. contingency
c. punishment
d. duration

5. Grandma’s saying “Well, alright” is an:

a. unconditioned stimulus
b. event marker
c. antecedent
d. obligation

1. Behavioral Change focuses on behaviors that are:

a. voluntary
b. reflexive
c. habitual
d. skilled

2. What happens before a behavior (beliefs, experiences, etc.) are:

a. superstitious behaviors
b. extinction bursts
c. unimportant
d. antecedents

3. An unexpectedly large reward for extra effort is called a:

a. calming signal
b. release word
c. jackpot
d. cluster

4. Grandma’s Law (if you eat your peas, you can have pie) is an example of:

a. auto-shaping
b. contingency
c. punishment
d. duration

5. Grandma’s saying “Well, alright” is an:

a. unconditioned stimulus
b. event marker
c. antecedent
d. obligation

Presenting a concept, principle or rule is much easier than getting people to change their behaviors. People will listen and agree, but not put things into practice. Knowing what you should do is not the same as doing it. So let’s explore behavioral change.

Some things are easier to change than others. Gambling and risk taking are difficult to stop or even just lessen their frequency and intensity. Drug addiction is very difficult to change. Change is possible but not easily achieved.

My summary of psychology is that there are two great principles:

People have a tremendous capacity to change. And they usually don’t.

Here are 5 things we’ll cover:

Clicker Training (behavior modification)
Systematic desensitization
How to change yourself
How to change others
Three-Three Steps

There are five things we are going to look at:

Clicker Training
Systematic Desensitization
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)

1. Clicker Training (behavior modification)

Karen Pryor
Positive reinforcement
- No punishment
- Shaping
Classically conditioning to link clicker & primary reinforcer
- Not Lure
Animals
- zoos
- horses
- dogs & cats
Humans
- gymnastics

2. Systematic desensitization

Joseph Wolpe
Incompatible response
Anxiety stimulus hierarchy
Relaxation & coping skills (Hierarchy of fear)
Systematic exposure to stimuli while relaxed
Raise finger

3. How To Change Yourself

- Identify long-term goals
- Task clarification (use memos, checklists)
- Analyze antecedent (triggers)
- Reinforcement
- Take your time
- Be patient

4. Changing Other People

Complete changing yourself first
Influence, don’t change
Lots of rewards
No punishment
Limits of rewards

5. Thirty-Three Steps (plus a jackpot)

Select a target (you)
Positive, not negative
Increase, not decrease
Pick one, not everything
Clear, not vague
Continuous, not discrete
Identify antecedents
Analyze context
Observe current behavior
Consequences
Is intervention necessary
Task analysis
Goal specific, not general
Frequency
Duration
Intensity
Pace
Precision
Try without reinforcement
Reward, not punish
Proportional reward
Contingent
Success signal
Reward successive approximations
Prompt, not lure
Vary reinforcers
Change to variable ratio
Thinning
Fading
Generalizing
Chaining
Superstitious behavior
Extinction
Jackpot

Prepared

To do well in this class it is important that you come to class prepared. Class is to help clarify the material. It is not the primary delivery system.

Before coming to class, here is what you need to do. Read the assigned posts, articles and book chapters. Watch the videos. And get an overview of the material with a mind map. It will help you understand how the components relate to each other.

Take notes on all of this material. Come up with three questions you want to ask. Submit your two questions on Canvas and get two points. Ask one in class, if I don’t cover it.

Mind Map

A mind is a diagram of information. It helps you see hierarchies, paths and interrelationships. Mind maps have a circle in the middle and spokes that radiate out. All of the arms relate back to the central point but can intersect with each other. They can be simple or quite complex.

Here is the TOPIC mind map.

Videos

Some things are better presented in video. Films can cover the same material as a book but produce vastly different experiences. I’m disable with poor vision, so TV, films and videos work much better for me. My doctoral program would have been much easier if journal articles had been made into movies.

Here are the LINK TO videos.

Readings

Some things are better presented in words. I’m sorry I don’t have audio recordings of all the material you need to cover. But I’ve had pretty good luck getting my computer to read to me.

If you happened to be one of those sighted folk, you’ll find these sources even easier to access.

In general, read these quickly, like a novel. I’ll tell you what you need to know. These readings are to give you another voice, the same material but presented in different way.

Here they are the assigned readings in order of importance:

Class

Go to class.

Five Things To Know

Here are 5 things you need remember from this class session. Each class covers a lot of material but I want you to focus on only a few items. Everything is valuable but some things are more important

Read all of the supplemental material you want. Explore everything that catches your fancy but here are five things you need to know:

Clicker Training
Systematic Desensitization
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)

Notes

Here are the class notes for TOPIC.

Key Terms

Here are the terms you need to know about TOPIC.

Quiz

It is important to check your progress. Here’s a short quiz for you: TOPIC Quiz

Discussion

Check on Canvas to see if there is a discussion due.

Progress Check

Check on Canvas to see if there is a progress check due this week.

Links to Explore

If you want more information on this topic, here are some links to sites you that might interest you.

These are starting places for you, not destinations. Read the posts, look at the resources listed in them and then read those articles. Enjoy!

Wikipedia:
And

Summary

Infographic goes here

Credit: Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash