Behaviourists explain maladaptive behaviour in terms of learning principles that sustain and maintain it. Discuss this statement and show how a behaviourists approach to therapy is in stark contrast to a psychoanalytic one

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Shirley Conway (BOURN2S)

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(2283 words)

Introduction 

In this essay I will try explain maladaptive behaviour in terms of learning principles that sustain and maintain it. Also I will show how the main behaviourist principles relate to maladaptive behaviour and compare the behavioural approach with a psychoanalytical approach. Maladaptive behaviours refer to types of behaviors that inhibit a person’s ability to adjust to particular situations. This type of behavior is often used to reduce one’s anxiety, but the result is dysfunctional and non-productive. For example, avoiding situations because you have unrealistic fears may initially reduce your anxiety, but it is non-productive in alleviating the actual problem in the long term.

Main Essay 

Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states.

There are two major types of conditioning:

 is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response.

 Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

 B.F. Skinner was a controversial and interesting psychologist who founded behaviorism and made important contributions to learning theory and principles of behavior modification

In later years, Fred would have opposed the use of words like "curiosity", "intelligence", or "creativity", to characterize his childhood ingenuity. Fred Skinner believed that his resourcefulness was an acquired behavior "shaped" gradually by the environment around him. Accidental successes and discoveries "reinforced" his continued experimentation. Behaviourism was the late 19th century's answer to the criticism that psychology was not a true science. Watson eliminated the study of motivation, mental processes and emotions from behavioral psychology, focusing instead on the study of observable, measurable behavior. Fred Skinner's mind was primed for a change. Increasingly, the perspective put forth by behaviorists made sense to him. In the fall of 1928, Skinner returned to school, this time entering Harvard University for graduate studies in psychology. In the informal atmosphere at Harvard, Skinner at last began to come into his own.

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There he built a device capable of precisely measuring and recording the number of times a rat pressed a bar to receive a food pellet. This box, along with the attached recording equipment, provided a way to collect more objective data about behavior than scientists had been able to gather before. The device came to be known as the "Skinner box"

Skinner's innovations were viewed with both admiration and suspicion by The Harvard faculty. Introspective psychology was dominant at Harvard, and behaviorism appeared to belittle studies of the inner workings of the mind. The head of the Harvard psychology department, ...

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