Behavior Therapy Foundations: Conditioning, Social Learning, and REBT

Posted on May 28, 2025 in Psychology and Sociology

Chapter 8: Foundations of Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy is based on Ivan Pavlov’s concept of classical conditioning and B. F. Skinner’s work on operant conditioning. Studies on observational learning also provided a background for the development of psychotherapeutic behavioral techniques. Behavior therapists have been able to apply basic principles such as reinforcement, extinction, shaping of behavior, and modeling to help clients.

In behavior therapy, there has been a general trend from working only with observable events, such as screaming, to working with unobservable events, such as the learning that takes place by watching someone do something.

Core Learning Theories in Behavior Therapy

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Discoveries

Pavlov’s observations about the salivation of dogs before receiving food led to the study and development of classical conditioning (also called respondent conditioning). In classical conditioning, behavior was the conditioned response (CR) to the presentation of a conditioned stimulus (CS). Classical conditioning could be applied to a variety of species.

Pavlov was able to pair a black square with a previously conditioned stimulus, a beat of a metronome, and demonstrate second-order or higher-order conditioning. Other experimentation dealt with how long an animal might respond to the conditioned stimulus (CS) without the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) before the CS (a light) would fail to evoke a CR (salivation) and the CR would be extinguished.

Operant Conditioning: Skinner and Thorndike

Another important approach to learning is operant conditioning, championed by B. F. Skinner. Both classical and operant conditioning study observable behaviors that operate outside the individual.

Whereas classical conditioning focuses on the antecedents of behavior (the presentation of the CS before the UCS), operant conditioning focuses on antecedents and consequences of behaviors. This work formed the basis for the application of principles of behavior to a wide variety of problems, especially those dealing with severe mental disabilities such as schizophrenia and autism.

Edward L. Thorndike (1898, 1911) was using controlled experimental procedures to study learning. Thorndike was able to derive the Law of Effect, which states that behavior is determined by its consequences, so reinforcement would bring more of the behavior, and punishment less of the behavior.

Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is altered by systematically changing consequences. An example of this is a pigeon in a Skinner box, a small chamber in which the pigeon can peck at a lighted key. The experimenter controls the amount of food that the pigeon receives (reinforcement), and the pigeon’s “pecks” are automatically recorded.

Social Cognitive Theory: Albert Bandura

Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory, formerly called social learning theory, emphasizes the role of thoughts and images in psychological functioning. Whereas classical and operant conditioning focus on overt behavior (actions that people can directly observe), social cognitive theories focus on the study of covert behaviors (those that take place within the individual and cannot be observed). These include physiological responses (such as blood pressure and muscle tensions), thinking (observing, remembering, imagining), and feeling (emotions such as sadness and anger).

A student of Watson, Mary Cover Jones (1924) described the treatment of a 3-year-old boy, Peter, who was afraid of rabbits. Jones’s treatment of Peter illustrates two important aspects of social learning theory: observation and modeling.

Bandura proposed a triadic reciprocal interaction system involving the interactions among the environment; personal factors, including memories, beliefs, and preferences. Bandura’s theory is that individuals learn by observing others. These cognitive structures include self-awareness, self-inducements, and self-reinforcement, which can influence thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. A key concept is self-efficacy, which deals with how well people perceive that they are able to deal with difficult tasks in life.

Conceptualizing Behavior Personality Theory

Behavior therapy does not have a comprehensive personality theory from which it is derived. Learning theories have been developed to explain personality, but few have been integrated into the practice of behavior therapy.

Basic Principles of Behavior

Implicit in the study of behavior is that behavior has antecedents (events occurring before the behavior is performed) and consequences (events occurring after a behavior is performed).

  • Reinforcement: The process in which the consequences of behavior increase the likelihood that a behavior will be performed again.
  • Extinction: Lack of reinforcement can bring about extinction of behavior. This is the process of no longer presenting a reinforcer. Examples include ignoring a crying child, working without being paid, or not responding to someone who is talking to you. Parents may use the basic principle of extinction when dealing with a child.
  • Shaping: Through a variety of processes, behavior can be shaped, narrowed (discrimination), broadened (generalized), or otherwise changed. When a therapist shapes a client’s behavior, reinforcement, extinction, generalization, and discrimination are involved. In shaping, there is a gradual movement from the original behavior to the desired behavior by reinforcing approximations of the desired behavior. For example, shaping occurs when parents reinforce their toddler’s attempt to walk.
  • Discrimination: The ability to react differently depending upon the stimulus condition that is presented is extremely important for individuals. Discrimination comes about as certain responses are reinforced and others are ignored and thus extinguished.
  • Generalization: When behavior is reinforced, it may generalize to other behavior. Reinforcement increases the chances that ways of responding to one type of stimulus will transfer to similar stimuli. Thus, when one encounters a difficult problem in dealing with someone, if the solution had been effective, that way of interacting with people will generalize to other situations. By learning how to deal with one angry person, individuals learn how to deal with that same person in different situations and with different individuals who are angry.

Types of Reinforcement

  • Positive Reinforcement: A positive event presented as a consequence of a person’s performing a behavior. When a positive event follows a behavior, and that behavior increases in frequency, the event is a positive reinforcer. Positive reinforcement is considered to be one of the most widely used behavior therapy procedures because of its effectiveness in bringing about positive changes in behavior and its compatibility with cultural values.
  • Intermittent Positive Reinforcement: Lasts longer than continuous positive reinforcement. Intermittent reinforcement can be given at time intervals (an interval schedule) or after a certain number of correct responses (ratio reinforcement).
  • Negative Reinforcement: Increases a behavior. It should not be confused with punishment, which decreases or weakens a behavior. In negative reinforcement, an undesirable consequence of a behavior is removed, which increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.

Observational Learning Processes

In describing social cognitive theory, Bandura states that reinforcement is insufficient to explain learning and personality development. He believes that much learning takes place through observing and modeling the actions of others.

  • Attentional Processes: Important in the observational process are the attending process itself, as well as the persons, situations, or both that are being observed. It is not enough to see something; to observe, one must perceive it accurately. For example, if a student watches a professor who is lecturing, she may attend to what is being presented in varying degrees. In addition, the pattern of associations (Bandura, 1989a) that an individual has with the model or situation being observed greatly influences attention.
  • Retention Processes: For observation to be successful, a model’s behavior must be remembered. In proposing a cognitive system for recalling the observed model, Bandura describes imaginal coding and verbal coding.
    • Imaginal Coding: Refers to mental images of events, such as picturing two friends having talked to each other yesterday.
    • Verbal Coding (Self-Talk): Refers to subvocal descriptions of events.
  • Motor Reproduction Processes: It is one thing to observe and remember the behaviors of a model and quite another to translate what is observed into action.
  • Motivational Processes: If an individual observes and puts into action modeled behavior, it is likely to be continued only if it is reinforced. A person is likely to use a particular hitter’s stance only if the behavior leads to success. Incentives can be important in modeling. Bandura argues that reinforcement does not have to be be external; it can be internal—that is, come from individuals themselves. He describes two types of internal reinforcement:
    • Vicarious Reinforcement: Refers to observing someone getting rewarded for performing an action and concluding that performing the same behavior will bring about a reinforcement.
    • Self-Reinforcement: Occurs when people set standards for themselves and reward themselves for meeting their expectations, as an athlete may on accomplishing a particular goal.

Self-Efficacy in Behavior Therapy

Self-efficacy is the individual’s perception of their ability to deal with different types of situations. Bandura (1989b, 1997) believes that self-efficacy comes from four major sources:

  • Performance Accomplishments: Bandura believes that the strongest factor is an individual’s performance accomplishments.
  • Vicarious Experiences: Meaning opportunities to observe others successfully perform tasks.
  • Verbal Persuasion: Refers to the impact that encouragement or praise from parents, teachers, or therapists can have.
  • Emotional Arousal Reduction: Lowering powerful anxiety will allow individuals to perform more accurately and calmly.

Behavioral Assessment

Assessing specific behaviors rather than broader characteristics or traits is the hallmark of behavioral assessment. In behavioral assessment, the emphasis is on current rather than past behavior and on sampling specific discrete behaviors.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was developed in the 1950s by Albert Ellis. His approach is primarily cognitive, although it has significant behavioral and emotive aspects.

Key Concepts in REBT

The A-B-C Model of Personality

Essential to Ellis’s theory is his A-B-C model, which is applied to understanding personality and to effecting personality change. This model holds that an individual’s initial thoughts or inferences about an event are activating events (A) with emotional and behavioral consequences (C). The emotional and behavioral consequences are caused by the individual’s belief system (B).

Responsible Hedonism

While hedonism refers to the concept of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, responsible hedonism concerns maintaining pleasure over the long term by avoiding short-term pleasures that lead to pain, such as drug abuse and alcohol addiction.

Humanism in REBT

Practitioners of REBT view human beings as holistic, goal-directed organisms who are important because they are alive.

Factors in REBT Conceptualization

Ellis recognized a number of factors that contribute to an individual’s personality development and personality disturbances, including strong biological and social aspects that present a challenge to the therapist to help change.

  • Biological Factors: Impressed by the power of biological factors in determining human personality, Ellis said, “I am still haunted by the reality, however, that humans have a strong biological tendency to needlessly and severely disturb themselves.”
  • Social Factors: Interpersonal relationships in families, peer groups, schools, and other social groups have an impact on the expectations that individuals have of themselves and others.
  • Vulnerability to Disturbance: Depending on social and biological factors, individuals vary as to how vulnerable they are to psychological disturbance.

Conceptualizing Using the REBT A-B-C Theory

The focus of REBT is the A-B-C model of personality, and it is the major focus of conceptualization by therapists using REBT. Individuals have goals that may be supported or thwarted by activating events (As). They then react, consciously or unconsciously, with their belief system (B), by which they respond to the activating event with something like “This is nice.” They also experience the emotional or behavioral consequence of the activating event.

REBT Assessment

REBT assessment is of two overlapping types. The first is assessment of cognitions and behaviors that are sources for the problems. The second is the use of the A-B-C theory of personality to identify client problems. Both of these methods, but especially the latter, continue throughout the therapeutic process. This assessment is driven by hypotheses that therapists make as they listen to their clients.

The A-B-C-D-E Therapeutic Approach

The core of REBT is the application of the A-B-C philosophy to client problems.

  • A (Activating Event): The activating event can be divided into two parts: what happened and what the patient perceived happened.
  • B (Beliefs): As discussed earlier, there are two types of beliefs—rational and irrational.
  • C (Consequences): Clients often start the first therapy session with their consequences—“I feel very depressed.” Sometimes inexperienced therapists can have difficulty in discriminating between beliefs and consequences.
  • D (Disputing): A common and important approach in REBT is to teach the A-B-C philosophy to clients and then to dispute irrational beliefs. Disputing has three parts:
    • Detecting irrational beliefs.
    • Discriminating between rational and irrational beliefs.
    • Debating irrational beliefs.
  • E (Effective): When clients have disputed their irrational beliefs, they are then in a position to develop an effective philosophy. This philosophy, following the A-B-C model, helps individuals develop rational beliefs as an alternative to their irrational beliefs.