- Theory influenced by behavioralism: human behavior can be understood without dealing with the conscious, their actions, or their thoughts.
- Observable behavior should be studied.
- Behavior is a reinforcement and is influenced by environmental stimuli.
- Contributed to the concept of behavioral goals.
- Prominent Theorists: Skinner, Pavlov, Bandura
- Skinner: worked with animals showed early stages of learning due to reinforcement of food at a given interval; Operant conditioning (behavior that is reinforced by the environment is often repeated, behavior that is discouraged or ignored leads to extinction).
- Bandura: goal setting aligns with Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (self-effiacy is positively affected by goals).1
- Pavlov: human behavior is learned through classical conditioning (associations that attach meaning with environmental stimuli cause learning).
- Client Applications: all populations
- Techniques
- Conditioning: (see above)
- Habits: stems from operant conditioning; repeated behaviors are reinforced and become habitual and no longer need reinforcement.
- Shaping: reinforces each step in a sequence until the entire desired task is learned.
- Chaining: (forward, reverse) the learning of steps in a specific sequence so that each step provokes the next desired action in the chain.
- Reinforcement: Motivate learning. Positive = provide, Negative = take away, External = external environment, Internal = internal to the individual and are either vicarious (symbolic) or self-produced (competence and efficacy).
- Assertiveness Training
- Practice/Rehearsal: practicing newly learned assertive behaviors
- Passive: individual does not stand for their rights and does not get what they want
- Aggressive: individual may get emotional and get what they want by being abusive or hurting other’s feelings
- Assertive: individual expresses their feelings and may or may not get what they want. Fosters social respect and open communication
- Role Playing/Role reversal: safe environment for practicing and rehearsal of new behaviors
- Problem definition
- Assuming the roles
- Enactment of the roles
- Discussion
- Practice/Rehearsal: practicing newly learned assertive behaviors
- Systematic Desensitization, e.g., phobias; occurs over several sessions and gradually working up to real situation
- Relaxation: e.g., progressive muscle relaxation
- Progression: introduction of the situation in graded degrees starting with the least severe
- Biofeedback: uses monitoring of the body (pulse, respiration, heart rate, temperature) in conjunction with other techniques to help individuals gain more control over psychological responses to stressors.
- OT goals (short- and long-term) should be specific and measurable to document progress.
- Set by client and therapist together in an open-discussion.2
- Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2015). Breaking the rules: a historical overview of goal-setting theory. In Advances in motivation science (Vol. 2, pp. 99-126). Elsevier.[↩]
- Cole, M. (2012). Group dynamics in occupational therapy: The theoretical basis and practice application for group intervention (4th ed.). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated[↩]