Neobehaviorism: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Evolution
Neobehaviorist Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Developed by theorists with behavioral training, conceptualizing thoughts concretely.
Tolman: Motivation-Focused Model
Emphasized motivation and its relationship with learning. Pressure or need leads to measurable behaviors. Tolman, a mathematician studying psychology and philosophy, integrated theories. His Law involved Trial and Error (Thorndike). His Contribution was creating a systematic learning theory incorporating cognitive factors. He proposed that between Stimulus (E) and Response (R), variants influence behavior. He developed Propositivista Behaviorism, studying behavior’s relationship to purpose and environment. Key concepts include goals, means, and selective activity as behavior determinants. He argued individuals learn flexible behaviors (modifiable), purposeful behaviors (manipulating the environment to achieve goals), and behaviors tending to simplicity (minimum effort). Expectations drive behavior until the goal is met, involving sentience or anticipation.
Tolman highlighted genetic factors, noting different organisms learn differently. He introduced two theoretical constructs:
1. Cognitive Map: Cognitive structures formed through learning. Performance depends on cognitive maps and demand. For example, thirst might not lead to action if the drive isn’t strong enough.
2. Motivation: Initiates behavior, comprising drive (internal need) and incentive (external stimulus) that energize action.
Need (internal imbalance) → Conduct (movement energy) → Goal (satisfy need)
Satisfying needs restores equilibrium, with learned behaviors forming cognitive structures. Behavior creates a map over time, driven by necessity. Maps are optimized through repetition and simplification, selecting the best path with minimal energy. Learning Signal Meaning: Signals from bodily imbalances are processed by cognitive maps, directing towards a meaningful goal. Meaning is the cognitive perception of the goal, while Sign is the perception of cognitive indicators. Tolman’s learning theory is SS (Signal-Meaning), not ER.
Hull: Motivation-Centered Model
Hull used deductive mathematical language in behavioral psychology, emphasizing the scientific method. He believed everything exists in quantifiable amounts, expressible in mathematical equations. His method: Definitions → Law → Theorems → Integrated Theory → Test, following a hypothetico-deductive model.
Human Behavior is the interaction between body and environment, driven by biological adaptation for survival. All behavior aims to satisfy needs. Hull reduced behavior to physical and chemical factors. Response or conduct depends on the situation and the need to be resolved.
Pressure or Push: Deprivation of the organism, present in primary motivations (hunger, thirst). Pressure leads to adaptive actions reinforced by satisfaction. No reduction of need means no reinforcement.
Habits: Reinforced conditioned responses, persistent behavior patterns acquired through reinforcement. Habits depend on the situation and needs. If habits don’t aid biological adaptation, they face extinction.
Learning: A flexible mode of adaptation, strengthening or forming new connections through reinforcement (ER model).
Drive: Activates the body, motivating need reduction. Push drives the organism to action, including primary (physiological) and acquired drives.
Donald Hebb: Neuropsychological Model
Hebb focused on the neuropsychological aspects of learning, aiming to integrate physiological psychology. He rejected the black box concept, proposing to study internal phenomena.
Object of Psychology: The mind, including brain activity. Behavior is determined by electrochemical changes in the neuropsychological system.
Hebb argued against a linear ER relationship, suggesting neural transmission occurs in complex networks. Behavior depends on the stimulus, but the nervous system is active even without stimulation.
Types of Behavior:
1. Sensory Dominance: Simple, autonomous muscle responses with direct receptor-effector connections.
2. Cognitive: Involving more complex neuronal activity.
Problem Solving:
1. Cell Assemblies: Activation of cell sets related to an idea or image.
2. Sequential Phases: Organization of cell junctions.
Factor T: Ordered systems enabling coordination and combination of elements perceived as a whole. Repeated structures develop.
Learning: Facilitation processes where one neural unit facilitates others. Attention facilitates perception, forming new super-ordered sets.
Motivation and Emotion: Related to phase sequences of cell sets. Emotions are adaptive, including anger, fear, and love.
Bandura: Social Learning Model
Bandura, the father of Cognitive Psychology, emphasized observational learning, reciprocal determinism, and cognitive factors in behavior.
He criticized Skinner’s extremism, arguing learning occurs through observing others’ consequences, not just personal experience. He also critiqued psychoanalysis for its circularity and classical conditioning for its animal focus.
Reciprocal Determinism: Behavior, cognitive factors, and environmental influences operate as interconnected determinants. This dynamic relationship allows for reflexive behaviors.
Actions are regulated by consequences (reinforcement and punishment). Cognitive factors mediate stimuli, and individuals analyze their behavior and environmental impact.
Efficacy: Belief in one’s ability to organize and execute actions. It influences expectations and behavior.
Self-Reinforcement: Rewarding or punishing oneself, leading to new behavior patterns.
Autosystems of Self: Cognitive processes for analyzing behavior and environment.
Observational Learning (Vicarious): Learning by observing others’ consequences. Imitation occurs when the observer gains confidence from the model. New patterns can be created.
Modeling Factors:
1. Consequences: Pleasant or unpleasant, short or long term.
2. Model Features: Similarity to the observer increases imitation likelihood.
3. Observer Attributes: Self-esteem and motivation influence imitation.
Reinforcement:
1. Extrinsic: External, socially regulated.
2. Intrinsic: Internal pleasure regulation.
3. Vicarious: Observing others’ successes and failures.
4. Self-Reinforcement: Self-generated processes.