BEHAVIORISTIC APPROACH

BEHAVIORISTIC APPROACH
a)Introduction
Education should be organized in view of the psychology students. Educational courses and opportunities are provided according to the abilities scholastic aptitude for optimum development of students. In counseling include so many theories. Behaviorist theory is more importance in counseling. Counseling theory cannot delink from theories of learning as the goal of counseling happens to be to modify the counselee’s behavior. The two theories in common practice today;
1. The S-R Theory
2. The Perceptual Theory
b)The S-R Theory
The S-R theory says that behaviors of the people is the result of the forces existed upon them, that is a direct out growth of the stimuli to which people are subjected, outgrowth of forces that operate upon them at a particular time. If this is the case, then counseling, that is modification of behavior in a matter of the manipulation of the forces exerted upon people. Behavioral therapy is the method of counseling human behavior.
Skinner’s theory runs like this: “ It a tasty bit of food falls into a skinner box after a pigeon pocks a button or a rat presses a bar, the pigeon or the rat is likely to pock or press again behavior is affected by its consequences”. Reinforcement in changing the behavior of persons who suffered from various behavioral disturbances as single individuals and also as small groups. This was a very significant achievement in the field of behavioral modification.
Behavior therapy, as described by Good all was a “mid century out growth of classical conditioning experimentation and learning theories of Clark Hull, the psychologist”. “Predominantly one to one, therapist-client relationship; scheduled sessions in the therapists’ office or clinic, fees paid by clients”. Behavior therapy assumes that a behavior or emotion this interferes with effective living is not necessarily the result of some inner problem that has to be worked out in therapy. Proximations to approach in behavior therapy is that of shaping approximation to appropriate responding through careful schedules of reinforcement. This is used to when responses are needed but they are not present.
Thousands of parents have learned to use ABA through short term work shops and courses. They use for this purpose all kinds of methods and techniques such as tokens, shaping, modeling, desensitization’s or any other behavioral technique which may be found effective in practice. The ABA therapists claim a big success in changing a man.
c)Behavioral Therapy of Joseph Wolpe
Pavlov’s theory influenced to Wolpe. He develops the Behavioral therapy. He used anxiety as his core concept. If something makes a person anxious while meeting other persons, the feeling of meeting others gets attached to feeling of anxiety which he tries to avoid and, in course of time, develops ‘shyness’ or ‘reservedness’ or ‘feeling of inferiority’. Hence he argues, the approach to are should be to reintroduce the person, gradually to the thought of being anxious while meeting others. To achieve this person is brought to counseling interview through which he is first made to give a detailed account of everything related to the problem.
Wolpe suggested the use of assertive training in case of highly unexpressive persons that is persons who would express their emotions even though suffering from great anxiety. He also suggested the use of aversive therapy in which case some unpleasant sensation is induced in the person every time he indulges in undesirable behavior.
d)Dallard and Milles’s Behavioral Psychoanalysis
“Man is essentially a product of learning, particularly emphasizing the principle of reinforcement.”
Thus method of counseling and therapy runs as follows:
1. Talking phase
2. Performance phase
1. Talking phase
During this phase efforts are made to examine, identify and analyze the undesirable habit pattern of behaviors by talking to the person as much as possible.
2. Performance phase
During which efforts are made to make the client learn desirable behaviors by making them more rewarding.
e)Perceptual Theories of Learning
Perceptual theories of learning assert that human behavior is a product of perception. According to perceptual theorists learning is not simply a matter of motivation, repetitions, presentation, stimulation, conditioning etc… although all these play their roles in the process of learning. A piece of information affects human behavior to the extent to which the individual discovers its personal meaning.
Seven factors on which an individual’s perception depends for discovery of meaning. These are as follows:
1. Physical nature of human organism
2. Length of time he has lived
3. The opportunities he has had in the past to perceive
4. The goals and values the individual holds. People perceive what they value.
5. The operation of his current needs. People perceive what they need to perceive.
6. The Self-Concept
7. The experience of threat. Thereat his dress in perception.
f)Behavior Therapy
Aimed at modification of maladaptive outward behavior. Based on the learning theories of psychology and depends on the principle that learned behavior can be unlearned.
These psychological methods are most important and effective tools available for the treatment of psychoneuroses personality disorders, drugs addictions and alcoholism and behavior disturbances of child hood. They are also useful as supportive ancillary methods are the treatment of psychoses and psychosomatic diseases.
Reference
1. Therapeutic Counseling
- Dr. B.J. Prashanthan
2. Fundamentals of Guidance and Counseling
- R.A. Sharma
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