activities and set up a treatment program that rewards him for going to par-
ties, talking with friends, reading good books, and so on. These activitiesmight make the man feel better. However, critics might argue that the therapy
has not addressed the real problem but, instead, has temporarily diverted the
client’s attention from the concerns that caused him to seek out therapy.
SUMMARY
1. Behaviorism was introduced by John B. Watson in the 1920s. In its most
extreme form, behaviorism limits psychology to the study of observable
behaviors. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are used bybehaviorists to explain the development and maintenance of behaviors.
Personality is described as the end result of one’ s history of conditioning.
B. F. Skinner later became the spokesperson for what he called radical
behaviorism. He rejected the use of inner states, such as anxiety, as
explanations of behavior in favor of observable external events.
2. Traditional behaviorism identifies two basic kinds of conditioning.
Classical conditioning occurs when a new stimulus is paired with an
existing stimulus-response bond. Operant conditioning results when a
behavior is followed by either reinforcement or punishment.
3. Later social learning theorists expanded on the basic behaviorist position.
Rotter argues that the probability of engaging in a behavior changes after
rewards and punishments because our expectancies change. He uses these
expectancies and the values given to particular reinforcers to predict
which of many behavior options will be enacted.
4. Bandura proposes that internal states, the environment, and behavior all
affect one another. He maintains that people often regulate their ownbehavior and that we engage in purposeful, future-oriented thinking.
Bandura has added to classical and operant conditioning the notion that
we learn through observing others, although whether we perform the
behaviors we learn depends on our expectancies for rewards or
punishments.
5. Behavior modification therapists apply basic conditioning principles when
working with their clients. Some of these therapeutic procedures, such assystematic desensitization, are based on classical conditioning. Others,
such as token economies, are based on operant conditioning. Bandura
has identified clients ’self-efficacy beliefs as crucial for psychotherapy
progress. Whether clients expect to succeed is an important determinant
of therapy success. These expectancies come from a variety of sources,
including past performance accomplishments and vicarious learning.
6. Behavioral assessment includes a variety of techniques, including direct
observation, self-monitoring, and observation by others. Each of thesetechniques can provide useful data for determining baseline frequencies,
the conditions under which the target behavior occurs, and the success ofthe treatment procedure.
7. The behavioral/social learning approach has its strengths and its criticisms.
Among the strengths are its empirical base and the useful therapeutic372 CHAPTER 13 The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach