Methods for Changing Behaviors - Psychological Self-Help

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There are some advantages for covert conditioning: (1) the ideas are simple, (2) no help, no special environment, and no equipment is needed, (3) there are almost no limits to what can be done in fantasy- -vomiting, instant sex of any kind, vacations, hurting oneself, etc., and (4) it can be done anytime (since your head is almost always with you). But does it work? The research centers on covert sensitization. It has worked fairly well with sexual deviations (homosexuality, exhibitionists, incest) but not very well with obesity, alcohol, or smoking (Bellack and Hersen, 1977). More research is needed with the other covert methods. The results are promising enough to try these methods, especially if the approach has an appeal to you and is believable. Remember the research thus far has been done with long-term clinical disorders, not ordinary problems. Additional readings Cautela, J. R. Covert conditioning. In A. Jacobs & L. Sachs (Eds.), The psychology of private events. New York: Academic Press, 1971. Extinction; making sure the behavior doesn’t pay off If a behavior yields no pay off, it should gradually stop, i.e. be extinguished. Thus, it is sometimes better to disregard an unwanted response than to punish it. Extinction and punishment lead to the same results: stopping some behavior. However, in extinction the unwanted response is allowed to occur freely. The person learns "this behavior just doesn't work; it gets no results at all." Note the striking contrast with the person whose behavior is punished by someone else, the punishee might think, "Wow, they (the punishers) are really upset. Well, maybe I'll cool it while they are around but I know how to drive them crazy if I ever want to. I'm powerful!" In this method, we remove the reinforcement of unwanted behavior, but the neglect of good, desired behavior (that's extinction too) is the source of many problems in the world. Parents and teachers attend far more to bad than to good behavior; we forget to tell the people closest to us that we love and appreciate them; we take our own good behavior for granted but get upset by failures, etc. Thinking by the brain is required for reinforcement and for extinction (where you have to think, "I'm not going to respond to this." Purposes · To stop or reduce an unwanted behavior. · To do the above without harsh, unpleasant punishment. 1150
Steps STEP ONE: Specifically describe the unwanted behavior that you want to extinguish. This may be a behavior or emotion or thought. STEP TWO: Do a careful behavior analysis to determine the consequences that support the unwanted behavior. See method #9 because it is necessary to know all the pay offs for the behavior. Otherwise, how can you eliminate all the reinforcement? Extinction works best with new, recently learned behaviors and/or with behaviors that are reinforced almost every time. However, you need to identify any occasional or intermittent reinforcement. Indeed, all the reinforcers (there may be several--see method #1 in chapter 15) must be identified; any one alone may sustain the behavior. STEP THREE: Plan to prevent all reinforcement for the unwanted behavior. Every time the unwanted behavior occurs, all pay offs should be eliminated. Let the behavior occur but without pay offs. With children, this is done by just leaving them alone, which is hard if the behavior is disturbing. Likewise, when we are working with ourselves, it may be difficult not to respond to our own unwanted behavior. Suppose you resent or are upset by your own behavior, can you control that reaction? (If not, the resentment and upsetness may reinforce the behavior.) Suppose you get some relief from stress via the unwanted behavior, can you avoid that negative reinforcement? Suppose you get a lot of concessions from others because you are the boss or intimidate them with your anger, can you give up that power? In addition to your reactions, you have to eliminate reactions from others too in order to extinguish a response. Suppose you get attention by being loud, by being critical, by bragging, or by telling embarrassing ethnic jokes, but you want to stop. Can you continue the behavior but tell friends you want to quit and, therefore, would like for them to not respond to your behavior? Not likely. They might help you monitor your behavior and point it out when you goof up. STEP FOUR: Carry out the plan. Extinction usually works slowly. Self-destructive children may hit themselves 10,000 times in 8 to 10 days before self-abuse is extinguished by ignoring the behavior. Also, children often increase the frequency of the to-be-extinguished response whenever the usual reactions and pay offs are not forthcoming. They frequently get mad, even though no punishment is involved. So, with yourself, expect to feel some frustration. But stick with it. 1151
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Chapter 11: Methods for Changing Be
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ut the "meat" of this chapter is in
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habits. The stimulus for avoidance
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student to go to the library; getti
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Time involved Only a few minutes wi
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Purposes · To consider periodicall
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situations. Examples: the same soci
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your schedule; make a public pledge
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Steps · To decrease a behavior, ge
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Even if it is done gradually, it is
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When we have an overpowering bad ha
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weeks. In general, studies of relap
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(because hard work would have been
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advanced tasks (see chapter 4). Oth
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It is not easy to guess the unmet n
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more accurately aware if we objecti
Page 33 and 34: See chapter 2, step 2. STEP THREE:
Page 35 and 36: Steps · To understand what in the
Page 37 and 38: Chapter 4 describes operant, classi
Page 39 and 40: In order to develop a new behavior,
Page 41 and 42: Don't expect instant results. Keep
Page 43 and 44: the bars, but not all of them. It's
Page 45 and 46: If you are a compulsive house clean
Page 47 and 48: Challenge defeatist attitudes; let
Page 49 and 50: may do the trick. (5) Maybe you can
Page 51 and 52: Time involved Little time is requir
Page 53 and 54: Although researchers need to differ
Page 55 and 56: Let's take studying as an example.
Page 57 and 58: have to offer to encourage the desi
Page 59 and 60: Thus, to arrange successful reinfor
Page 61 and 62: Steps · To strengthen the tendency
Page 63 and 64: 4. Fun activities alone--small: sme
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Page 67 and 68: improving your social interaction,
Page 69 and 70: controlled and based on short-term
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Page 75 and 76: Self-punishment Miller, L. K. (1980
Page 77 and 78: "correction" (must make up for the
Page 79 and 80: easons, sometimes the punishment is
Page 81 and 82: About 2000 years ago, Epictitus tau
Page 83: STEP THREE: Arrange to use the meth
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