Operant Conditioning

Description of the Strategy

Operant conditioning is based on the premise that behavior is a function of its consequences. Unlike Pavlov, who took a stimulus-response (S-R) approach, Skinner took a response-stimulus (R-S) approach. He theorized that consequences of behavior at time T1 modify probability of emitting the same or similar behavior in the same or similar circumstances at time T2. Skinner suggested that behavior evolves ontogenetically through variation and selection in a manner rather parallel to how Darwin viewed organisms to evolve phylogenetically. The strategy in applying operant conditioning concerns the therapeutic direction of this ontogenetic evolutionary process and entails the following steps.

The first step is to identify a target behavior that is central to the client's complaint. This step is sometimes more difficult than one might expect. Clients rarely formulate their problems in terms of specific behavioral complaints. They more frequently present with evaluative and emotional statements, such as “My spouse/ children no longer love(s)/respect(s) me.” Or “I feel sad and depressed.” Or “I am anxious and stressed and want to feel better.” Clinicians need to explore with clients what particular changes in their behavior or the behavior of other people would help them achieve their goals. For example, one might ask, “What it is that your spouse does or does not do that makes you feel that he or she no longer loves you?” What you or others do not do is as important as what you or they do. The object of this first step is to identify a target behavior.

The second step is to conduct a behavioral assessment, which entails two phases. The first phase concerns assessing topography of the target response. The clinician needs to determine frequency, intensity, and/or duration of the target behavior. Clinicians are largely dependent upon adults to observe their own behavior. Occasionally, a spouse or significant other person can be enlisted to observe the frequency, intensity, and/or duration of the target behavior, but mainly, the person ends up observing himself or herself. Behaviors that occur too frequently, too intensely, or with too great a duration constitute behavioral excesses. Behaviors that do not occur frequently enough, not intensely enough, or with too short of a duration constitute behavioral deficits.

The second phase of behavioral assessment is to conduct a functional analysis of behavior, where for each instance of the target behavior, antecedent and consequent events are also recorded. Antecedent conditions, known technically as discriminative stimuli, are the conditions that set the occasion for the emission or omission of the target behavior. The target behavior is not thought to be reflexively elicited by these conditions in the Pavlovian sense, but rather, these are the conditions that are typically associated with the occurrence of the target behavior. Some of the consequent conditions may function as reinforcers and strengthen the target behavior. Not all consequent conditions function as reinforcers, so care must be taken to identify the ones that actually reinforce and make behavior stronger or more probable.

The third step is to create a behavioral treatment plan based on results of behavioral assessment. Target behaviors that constitute behavioral excesses are to be [Page 404]reduced, and behaviors that constitute behavioral deficits are to be increased. More complex situations where two incompatible reinforcement contingencies operate simultaneously indicate that one or the other needs to be discontinued.

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