Behaviour therapy

1. Using Learning theories
Dr. Anuradha Sovani
Professor and Head, Department of Psychology
Dean, Faculty of Humanities
SNDT Women’s University
We need to handle BEHAVIOUR
What is behavior? A quick look at some descriptions.
Activity/ Action/ Performance/ Response/ Reaction / Anything a person says or does / Muscular,
glandular or electrical activity of organism / Overt or covert
What is Behavior Modification? : Systematic application of learning principles and techniques to assess
and improve individual’s overt and covert behaviors in order to help them function more fully.
Good discipline techniques can handles behavioral deficits and excesses.
They can be used by all, with adequate training.
Professionals from the field of mental health, education, nursing, sports, etc. may use them extensively, as
may parents, teachers, coaches, animal trainers, etc.
Principals and Procedures in disciplining.
Positive reinforcement : consumable, activity, manipulative, social.
Negative reinforcement
Punishment, Extinction
A brief history of how behavioral techniques in good discipline evolved.:
Behavioral assessment emerged in 1960s. J.B. Watson (1930) said, “Give me a dozen healthy infants, and
my own specified world to bring them up in, and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and yes, even beggar
man and thief regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his
ancestors.”
The role of the environment was highlighted by B.F.Skinner (1974) : Important discipline techniques:
Shaping, Token economy.

2. Operant conditioning: learning as a result of satisfying consequences. (Edward Thorndike, B.F. Skinner)
Systematic desensitization: counter conditioning, generalization, extinction
Aversive conditioning, Graded exposure, Flooding
Important concepts in instilling discipline:
Operant conditioning schedules, Intermittent reinforcement .
Social reinforcement
Modeling
IMPORTANT TIPS :
Select/control the following carefully
 Behavior to be changed
 Reinforcers
 Size of reinforcer
 Contingency
 Immediacy
 Avoid non-contingent and adventitious reinforcement. eg superstitions
 Immediate and long term effects
IMPORTANT Key principles of reinforcement to ensure discipline:
 deprivation
 size
 immediacy
 contingency
 consistency
Applications of discipline: Health, Mental Health, School Behavior, Education, Conduct disorders.
Applications of PUNISHMENT (if required): Physical (aversive), reprimands, time out, response cost.