Covert Conditioning with Children and Adolescents

Description of the Strategy

Covert conditioning refers to a set of procedures that share a common basis in the use of imagery as the means of altering response frequency. The term covert is utilized because clients are asked to use unobservable, imagined processes to establish new, adaptive [Page 797]responses. Such imaginal processes can include thinking or talking to oneself, imaging, feeling, or reproduction of sensations or bodily cues. A variety of types of imagined scenes can be utilized in covert conditioning, including scenes based on actual experience, the experiences of others, perceived “ideal” situations, and painful or feared situations. The term conditioning refers to the fact that the behavioral change being addressed is theoretically governed by the laws of learning, primarily operant conditioning. Basic reinforcement principles, and concepts of punishment, extinction, and habituation, thus apply equally to overt and covert events in this paradigm.

A number of theoretical assumptions have been set forth by Cautela concerning the nature of covert conditioning. First, it is assumed that behavioral processes can be classified as (a) overt or observable behavior, (b) covert behavior or coverants (i.e., imaginal processes, self-talk, affective states) and, (c) physiological processes. Second, continuity exists between overt, observable behaviors and covert behaviors, and there is an interaction between these two sets of events. In this regard, covert events can potentially affect overt behavior and, in turn, overt behavior can impact covert behavior.

Specific covert conditioning procedures include covert sensitization, covert extinction, covert positive reinforcement, covert negative reinforcement, covert response cost, covert modeling, and what is referred to as a “self-control triad.” Covert sensitization, covert extinction, covert response cost, and the self-control triad are used to decrease the frequency with which certain target behaviors occur. In covert sensitization, clients are asked to first imagine performing a given undesirable target behavior (e.g., excessive hair pulling) and then imagine a negative or aversive consequence (e.g., having a large bald spot and being teased by peers). In covert extinction, clients are asked to imagine a given target behavior (e.g., telling tall tales to friends at school) and then to imagine that the reinforcer maintaining the behavior does not occur (e.g., their friends pay no attention to their stories). Covert cost response refers to the process by which clients are asked to first imagine a given target behavior (e.g., getting out of their seats in class without permission) and then imagine that they are deprived of a specific reinforcer (removal of recess privileges). The self-control triad involves asking a client to yell (stop), take a deep breath, exhale, and relax, and then to imagine a pleasant scene whenever the target behavior occurs.

Covert positive reinforcement and covert negative reinforcement are typically utilized as a means of increasing desirable or positive behaviors. In covert positive reinforcement, a client is instructed to imagine a given target behavior (e.g., giving a successful speech in class) and then asked to subsequently imagine a pleasant scene, which serves as a reinforcer (e.g., having the teacher and peers congratulate the client). In a covert negative reinforcement paradigm, a client is asked to imagine a very negative or aversive stimulus; the aversive scene is then terminated and a new image is immediately created. Notably, this procedure is inherently difficult with children and is rarely utilized in clinical practice. In covert modeling, a client is asked to imagine a model performing a given target behavior (e.g., a favorite peer who engages in a piano competition with little anxiety) and then subsequently imagines a highly reinforcing consequence (winning an award for the performance). Covert modeling can be used to either increase a desired behavior or decrease an undesirable one. In general, clinical use of covert conditioning procedures with children and adolescents is limited to covert reinforcement, covert modeling, and covert extinction, while the use of covert aversive procedures is avoided.

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