Deck 8: Behavior Therapy

Question 1

You are a behavior therapist. A male client has presented to you for therapy, and following an assessment, you and the client decide that he has absolutely no interpersonal skills. Briefly explain how you would induce him to display a specific interpersonal behavior of your choosing.

Answer 1

As a behavior therapist, I would first work on building rapport and trust with the client to create a safe and supportive environment for change. Once this foundation is established, I would use a combination of modeling, role-playing, and social skills training to help the client learn and practice specific interpersonal behaviors.

For example, if the specific interpersonal behavior we want to work on is active listening, I would first model and demonstrate active listening skills during our sessions. Then, I would have the client practice these skills in role-playing scenarios, where I would play the role of a conversational partner. Through repeated practice and feedback, the client would gradually improve their ability to display active listening in real-life social interactions.

Additionally, I would also work with the client to identify and challenge any underlying beliefs or fears that may be contributing to their lack of interpersonal skills. This could involve cognitive-behavioral techniques to address negative thought patterns or exposure therapy to gradually desensitize the client to social interactions.

Overall, the approach would be tailored to the specific needs and goals of the client, and progress would be monitored and adjusted as needed throughout the therapy process.

Question 2

Create a hypothetical client who needs systematic desensitization. Briefly describe the client and the presenting problem. Create a hierarchy of anxiety or fear for the client.

Answer 2

Hypothetical Client: Sarah is a 30-year-old woman who has a fear of flying. She has a long-standing fear of boarding airplanes and experiences intense anxiety whenever she thinks about flying or is in an airport. This fear has caused her to miss out on family vacations and career opportunities that require travel.

Presenting Problem: Sarah's fear of flying is significantly impacting her quality of life and causing her distress. She is motivated to overcome her fear in order to regain control over her life and pursue opportunities that involve air travel.

Hierarchy of Anxiety or Fear:
1. Looking at pictures of airplanes
2. Watching videos of airplanes taking off and landing
3. Visiting an airport and sitting in the waiting area
4. Boarding a stationary airplane on the ground
5. Sitting in a stationary airplane with the engines running
6. Taking a short flight (e.g. one hour)
7. Taking a longer flight (e.g. four hours)
8. Taking a flight with turbulence

This hierarchy represents a gradual progression from less anxiety-provoking situations to more challenging ones, allowing Sarah to gradually confront and overcome her fear of flying through systematic desensitization.

Question 3

Evaluate behavior therapy's utility for clients who are of diverse backgrounds. What are its strengths and potential pitfalls?

Answer 3

Behavior therapy can be very useful for clients who are of diverse backgrounds because it focuses on specific behaviors and how they are influenced by environmental and situational factors. This means that it can be adapted to take into account the unique cultural, social, and personal factors that may impact a client's behavior.

One of the strengths of behavior therapy for diverse clients is its flexibility and adaptability. Therapists can tailor interventions to align with a client's cultural beliefs, values, and experiences, making it more relevant and effective. Additionally, behavior therapy's emphasis on skill-building and practical strategies can be particularly beneficial for clients from diverse backgrounds who may face unique challenges or barriers.

However, there are potential pitfalls to consider. One potential pitfall is the risk of imposing culturally insensitive or inappropriate interventions on clients. Therapists need to be mindful of their own biases and assumptions and work to understand and respect their clients' cultural perspectives. Additionally, behavior therapy may not always address underlying systemic or social factors that contribute to a client's behavior, which can be especially relevant for clients from marginalized or oppressed groups.

Overall, behavior therapy can be a valuable approach for clients of diverse backgrounds, but it requires cultural competence and an awareness of the potential limitations and challenges in working with diverse populations. Therapists should strive to integrate cultural humility and sensitivity into their practice to ensure the effectiveness and relevance of behavior therapy for all clients.

Question 4

Describe how you might use modeling procedures in helping a client learn a specific social skill.

Question 5

Define classical and operant conditioning and give a case example of each.

Question 6

Anxiety is considered the key to psychological dysfunction in which approach?

A) behavioral - counterconditioning
B) person-centered
C) behavioral - operant
D) none of the above

Question 7

Which therapist would place the MOST emphasis on formal assessment?

A) Rational emotive behavioral therapist
B) behavioral therapist
C) psychoanalytic therapist
D) Adlerian therapist

Question 8

When a client is allowed to make a response repeatedly, and the therapist simple ignores it, the behavioral technique being used is:

A) Positive reinforcement
B) Shaping
C) Negative reinforcement
D) Extinction

Question 9

When the client is asked to relax and imagine a series of successively scary images or situations, the technique being used is

A) Empathy
B) Systematic desensitization
C) In-vivo desensitization
D) Free association

Question 10

When the removal of a negative stimulus results in an increase in behavior, _____ has occurred.

A) positive reinforcement
B) punishment
C) negative reinforcement
D) salvation

Question 11

Jesse runs away every time he sees a horse. Which of the following, according to behavior therapists, is likely to explain his behavior?

A) Jesse has irrational beliefs about horses
B) The running behavior is reinforced by the reduction of anxiety
C) The horse is reinforcing to Jesse
D) a and b

Question 12

Negative reinforcers

A) decrease the probability of a response occurring
B) decrease the probability of a response by presenting a pleasant stimulus
C) increase the probability of a response by presenting an aversive stimulus
D) Increase the probability of a response by removing an aversive stimulus

Question 13

One of the biggest challenges in using exposure techniques is

A) constructing appropriate scenes or situations
B) stopping the exposure
C) the therapist tolerating the client's distress
D) applying reinforcement

Question 14

Bennie and his counselor are constructing an anxiety hierarchy. What technique is being used?

A) Systematic desensitization
B) Paradoxical Intervention
C) Exposure and response prevention
D) Extinction

Question 15

The outcomes of exposure therapies such as flooding tend to

A) support Wolpe's theory of reciprocal inhibition
B) disconfirm Wolpe's theory
C) have no bearing on Wolpe's theory
D) are inconclusive

Question 16

The problem with theory testing research in the area of behavioral approaches in that

A) it is difficult to test the theory separate from outcome
B) behavioral constructs are hard to operationalize
C) behavior therapists are bad researchers
D) all of the above are true

Question 17

A learning model of human nature emphasizes all of the following EXCEPT

A) symptoms have interpersonal functions
B) symptoms are the most important part of treatment
C) deviation from social norms causes behavior to be labeled disordered
D) humans are neither inherently good or bad

Question 18

James is awakened at night by the barking god (Hans) who lives next door. James opens his window and yells at the dog, to no avail. James next throws one of his best shoes at the dog, who immediately stops barking and busily chews on the shoe. James' shoe-throwing behavior has been:

A) positively reinforced
B) counterconditioned
C) negatively reinforced
D) James' behavior will not change

Question 19

The dog's behavior has been

A) negatively reinforced
B) punished
C) counter conditioned
D) positively reinforced

Question 20

Susan wants her boyfriend to kiss her more often. Unfortunately, boyfriend Dan does not approach Susan physically very much. Susan begins to smile and say nice things to Dan every time he comes within 6 inches of her. Pretty soon, Dan is so close that he touches Susan. She smiles and says very nice things to him. Susan continues to reward Dan's behavior when he touches her and finally one day he kisses her. She jumps for joy. What technique is she using?

A) shaping
B) negative reinforcement
C) positive punishment
D) none of the above

Question 21

Dave has a shoe phobia. It has gotten so bad that he can't go to work because he works construction and his boss will not allow him to come to work barefoot. Dave consults with Phil the behavior therapist. Phil discovers that when Dave was young, his dad would beat Dave with his wingtips when he did something wrong. For Dave, shoes are:

A) the conditioned response
B) the conditioned stimulus
C) the unconditioned stimulus
D) the unconditioned response

Question 22

Phil notes that Dave, until recently, has been able to wear shoes for short periods of time. However, Dave's phobia has gotten worse lately. Phil thinks that

A) Dave's father has been around when Dave has been wearing shoes
B) removing his shoes reduces Dave's anxiety
C) removing his shoes is reinforcing to Dave
D) all of the above

Question 23

Which technique is Phil likely to use to help Dave?

A) Extinction
B) Punishment
C) Positive reinforcement
D) Systematic desensitization

Question 24

Which one of the following is not associated with behavior therapy?

A) Skinner
B) Watson
C) Adler
D) Pavlov

Question 25

I am trying to train my dog Fido to sit. Every time he sits, I give him a dog cookie. Before I can get the behavior perfectly every time, Fido wanders off and jumps in the nearby lake. What has most likely happened here?

A) I have become negatively reinforcing to my dog
B) he experiences sitting as punishment
C) he has become satiated on dog cookies
D) none of the above

Question 26

Another explanation for Fido's behavior could be

A) he is picking up on my frustration
B) the lake is more reinforcing than dog cookies
C) he is bored and needs some new excitement
D) lake jumping has been reinforced in the past

Question 27

Money is a _______ reinforcer

A) generalized
B) conditional
C) classical
D) a and b

Question 28

Behavior therapy has been criticized for all of the following EXCEPT

A) it is simplistic (too simple)
B) ignoring affect
C) it is cold and mechanical
D) it is not very operationalizable

Question 29

The Little Albert case study demonstrated

A) fears could be classically conditioned
B) the principles of reinforcement
C) the value of punishment
D) all of the above

Question 30

Several studies have found that behavior therapy is particularly suitable for clients who are of diverse backgrounds. Some of their findings include

A) emphasis on environmental factors should result in less blaming of client for problems
B) African Americans respond positively to active, directive, problem focused approach
C) interventions can be designed to fit client's background and current circumstances
D) all of the above

Question 31

One of the difficulties of the use of aversive techniques, such as nausea-inducing drugs, is that

A) relapse is more common when the aversive consequences are no longer in place
B) relapse is common regardless of continuation of aversive consequences
C) self-injurious behaviors are not improved, even in the short term
D) none of the above