ABA: SHAPING

APPLIED BEHAVIOUR ANAYLYSIS: SHAPING

Shaping is a strategy used to develop certain target behaviour that an individual do not exhibit occasionally and encourage a behaviour to exist. Shaping is defined as the differential reinforcement of successive approximation of a target behaviour until the person exhibits the target behaviour (Miltenberger, 2008). Shaping is the process of steps being introduced in each level, starting from a starting behaviour that the subject exhibit sometimes, and reinforcing the behaviour, and stop reinforcing that behaviour, leading to extinction of a behaviour, and development of a new behaviour that leads on towards the target behaviour. The process is repeated until the individual exhibits the desired target behaviour. However, this strategy is also susceptible to some problems and produces undesirable results if it is not carried out precisely or if the target behaviour is not best suited to this method. To best describe the application and misapplication, two cases will be presented to show contrast between application and misapplication of shaping.

Application

We are presented with a scenario; imagine you live in a house with a backyard. The door to the backyard is in your family room. You let your dog Felix out into the backyard a few times a day. You decide you would like to teach Felix bump the back door with his nose before you let him outside. Currently, whenever Felix wants to go outside, he walks around the family room and often walks past the back door. In this scenario, shaping strategy is suitable to be carried out. The guideline to execute a shaping strategy requires us to, define the target behaviour, determine whether shaping is the most appropriate procedure, identifying the starting behaviour, choosing the shaping steps, choosing the reinforcer, differently reinforce each successive approximations, and moving through the shaping steps at a proper pace. Now, we determine that the target behaviour is for Felix to bump his nose on the back door before being allowed out into the backyard. One of the most important factors is determining the starting behaviour of Felix. In this scenario, Felix is said to walk around the family room and often walks past the back door. That can be determined as the starting behaviour of Felix prior to letting him out. Despite seeing Felix pacing about the family room and walking past the back door, we would like Felix to be specific about getting out into the yard, rather than just assuming that it wants to go out. Now that we have the important element of starting behaviour and target behaviour identified, we must now select a reinforcer to act as a reward each time a successive approximation is achieved by Felix. The use of a reinforcer is important as we want to encourage a desirable behaviour to increase in frequency. For this situation, the reinforcer could be a dog treat that Felix favours and likes. The reinforcer will be immediately applied when Felix behaves according to cue. The reinforcer of conditioned respond item must be administered a second interval of each respond. For example, if a clicker is used in this shaping process, a successive approximation followed by a click, and immediately fed with a treat. The conditioned response could also be in the form of verbal cue, such as “Felix, yard?” Depending on the wanted target behaviour, any conditioned response is open to the trainer. In this scenario, verbal cue would be the suitable natural reinforcer for little Felix. Now, I shall determine the steps for the successive behaviour to occur. Although, the steps may be altered through the shaping process, it does not necessarily have to be the exact step-by-step process. What matters most is that each successive approximation must be closed gap and the extinction of the previous behaviour must take place because my goal is to have Felix display the target behaviour, which is bumping its nose on the back door. The starting point for me should be, every time Felix walks about in the family room, I shall say “Felix, yard?” and give him a treat. The successive approximation would be Felix would be given a treat only when he approaches the back door. I would want the behaviour of walking about the room to be extinct and anyway other behaviour that follows the cue “Felix, yard?” would not be rewarded. Perhaps, now I would stand near the back door that leads to the yard. The process may take a while and continuously repeated till Felix comes straight to the back door every time “Felix, yard?” is called out. Treats are given immediately after a successful action is performed, right after natural reinforcer is spoken. Now that Felix knows to approach the back door, the goal of getting to its target behaviour is closer. The next successive approximation would be “Felix, yard?” on encourage bumping his nose to the door. This could be done by putting my hand with the treat at the door. This step is repeated several times till Felix is used to it. Occasionally, I put my hand on the door but no treat in it and immediately reward the behaviour after it bumped its nose on the door. The next successful approximation would be when hand gesture is removed and Felix is rewarded every time it bumps its nose on the door. The final successful approximation would be every bump on the door, the door is opened by me and Felix is rewarded. Throughout the whole process, the criteria for each successful approximation may change to suit Felix immediate behaviour as it may not be as straight forward and easy but, what is important is, that the target behaviour is achieved and behaviours that leads to each successful approximation be extinct. By the end, of the shaping process, Felix will now respond to the natural reinforcer, “Felix, yard?” by going straight to the door and bumps its nose on it.

Misapplication

We saw how effective shaping strategies can be successfully implemented in the previous scenario. However, shaping may also be maladaptive if it is implemented incorrectly to and may lead to negative feedback. Here’s a scenario to see how shaping can be misapplied:

Dr. Williams, a school psychologist, was working with an extremely socially withdrawn adolescent, Jenny. Dr. Williams decided to use shaping to help Jenny develop social skills. He identified the target behaviour as making eye contact, smiling, standing up straight, talking at a normal voice volume, and nodding and paraphrasing when the other person said something. Dr. Williams was going to reinforce successive approximations of this target behaviour in therapy sessions, in which he played the role of a classmate and engaged in conversation with Jenny. In each session, Dr. Williams and Jenny role-played four or five short conversations. Before each role-play session, Dr. Williams reminded Jenny which behaviours she should work on. As a reinforcer for exhibiting the correct behaviour in the role play sessions, Dr. Williams bought Jenny an ice cream cone in the school cafeteria once a week.

In this scenario, the shaping technique cannot be used successfully. Why? It is because under the shaping guidelines, is the starting behaviour. Jenny is naturally withdrawn and do not make any social gestures that suggest her effort to develop social skills. Shaping requires that the starting behaviour must already be occurring at least occasionally but if no particular target behaviour is exhibited at all, other strategies is required to generate such behaviour. In addition, Dr. William seeks too many target behaviours at one go and this will create too many criterion which would make it difficult for Jenny and confuses her in the process. The approximation successions may also have too long intervals in between the reinforcement which is the ice cream which is once a week. The long duration gap between reinforcer and successive approximation would cause the behaviour to extinct in that period. Another reason why shaping would be a problem is, whenever Dr. Williams reminded Jenny on behaviours that she needs to work on, it might create a negative reinforcement as shown in Skinner’s operant conditioning. A positive reinforcement would be getting ice cream and negative reinforcement would be acting out target behaviour to avoid social discomfort. Shaping strategy requires the person to willingly execute behaviours that leads to successful approximation and finally, to the target behaviour. In this particular scenario, strategies like prompting or chaining would be better suited.

In conclusion, shaping techniques can be beneficial and improve the lives of people. When used correctly, it will yield good benefits. Such as, in the case where Homer (1971) worked with Dennis, a 5 year old child with intellectual disability and had a spinal condition called spina bifida, in which the spinal cord is damaged before birth. Unable to walk, Dennis could only crawl. With two shaping procedures, Dennis learned how to use crutches successfully and made him independent and his quality of life was improved. We must also be wary that misapplication will create an undesired behaviour or even worse still, shaping problematic behaviours.

Humanistic Approach in Motivation

By KJ Lim and Aminath A. Manik

The humanistic theory has been one of the main themes in understanding motivational behaviour. In this essay, we will talk about some of the founding “fathers” of the humanistic theory and how their contributions has helped developed contemporary views, and impacted the understanding of motivation. The humanistic approach has fundamentally developed over the last century and the two profound individuals responsible are Abraham Harold Maslow and Carl Ransom Rogers.

CARL RANSOM ROGERS

Carl Rogers was born on January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, Chicago. He was born to Walter A. Rogers and Julia M. Cushing. Roger’s father worked as a civil engineer and his mother was a housewife. As a child, Rogers was very intelligent and with an education background in a religiously strict and ethics first setting, he became an independent and a disciplined person. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Columbia, he spent his years working in academia and held positions at Ohio State University. Thereon, Rogers has developed his theories and approach on therapies and contributions to the field of psychology.

ABRAHAM HAROLD MASLOW

Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York.  He was the eldest of seven children born to his parents and was classes “mentally unstable” by a psychologist. His parents who themselves were uneducated first generation Jewish immigrants from Russia, pushed him hard for academic success.  Not surprisingly, he became very lonely as a boy, and found his refuge in books.After getting married to Bertha (his first cousin against his parents’ wishes) he and Bertha moved to Wisconsin so that he could attend the University of Wisconsin. Where, he became interested in psychology, and his school work began to improve dramatically. He spent time there working with Harry Harlow, who is famous for his experiments with baby rhesus monkeys and attachment behaviour.

A year after graduation, he returned to New York to work with E. L. Thorndike at Columbia, where Maslow became interested in research on human sexuality. Maslow served as the chair of the psychology department at Brandeis from 1951 to 1969.  While there he met Kurt Goldstein, who had originated the idea of self-actualization. It was also here that he began his crusade for a humanistic psychology, something ultimately much more important to him than his own theorizing.

THEORY

Humanistic views of motivation focus on the learner as a whole person and everyone has the potential to make contribution to society and be a good and likeable person if their needs are fulfilled. It examines the relationships among physical, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy, beginning with survival and safety needs, progressing through belonging and esteem needs, and ending with intellectual and aesthetic needs, reflects the “whole person” that is central to humanistic views of motivation.

Carl Rogers also emphasized people’s attempts to become self-actualized and suggested that unconditional positive regard is essential in the development of it. 

Carl Rogers’s theory is developed in the premise that human beings are basically good and possess an innate tendency to grow and mature. Rogers (1951) suggested that organisms have one basic tendency, which is to “actualize, maintain and enhance the experience self.” Rogers also recognized that humans have needs and they have the tendency to coordinate their needs in order to develop the self. Rogers stated that humans’ self is constructed from their interaction with the world and although their tendency to actualize is innate, it is that through pain and suffering people find the route to self-actualization.

Rogers went further to describe and emphasized that the “force of life” which is the self-actualization tendency, the built-in motivation that is present in every life form to achieve its potential to their fullest extent. The most powerful motivation drive of a person is to become “fully functioning” which means that a person experiences optimal psychological adjustment, optimal psychological maturity, complete congruence, and complete openness to experience.

Rogers pointed out there are potential problems that could arise if an individual’s positive regards is centred on pleasing others. Movements towards socialization worth and away from innate worth is antithetical to self-actualization and people should listen to their inner voice to judge what is good for their well-being, a process which Rogers calls organismic valuation process.

Maslow’s theory states that individuals have certain needs that must be met with a hierarchical manner (from the lowest to highest). The lower the needs in the hierarchy, the more fundamental they are and the more a person will tend to abandon the higher needs in order to pay attention to sufficiently meeting the lower needs. For example, when we are ill, we care little for what others think about us and all we want is to get better.

Maslow believed that fulfilling the needs in the correct order would allow individuals to become self- actualised, fully able persons. So only after the basic physiological needs; such as food, shelter, warmth is met can individuals move on to the next stages; the need to feel secure, to be loved and accepted and so forth.

Figure 1. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. (EPD Photos.Courtesy Gale Group.)

Maslow developed his theory not by studying mentally ill patients, which is where most psychological knowledge had derived from up to that point, but by studying healthy, productive, creative individual’s lives and careers. He concluded that, there were common characteristics which were shared by successful individuals – including self-acceptance, openness and respect for other individuals.

Maslow described other needs that did not fit into his hierarchy. These included cognitive needs, such as curiosity and scientific interest, as well as aesthetic needs, which include the need for beauty and order. As Maslow studied self-actualizing individuals, he also discovered a range of needs that extend beyond self-actualization. He called these needs transcendence needs or B-values. They refer to needs to contribute to human welfare and to find higher meanings in life. Although transcendence needs are usually described as lying somewhere beyond the need for self-actualization, these needs are not included in most formulations of Maslow's needs hierarchy yet it he believed that it played a big role in every individual. Instinct often helps us make decisions which an individual may think is hard to make but Maslow believed that it is our inner voice telling us what we really think is the right decision to be made for that particular situation. It helps from leading to self-destruction.  We also have positive needs that may become neutral in the worst case scenario for an example a student sitting for an exam and not being sure if he/she will do well yet you still work hard on other papers with a positive attitude (i.e. you do not let yourself become sad about it become depressed and not concentrate on rest of the work), as human behaviour does respond to needs but we will be wrong to think or say that all our needs are only physiological in nature. So we can say that needs is what actually what motivates our action. As they say “a human’s heart can never be fulfilled”.

DISCUSSION

Like many other theories, some may find the humanistic approach to be valid while others see it for the numerous inherent flaws. This theory includes the focus on both the positive nature of humankind and the free will associated with change.  Unlike Freud's theory and the biological approach, which focus on determinism or our lack of power over us, Maslow and Roger see the individual as very powerful.

Another aspect of humanistic theory is the ease in which many of its aspects fit well with other approaches.  Many therapists have adopted a humanistic tinge in their work with clients such as humanistic Psychotherapy which was greatly influenced by Maslow and also Client Centred Psychotherapy which was by Rogers (Gladding, 2009). While they may argue humanistic theory does not go far enough, they see the benefit of the core components in helping people change.

Over the years humanistic theory has been greatly used in different professions.  If you take a health class, you are likely to discuss Maslow's hierarchy.  If you study economic or business, you will also focus on moving upward in our lives in order to be more aware of who we are and where we fit in with the world. It is the same with many other professions, including literature, criminology, and history, among others, as the basics of humanistic thought strike an undertone in all of what is considered human.

However, with the good always comes the bad, and this theory is no different.  Some critics say that humanistic thought appears to centre on its lack of concrete treatment approaches aimed at specific issues.  With the basic concept behind the theory being free will, it is difficult to both develop a treatment technique and study the effectiveness of this technique.

There are those who believe humanistic theory falls short in its ability to help those with more sever personality or mental health pathology.  While it may show positive benefits for a minor issue, using the approach of Roger's to treat schizophrenia would seem ludicrous.  

Finally, humanistic theory makes some generalizations about human nature that are not widely accepted as complete.  Are people basically good or are there some individuals who are not capable of this?  Can we adequately argue that everyone follows the same levels as Maslow explained, or are these levels, and even what they stand for, be determined by the individual?  Why do some people seem to make negative choices even when positive solutions are staring them in the face?  These questions plague humanistic thought and the difficulty in researching the theory does not provide any freedom. Yet there are a number of different ways in which the pursuits of your goals can be met and you may need to overcome obstacles such as fear or duty, before you can fully develop and become self-actualized.

CONCLUSION

Humanistic theory an important step in understanding how it plays a big role in motivation, it suggests that the achievement of happiness is frequently dependent upon achieving, or giving you the licence to investigate and pursue your own deepest interests and desires. Humanistic theory has been incorporated into many differing views on psychotherapy and human change. Humanistic undertone in treatment provides a nice foundation for change, it helps people evaluate their life and see what are the most important things they want in their life and as well as giving the right motivation to reach this goal. While it may not be sufficient, it may still be necessary for a significant personality change to occur.

REFERENCES

Figure 1: Encyclopaedia of Nursing & Allied Health, ©2002 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved

Gladding (2009). Counselling, 6^th Ed., Pearson

Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and Personality, 2nd. Ed., New York, Harper & Row

Cherry, K. “Carl Rogers Biography (1902-1987). About.com guide. http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_rogers.htm

Rogers, C. (1951) Client-centred Therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 

A Long Hiatus

With all the daily hassles and keeping up with the Joneses,blogging has somehow been a daunting task. Moving along, I've just finished reading a book on "Cannibals and Evil Cult Killers". This book authored by Ray Black, an investigative journalist who specializes in police cases, crimes and criminals. An interesting book that delves into heinous crimes and cannibalism that dates back as early as 300AD. Lately, with many news of thefts, burglary and all sorts of crime activities, Criminology has been the flavor of my quarter. What causes criminal behavior? What sort of profile matches a person who would most likely commit crimes and at the same time, what criteria fits that a person be a victim of crime? As tough for a person to commit a crime, it's not that simple either to be a victim. Also, I'm interested in the biological part of criminals, are they hot wired somewhere in their genes or a neurological dysfunction that leads them to commit crime(s)? Such as the case of Jeffrey Dahmner whose hernia operation as a child somehow led to a disasterous development of his personality. Many, many interesting questions and I hope to keep it updated on this blog in the next few weeks on this topic and how the person on the street can keep a watchful eye on potential threats and what can be done to avoid them. Till then, stay safe.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder

It's been awhile since I've posted something. Life hassles has caught the better of me. Oppositional defiant disorder is a condition that is suffered by many children these days but with little or no attention being given by parents. This article aims to give an idea of how parents of today can identify and understand if their kids are going through ODD and what possible ways to overcome it.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder or ODD is a disorder that is commonly found during childhood period. Symptoms of ODD can manifest itself in a child as early as 3 years of age. Unlike an independent seeking behaviour from a child, ODD is more subtle and can be seen when a child has a persistent patterns that comes out as tantrums, constant argumentative behaviour and child is always angry and are constantly showing behaviours of disruptiveness towards authority figures. Despite being tough to recognize at times, there is a range of difference between a child with ODD and an independence seeking behaviour child. A child with ODD often displays behaviours that annoy others, deliberate misbehaviour, spiteful and vengeful and resentful.

The range of difference can be seen between an independence seeking, strong willed or emotional child with one that has ODD is when they exhibit behaviours such as persistency in throwing tantrums, constantly disrupting home and schooling environment. These symptoms may just sound like any ordinary child growing up but if such behaviours continue to be exhibited over the course of more than six months, a child may be having issues of ODD. These symptoms also are normally accompanied with a negative attitude, defiance towards rules and request from parents and hostile attitude towards people. Children with ODD more often than not, also suffer in their academic performance and they have difficulty in maintaining friendship with their peers. If in the span of six months such behaviours continue to persist even with disciplinary actions from parents, it is a clear sign that the child has ODD. It is important that ODD is diagnosed early as possible as it could lead to an array of mental health issues if not addressed. Related mental health issues such as attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, and depressions.

With such symptoms manifesting, parents could immediately seek advice from their paediatrician, a child psychologist or a behavioural expert on what can be done to resolve the child’s issue. Early detection has better chance in treating, managing and even reversing the effects of ODD on a child. Early treatment will help the child in rebuilding self-esteem and creating positive relationship between the child and parent. It will also indirectly improve relationship and alleviate tensions with people around the child, such as teachers, peers, and relatives. Such are the benefits of an early treatment.

What causes a child to have ODD? It isn’t clear on what causes a child to have oppositional defiant disorder. Despite not having clarity on the cause, several factors are likely to contribute to ODD. It is most likely a combination of heredity and environmental factors. Such are a child’s natural disposition and their lack of control over temperaments, natural disposition are linked to their personality and are likely to be genetically inherited. Imbalance in the production of chemicals in the brain such as serotonin could also be a likely cause. Another likely cause would be limitations and/or developmental delays in child’s cognitive ability to process thoughts and feelings. For example, when a child is faced with a social situation and is not able to immediately react but rather, process the situation later and bottling up their emotions which will manifest itself later on in the form of ODD. Abuse and neglect is also a probable cause of ODD.

Other factors that plays a role in the development of ODD and the variety of influences, circumstances and genetic components are known as risk factors. Risk factors that could drive ODD are for example, parents who suffers from mood disorder or substance abuse, inconsistent and harsh disciplining, lack of parental supervision and/or positive involvement, exposure to violence, or parents who are undergoing severely troubled marriage. Such family instabilities that occur provide an increase in the avenue of a child developing disruptive behaviours. Constant change in environments such as moving houses may cause disrespectful or oppositional behaviour. ODD if not detected early can lead to bigger problems for a child when they reach adolescence and adulthood. Violent behaviours, severe delinquency, and engaging in drug abuse are some of the problems that manifest later in life when ODD is not being treated.
According to the criteria being spelled out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV- TR) that is published by the American Psychiatric Association, a pattern of behaviour lasting over 6 months that is often shown and it includes at least four behaviours of losing tempers, arguing with adults, refusing to comply with adults rules or request, deliberately annoying people, and blames others for their mistakes, touchy or easily annoyed by others, angry and resentful, spiteful or vindictive. These behaviours must be displayed more often than is typical for a child’s peers. In addition, to be diagnosed with ODD, they must cause significant problems at work, school or home, occurs on its own rather than caused by another mental disorder, such as bipolar disorder or depression, must not meet the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder or, if the person is older than 18 years old, antisocial personality disorder.

Treatments of ODD involves several types of psychotherapy and training for child and parent likewise. Some of the usual treatments for ODD are individual and family therapy, which involves counselling for the child to help them learn to manage anger and how to express their feelings in a healthy way. Family counselling can also help improve collectively the communications and relationship within the family members. Another form of treatment would be Parent-child Interaction therapy (PCIT). This treatment sometimes requires a therapist observing from a two way mirror and guiding parents through strategies that reinforces positive behaviour in a child. This method has shown positive results in decreasing children’s behaviour problems and improves the quality of parent-child relationship. Another highly effective treatment is cognitive problem solving training. This treatment requires parent and child to collaborate and solve problems. Both parties are required to solve problems by identifying it with the child and the child comes up with solutions to overcome their behavioural problems. Other treatments available are social skills training and parent training. This involves therapy to improve the child’s social skills with their peers and parents to learn to deal and cope with the issues that an ODD child faces.

With proper understanding and treatments, ODD can be managed and treated. What is important in this entire process is that parental support is always there. Calmness on the parent’s part in dealing with the issue and constant positive reinforcement to tune the child’s thoughts is paramount in dealing and coping with ODD.

Personality : Concepts of Stress

Stress is a commonly used term today in society. Arising out of modernization and the need for people to catch up with the fast paced environment today. In personality and illness, the concepts of stress is the common variable that exist in many models. An important element but often a misunderstood phenomenon.

Stress is a subjective feeling produced by events that are perceived as uncontrollable and particularly threatening. These events overwhelms you and often leave a deep disconcerting feeling inside. These events are known as Stressors. Stressors are events perceived or evoked but ultimately lead to stress situations. Stressors oftens puts us at a place where we produce opposing tendencies, such as wanting and not wanting an object or an activity. E.g. knowing that you need to study as exams are closing in, but you put it off as long as possible. Stressors are outside of our power to control, such as the exam; hence, the exam is the stressor.

Stress response is a when a stressor appears, people typically experiences a pattern of emotional and physiological reactions. Imagine you see a suspicious looking person heading towards you at night in a quiet street,

at that moment, you experience higher heart rates, your palms gets cold and clammy, blood pressure goes up, and your feet and palms beging to sweat. That's is your body preparing itself for a fight-or-flight mode. These are briefly experiences that occurs "in the moment". However, if a person is exposed to a stressor daily, the fight-or-fight mode is just the first step in a chain reaction termed General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS) by Hans Selye(1976), pioneer in stress researching.

Image above depicts the stages a person undergo after being repeatedly exposed to a stressor.

A good example would be a hostage situation, fight-or-flight mode kicks in as the victim ready to challenge the stressor. Thereafter, locked up in a confinement with the uncertainty of what the aggressor might do, the victim is continously stressed even at the slightest sound. Every time the aggressor comes in to check, the victim is exposed to extreme stress, but eventually develops resistance towards the stressor. Note however as, resistance increase the bodily resources starts to deplete and the body heads for a breakdown and reaches the panic zone where physiological resources gone and the body is most suspectible to illness.

picture by National Geographic Locked Up Abroad Philippines

MAJOR LIFE EVENTS AND DAILY HASSLES

Major life events and daily hassles can also be our stressors, what's most important is how we perceive it. Remember, how we perceive and interpret an event do contribute to affecting our health and illness. Coping with stress is essential as it improves our well-being in the long term. How can we cope with stress? Some of the steps are:

a.Identifying the potential stressor/problem and start to systematically deal with it. E.g. Exams is in a months time, plan ahead and organized time with discipline
b.On the emotional plane, creating affirmations and telling positive things to yourself do result in positive outcomes as we have a change in perspective on the stressor

Personality types do have a major role in coping with stress. A conscienctious prone personality person tend to cope with stress better because they are naturally organized and eliminate most daily hassles. A scrupulous person may face accumulated stressors daily due to disorganized personality. With that in mind, we can identify our personality types and adjust our activities to reduce stress and allow us to cope better and lead a stress free life.