Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura
Goals
"To extinguish maladaptive behaviors and help people learn new adaptive ones"
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 333)
"To extinguish maladaptive behaviors and help people learn new adaptive ones"
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 333)
Development of Social Learning Theory
This theory states that not only direct experiences can lead to behavior change but also modeling. People influence each other but also our actions and behaviors influence our environment. In addition, the modeling that Bandura spoke of also helps to improve a person's self-efficacy. This is due to the fact that if we see a role model completing something difficult, we then believe ourselves to be capable of doing the same thing or something similar.
Treatment Using Behavior Therapy
Goals that can be accomplished through behavior therapy
- Reduction in use of, or abstinence from, drugs and alcohol
- Reduction of undesirable habits such as nail biting and pulling out one's own hair
- Improvement in social skills such as assertiveness and conversation
- Amelioration of fears and phobias such as fear of flying, apprehension about public speaking, and excessive fear of snakes
- Improvement in concentration and organization
- Reduction in undesirable behaviors in children such as tantrums, disobedience, acting out, aggressiveness, and difficulty going to bed
- Improvement in health and fitness habits such as nutritious eating, increased exercise, and more regular sleep patterns
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 333)
Behavioral Strategies and Interventions
Acting As If : When dealing with a difficult situation, the person in that situation "acts as if" he/she were someone that could handle the
situation.
Example : A child dealing with a medical condition and "acting as if" he/she was his/her mother/father
Activity scheduling : Planning activities is a way to feel accomplished as well as having a scheduled plan
Example : A student who is feeling overwhelmed by his/her college workload can make a schedule in order to map out
time to do the work, exercise, and eat meals with friends
Aversion therapy : A type of therapy that focuses on helping client to connect undesirable behaviors with their negative experiences
Examples of aversion therapy : visual imagery, satiation, and antabus
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 334)
Behavioral rehearsal : This provides the chance to practice tough situations. One can practice with a friend, in front of the mirror, on tape,
or through role-play. It's a way to see and practice the desired behavior and to make improvements.
Example : A child sharing their negative feelings about his/her mother to his/her mother
Biofeedback : "Use of instruments that monitor bodily functions...and give people feedback on those functions via a tone or a light"
By doing this, a person can improve their health, lower anxiety, and promote relaxation. Similarly, a person can do neuro-
feedback which gives people access to their brainwave patterns.
Example : Reduction in tension
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 335)
Contracting : This is a way for the client and the counselor to have an agreement from the beginning of counseling sessions that outlines
the treatment goals and the client and counselor roles.
Diaphragmatic breathing : A way of breathing that requires slow, deep breaths. By breathing this way, it can help to calm someone down
or help someone to fall asleep.
Exposure : In order to overcome and adapt to one's fear, one needs to be exposed to that fear regularly.
Example : fear of spiders
Expressive and creative activities : Sometimes counselors will think outside the box with their therapy to include art, dance, and music.
By using these types of strategies, the client can better express and show their emotions in a creative
way.
Extinction : This involves completing getting rid of an undesired behavior
Example : Teachers who give kids that act out attention
Flooding : "People are exposed to high doses of a feared stimulus in the expectation that this will desensitize them to the feared stimulus"
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 336)
Example : People who are afraid of clowns are locked in a room full of clowns
Modeling : People choose role models who are most similar to them (i.e. race, gender) to look up to and model their behavior.
Example : A son picking his favorite male teacher as his role model
Reasonable (natural) consequences : Unpleasant consequences that make sense in relation to the undesired behavior
Example : Someone who doesn't pay his/her bills on time has his/her services shut off
Reinforcements : Rewards that promote behavior change
Example : Parents praising child for cleaning his room
Relaxation : Is a technique that is used to reduce stress and can be combined with other techniques (i.e. breathing). Some well-established
relaxation strategies are: progressive muscle relaxation, a body scan, head rolls, shoulder shrugs, and shaking one's body
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 337)
Shaping : This strategy is used to make small incremental behavioral changes. People make goals with small steps that will help to
achieve the goal and create new behaviors.
Example : People with social anxiety improve their interactions with others
- Spend 5 to 10 minutes at a social gathering. Do not initiate any conversations.
- Spend 5 to 10 minutes at a social gathering and greet at least two people.
- Spend 15 to 20 minutes at a social gathering, greet at least two people, introduce yourself to at least one person, and
ask a question of the other person.
- Follow the previous step and, in addition, have a brief conversation about the weather and compliment the host on
the food.
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 337)
Skill training : For clients to make changes, they need to have certain skills. It's the responsibility of the counselor to provide the general
skills as well as the individualized, specific skills for a particular client.
Token economies : The client and the counselor must first establish the rules and post them so that they are a constant reminder to the
client. Then, they come up with a way to record the person doing those desired behaviors. Lastly, a reward needs to be
chosen.
Example : Every time the child does one of the desired behaviors, the teacher puts a sticker on the sticker chart. After
a set number of stickers, the child earns 5 extra minutes of recess.
Goal Setting in Behavior Therapy
Developing a plan to change behavior
Once the counselor has met with the client and has ascertained enough information about him/her, the counselor will use the following eight steps to collaboratively create a plan for the client:
1. Describe the problem behavior
- Review the nature of the problem and its history
- Explore the context of the target (unwanted) behavior
2. Establish a baseline, reflecting the current frequency, duration, and severity of the target behaviors
3. Determine goals
- Make sure that the goals are realistic, clear, specific, and measurable
- Make sure that goals are meaningful to the client
- State goals positively
4. Develop strategies to facilitate change
- Change precipitating conditions that trigger undesirable behaviors
- Teach skills and provide information that contribute to the desired change
- Review and enhance impulse-control strategies
- Use additional strategies such as modeling, rehearsal, and systematic desensitization to facilitate positive change
- Formulate appropriate reinforcement contingencies and, if indicated, meaningful consequences
- Carefully plan implementation of the change process as well as ways to monitor and record commitment to change with others
5. Implement the plan
6. Assess progress and evaluate the success of the plan
- Monitor and review the results of the implementation
- Emphasize successes
- identify and address any obstacles to change
- If necessary, revise the plan
7. Reinforce successes to promote empowerment and continue progressing and making positive changes
8. Continue the process by making plans to promote maintenance of gains and prevent relapse
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 339)
Planning and Implementing Behavior Change
Step 1 : Describing the behavior - Describe behavior in specific & measurable terms
Example : Izaak is arriving late to work (undesired behavior). He gives reasons of having full and demanding days and stays up late to have
"me time." He excuses his lateness by frequently working through his lunch and working late; however, he was not following the
hours given to him by his job. He wants to arrive at work on time on a regular basis (desire behavior).
Step 2 : Establishing a baseline
After the problem is stated in step 1, a baseline can be formed.
Ways to measure the behavior - By putting the problem in specific terms, it makes it easier to measure
- Frequency : how often the behavior occurs
- Severity : how bad the behavior is
Step 3 : Determining goals
The chosen goals need to make sense in reference to the problem. In addition, both the client and the counselor should agree to the goals and the goals should foster accomplishment and achievement.
Example : "Izaak established an initial goal of getting to work by 9:00 a.m. at least once during the next week and getting to bed by 1:00 a.m.
at least three times during the week."
Step 4 : Developing strategies
Now that the goal has been determined, strategies should be chosen that will be effective for behavior change.
Skill development and education : Clients will need to learn new skills and they will have to learn new things that will enable them to
change the undesired behaviors
Example : assertiveness and communication skills
Impulse control : By teaching people to control their impulses, it can help to foster positive change
Example : relaxation and distraction
Reinforcement : Rewards are motivational and can help give people that "push" they need to achieve their goals. There are three types of
reinforcement: social (i.e. compliments), intrinsic (i.e. good feelings), and extrinsic (i.e. celebratory dinner).
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 341)
Four schedules of reinforcement
1. Fixed-interval reinforcement : occurs on a regular schedule, such as a weekly paycheck or quarterly report card.
2. Variable-interval reinforcement : occurs at irregular intervals that average out to a specified time. For example, a pet receives five
treats in 75 minutes or an average of one every 15 minutes, but the intervals between the treats
vary from 5 to 30 minutes.
3. Fixed-ratio reinforcements : are provided at a specified rate that depends on the number of responses made. People working on an
assembly line may be paid for the number of parts put together rather than for the hours they work.
4. Variable-ratio reinforcements : usually seem random and unpredictable to the recipient, although they are controlled or planned
by the provider. Winning at slot machines is an example. Variable-ratio reinforcements are power-
ful in encouraging responses because each response holds the promise of a reward.
(Lundin, 1977)
Rewards are more effective than punishments because rewards are more motivational for clients. However, there is a time and a place for punishment. For example, arresting people guilty of domestic abuse. Natural consequences are a way to avoid punishment while still sending a powerful message. For example, "the girl who uses six towels each time she bathes is made responsible for the laundry."
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, pp. 341-342)
Planning : It's important to plan so that people can put into words how and when they will change their behavior.
Commitment : It's important for the counselor to ensure that the client commits. This can be done in the form of a contract and will help
them to follow through and to not quit.
Step 5 : Implementing Interventions
After goals and strategies are chosen, it's time to put those strategies to use. It's important to keep a record of progress and take notes as to what is helping or barring success.
Step 6 : Assessing Functioning
Along the way, it's important to stop and note successes and hardships. The counselors need to be encouraging to the client and if the client is struggling, the counselor needs to ensure that it's not happening for an extended period of time. Since not all people achieve their goals, clients should not feel like failures but rather take that failure as a time to learn and change their plan.
Step 7 : Reinforcing Gains
It's at this step that the client can start to reward themselves for the success that they've had thus far. Counselors can also give praise but should be more concerned with helping the client to be proud of what he/she has done.
Step 8 : Continuing the Process
1. If the plan had some shortcomings and clients did not reach their goals, client and clinician consider what revisions in goals and
strategies are likely to lead to greater success. Considerable attention may be paid to the strengths and weaknesses of the original
plan to determine how it needs to be improved.
2. If the plan was successful but the client has additional goals or wants to build on the accomplishments of the initial plan, client and
clinician agree on new objectives and develop strategies to facilitate their accomplishments.
3. If clients are satisfied with their accomplishments, they work with their clinicians to solidify those gains and prevent relapses.
Strategies such as involvement in a peer support group, ongoing self-monitoring, stress management, and periodic follow-up
sessions are common elements in a relapse-prevention plan.
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, pp. 344-345)