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Martha Bernal
- 1. MARTHA BERNAL Influential Femaleand Latina Pioneer in Psychology
- 2. PROFILE Born in SanAntonio TX to Mexican immigrant parents Raised in El Paso Discriminated against in school Father opposed to higher education First Latina to receive a PhD in Psychology in the U.S. Valued learning theories and empiricism Applied these principles to treat children with conduct disorders Interest in minority health and multicultural perspectivesApril 13th 1931 – September 28th 2001
- 3. READING SUMMARY BEHAVIOR MODIFICATIONAND THE BRAT SYNDROME Martha E. Bernal, John S. Durvee, Harold L. Pruett, and Beverlee J. Burns Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1968, Vol. 32, No. 4, 447-455.
- 4. JEFF THE BRAT Subjectand History Jeff - 8 years old IQ of 106 Vast vocabulary and knowledge of general information Disciplinary problem Parents with marital problems Symptoms • Temper tantrums • Physical attacks • Bullying • Odd phrases • Rocking • Inability to make friends (Bernal, Durvee, Pruett, & Burns, 1968,
- 5. PROCEDURE Pre-Observations Meek and monotonemother Pacify Jeff at all costs Threats and demands from Jeff Mother acquiesces to demands No follow-through on punishment threats Jeff completely controlled his mother Treatment Step 1 – Teach the mother to “reduce her verbal output” and ignore all of Jeff’s abusive behavior Step 2 – Teach the mother to give cues associated with physical punishment Step 3 – Teach the mother to identify and praise acceptable behaviors (Bernal, Durvee, Pruett, & Burns, 1968,
- 6. (Bernal, Durvee, Pruett,& Burns, 1968,
- 7. (Bernal, Durvee, Pruett,& Burns, 1968,
- 8. SUCCESS “I had occasionto speak harshly to Jeff, and now he asks, ‘How do you feel?’ If I say angry he is given an explanation if he asks why, but he knows. Together with ignoring him, showing him I’m really angry by voice is working quite well. He mumbles under his breath and occasionally there is a bad word, but he responds within a reasonable time. No swats necessary.” “Freed of her terror of the boy, she gradually grew to like him, and he in turn began to express affection. During Week 18 the following occurred after Jeff had gone to bed: ‘He asked to talk to me. He asked if he could take piano lessons. I told him he had a bigger project first – learning to get along with others, including children – and in a few years perhaps he could take lessons. As I went out the door he said, ‘I love you.” I replied the same and told him how pleased I was with-Bernal, Durvee, Pruett, & Burns, 1968, p453-Bernal, Durvee, Pruett, & Burns, 1968, p454
- 9. DISCUSSION Variables leading toPositive Outcome Cooperative parent Positive feedback Videotaped sessions Limitations Inability to generalize results
- 10. INFLUENCE How did Bernal’slife events influence her work? The discrimination she experienced as a child and the lack of cultural training in her profession as a clinical psychologist clearly led her to pursue research into minority health and cultural issues in her later work, as well as to advocate for cultural training for clinicians. How has Bernal’s work influenced contemporary psychological science? Bernal opened psychology up to the principles of ethnic identity and minority training for psychologists. There has been a huge increase in research on minorities and multicultural perspectives. So much that we even have an entire course here at UIW devoted to Multicultural Issues. She even mentored a young graduate student, Melba Vasquez, who in 2011 was elected the first Latina president of the APA, and who appointed tasks addressing immigration, discrimination and prejudice, and educational disparities during her presidency.
- 11. REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Whatwas special about Bernal receiving a PhD in Psychology? 2. Apart from treating children with behavioral problems, what was Bernal interested in throughout her career? 3. What was the limitation of Bernal’s study? 4. What did the young graduate student Bernal mentored achieve in her later career? 1. She was the first female Latina to do so. 2. She was interested in researching minority health and multicultural issues and promoting Latinos in Psychology 3. It cannot be generalized to apply to other cases. 4. She became the first Latina president of the APA.
- 12. SOURCES Bernal, M. E.,Durvee, J. S., Pruett, H. L., & Burns, B. J. (1968). Behavior modification and the brat syndrome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 32(4), 447-455. George, M. (2012). Profile of Martha Bernal. (A. Rutherford, Editor) Retrieved from Psychology's Feminist Voices Multimedia Internet Archive: http://www.feministvoices.com/martha-bernal/ Vasquez, M. J. (n.d.). Martha Bernal. Retrieved from Society for the Psychology of Women: http://www.apadivisions.org/division- 35/about/heritage/martha-bernal-biography.aspx
Editor's Notes
- #3 Discriminated against in school because of her skin color and her accent. Her school was segregated despite it being in a highly Latino neighborhood in El Paso. She and her peers were forbidden to speak Spanish at school, making Bernal feel shame about her Latino heritage. While Bernal’s mother and older sister were supportive of her pursuing higher education, her father was strongly opposed to her going to college, insisting that she should be finding a family and starting a family. (Education is a waste of time for a woman since she would just be home taking care of husband and kids). She and her family were persistent and eventually her father gave her permission to go to graduate school. 1955- received her MA from Syracuse University 1962- received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Indiana University, Bloomington. (First Latina) Different approach to most clinicians, she used empirical techniques in her treatment. Her focus in her early career was in treating kids with behavioral problems. In 1979 she took a sabbatical and researched these topics. She was shocked to learn that even she had become unconsciously racist in her work because all psychology literature, research and treatment was being done from the Western (and usually white) perspective. So she decided to encourage and advocate for more research into minority and multicultural issues as well as promote recruitment and training of other Hispanic psychologists. She pioneered the study of ethnic identity and even helped establish committees and associations devoted to the issues of ethnic minorities, including the Board of Ethnic Minority Affairs of the American Psychological Association and the National Hispanic Psychology Association. She also served on the National Latino/a Psychological Association, on APA’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training, and was a member of the Committee on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Affairs. She also received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to the field of psychology. She suffered from 3 recurrences of cancer throughout her career but always returned to academia after her recovery. She finally died of lung cancer in 2001, age 70.
- #5 In this case study, Bernal and colleagues train a mother to control her emotionally disturbed 8 yr old son. Although he has a slightly higher than average IQ and has a vast vocabulary, he has a behavioral problem and is difficult to control both at school and at home. His parents are separated and the only authority figure at home is his mother. He has temper tantrums; he physically attacks his mother, teachers and peers; he bullies and tattles on kids in school; he says odd things (e.g., “you are distracting my image” when he is ignored by his mother); he rocks and moves his head back and forth repetitively; and can’t make friends because nobody likes him. Spanking and restriction of privileges were ineffective.
- #6 The researchers asked the mother to take daily notes on the conflicts and interactions between her and Jeff throughout the day, including what happened, what was said, and how the conflict ended. 5 Videotaped “Intervention” Sessions were conducted in the clinic. During the pre-treatment observation session, the researches noted that the mother constantly responded to Jeff with a meek, soft monotone voice, even when she was correcting him. Her goal was to Pacify Jeff at all costs, When she refused a demand from Jeff he would threaten to scream, to hit her, or to have an asthma attack, So she would give in to his demands every time. During the consequent “Intervention Sessions” the mother was given instructions for how to react to Jeff’s behavior. The instructions were based on 3 steps with the end goal of “establishing maternal control.” 1st step- to teach the mother to ignore Jeff’s abuse instead of acknowledging it and giving unobeyed orders to stop. 2nd step- ignore abuse. If it doesn’t stop express anger and order him to stop, if it still continues spank him. Instructed to reduce the frequency of her threats of punishment and when she did threaten to punish to, then, actually carry out the punishment. 3rd step- instructed to specify to Jeff which were good behaviors and to reinforce them by responding warmly and praising him as the behaviors occurred.
- #7 Record of Progress of treatment (Mother mentions that she doesn’t like Jeff and is terrified of him)
- #10 The researchers propose that there are a few variables that contributed to the positive outcome of the treatment. They state that the cooperation of the mother was an important contribution, she was willing to follow instructions, she wrote extensive notes, and she didn’t miss any appointments. Another factor was the record of her progress and the feedback that was provided to the mother. And the last variable is that the videotaping of sessions provided a record of the interactions that could be replayed and assessed to tailor the treatment to the relationship as it changed throughout the treatment. One limitation that the researchers identified is that the design of the study doesn’t allow for the generalization of the treatment to other cases since it was individualized to Jeff’s unique case.