sss 571 human behavior & the social environment november 8, 2010 lynn mayer, msw, phd
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SSS 571Human Behavior
& the Social EnvironmentNovember 8, 2010
Lynn Mayer, MSW, PhD
Lewin’s wisdom
“There is nothing so practical as a good theory.”
PlanExplore and challenge some misconceptionsPresent Behavioral theory and Social
Exchange theories via 7 questionsFocus on people's problems and groups’
problems and how these theories help us understand the problems and help them change
Put it all together by applying to case examples
So, what did you learn about social exchange and behavioral theories from your reading?
What are your assumptions about them from your reading or past experience?
Reviewing, what is theory?an interrelated set of conceptsthat are based on observationsthe relationship between concepts is
expressed as hypotheses These concepts and hypotheses are tested or
testableand are intended to explain or predict
phenomena.
7 Questions1.What are the major premises of the theory?2.Who thought this theory up?3.Who are the social workers building on this
early thinking?4.How does the theory understand problems?5.How did problems come to be?6.How do problems go away on their own?7.How do social workers help make problems
go away?
Behavioral Theory
QUESTION 1: What are the major premises of Behavioral Theory?We are what we do.We learn what we do (overt and covert
behavior) through respondent (classical) conditioning, operant conditioning, and modeling
Behavior is maintained by antecedent and consequential conditions
To change what we are, we must change what we do by modifying the maintaining conditions
The Behavioral ABC
A B C
Antecedent Behavior Consequence
QUESTION 2: Who thought this theory up?Respondent Behavior and Conditioning: Ivan
PavlovOperant Behavior and Conditioning: B.F.
Skinner(among others)
Respondent Behavior &Conditioning: Ivan Pavlov1849-1936
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? No, but it makes my mouth water!
MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMMMIKE PETERS
Operant Behavior & Conditioning:
B.F. Skinner 1904-1990
QUESTION 3: Who are the social workers building on this early thinking?
Eileen GambrillBruce Thyer
Eileen Gambrill
“Behavioral practice involves an empirical approach to personal and social problems in which the selection of assessment and intervention methods is based whenever possible on related research.”
Bruce Thyer“...It is a mistake to conclude that behavioral
social work practice requires any lesser degree of clinical skill and acumen or complexity of conceptualization than other approaches to practice.”
QUESTION 4: How does behavioral theory understand “problems”?Problems are behaviors that are maladaptive
for a personProblem behaviors include those that are
overt and observable to others or covert and not observable (thoughts, feelings, physiological responses)
Problem behaviors include those that are respondent (reflexive) or operant (voluntary)
Like all behaviors (we do have adaptive ones), they were learned in the past but maintained in the present by antecedents and/or consequences
Pop Quiz: Question 1Bruce Thyer would say, “This is an angry
client.”
TrueFalse
Pop Quiz: Question 2Eileen Gambrill would say, “This client’s anger
is easily and often stimulated.”
TrueFalse
Respondent (Reflex) Behavior:Involuntary responses, driven by the central
nervous system (not the skeletal muscles), dependent on the stimuli that precede them
Respondent behavior is dependent upon antecedent stimulus changes in the environment
Respondent behavior itself is not learned; it is an automatic reflex elicited by a natural stimulus, but it can be conditioned to a neutral stimulus
S R
Operant BehaviorVoluntary behavior of the skeletal muscles
with which we operate on the environmentDependent on the reinforcing consequences
that followOperant behavior is learned through operant
conditioning; through reinforcement R S
Operant Behaviorhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=I_ctJqjlrHA
QUESTION 5: How did problems come to be?Problem behaviors, like all behaviors are
learned in the pastBut they are maintained in the present by
maintaining conditionsSome behaviors are maintained by
antecedent conditions (under stimulus control)
Others are maintained by consequential conditions
Maintaining AntecedentsMother tries to strengthen daughter’s getting
ready for school by providing reinforcing praise, but if Mom ceases to cajole, yell, prompt, the behavior doesn’t happen
Anxiety is triggered by the presence of a dominating authority figure
A child successfully learns to read, because she has the prerequisite knowledge, skill, and resources (setting conditions)
Maintaining ConsequencesGood work performance is strengthened by a
monetary bonusAspirin-taking becomes more probable if the
headache goes away Child’s shouting out in class continues
despite teacher’s lecturing, yelling, chastising (the ubiquitous negative attention!)
We learn behaviors in 3 waysWe learn respondent behavior through
respondent conditioningWe learn operant behavior through operant
conditioning(We also learn through modeling)
Learning through Respondent (Classical) ConditioningRussian physiologist Ivan Pavlov found:A dog that involuntarily salivates upon
presentation of natural stimulus – meat - learns (or is conditioned) to salivate when presented with a neutral stimulus – a bell – through repeated pairing of the bell with the presentation of the meat.
By repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with a natural, the neutral stimulus will come to elicit the same response; thus, it becomes a conditioned stimulus
Why should social workers care?Affective responses (e.g. fear or anger) are
respondent behaviors that can become conditioned to neutral stimuli
Child in hospitalPainful medical treatment FearPainful treatment + white coats FearWhite coats Fear
Learning through Operant ConditioningB.F. Skinner observed that the rate of
animal behavior may be increased or decreased by altering the consequences
Successive approximation: random behavior approximating a desired operant behavior is reinforced; later, behaviors that are successively closer approximations of the desired behavior are systematically reinforced, shaping the desired behavior.
QUESTION 6: How do problems go away on their own?
Through respondent extinctionThrough operant extinctionIf there are unpleasant consequences for the behavior (punishment or cost)
By learning a competing adaptive behavior
Respondent ExtinctionWhat is respondent extinction?Conditioned stimulus that has maintained
maladaptive respondent behavior loses its power to elicit the problematic response
Example: Woman with a bridge phobia keeps forcing herself to drive over bridges with no ill effect and gradually the anxiety lessens.
But what if she can’t bring herself to do this?
Operant ExtinctionWhat is operant extinction?Maladaptive operant behavior that was
previously maintained by reinforcing consequences is no longer reinforced
Example: Child’s shouting out in class (rather than raising her hand) has been consistently attended to by the teacher (reinforced), albeit by chastising, is then ignored by the teacher and the shouting out weakens
Is this a sufficient solution?
Unpleasant consequences: punishment or response cost suppression
What is response cost and punishment?Operant behavior, previously maintained by
antecedents or reinforcing consequences, is now followed by something unpleasant
Example: Dangerous or risky driving lessens after a serious accident
Is this a sufficient solution?
Learning a competing adaptive behaviorWhat is Differential Reinforcement of OtherAn adaptive behavior that competes with the
maladaptive one is (differentially) reinforced while the maladaptive one is ignored
Example: the teacher praises the child when she raises her hand and ignores shouting out
QUESTION 7: How do social workers help make problems go away?
Deceleration techniquesAcceleration techniques(Modeling techniques)
Deceleration Techniques Based on Respondent ExtinctionWeaken a maladaptive behavior by focus on
removal of the maintaining “A”Systematic desensitization or gradual
exposure to the feared stimulusPossible pairing of stimulus with relaxation
responseConditioned stimulus loses its powerA form of Respondent extinction and DRO
Deceleration Techniques Based on Operant Extinction Weaken a maladaptive behavior by focus on the removal of the maintaining “C”
Time out from positive reinforcementIgnoringResponse-costPunishment
EthicsSome things work but are unethical; e.g. cattle prods
Acceleration Techniques Acceleration techniques strengthen a new
adaptive behavior via reinforcement – applying a new maintaining “C”
Direct reinforcement of adaptive behaviorDifferential reinforcement of a competing
behavior Token economy (indirect reinforcement)
ApplicationCase A: Fear & Clinging in a Young Child
A young man walks into a nursing home with her mother to visit her grandmother. She sees a man in a white coat whom she has never seen before. She feels fear and immediately clings to her mother.
ApplicationCase A 1: Fear
How does behavioral theory define fear in general?Use explanatory concepts from behavioral theory to
explain how fear might have come to be for this child.
Use change concepts from behavioral theory to explain how this child’s fear could go away on its own.
Use change concepts from behavioral theory to explain how social workers help make fear go away.
ApplicationA 2: ClingingHow does behavioral theory define clinging in
general?Use explanatory concepts from behavioral theory to
explain how clinging might have come to be for this child.
Use change concepts from behavioral theory to explain how this child’s clinging could go away on its own.
Use change concepts from behavioral theory to explain how social workers help make clinging go away.
We are what we do; to change what we are, we must change what we
do.
Social Exchange Theory
QUESTION 1: What are the major premises of Exchange Theory?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qplf38QT0dU
Social Exchange TheoriesRooted in Utilitarianism, Functional
Anthropology, & Psychological Behaviorism1960sChallenge to Functionalism
Social Exchange TheoriesConcepts:
ProfitsCosts
Punishments Rewards Foregone
SatiationScarcityPowerPrinciple of Least
Interest
Norm of ReciprocityDistributive JusticeAchieved
InvestmentsAscribed
InvestmentsStatusStatus CongruenceNorms
Social Exchange Theories - WHOGeorge C. Homans
Psychological Principles Operant Conditioning
Psychological Reductionist
Social Behavior
Social Exchange Theories - WHOHomans Propositions
Success PropositionStimulus PropositionValue PropositionDeprivation – Satiation PropositionAggression – Approval PropositionsRationality Proposition
Social Exchange Theories - WHOPeter Blau 1918 - 2002
Types of rewards Extrinsic rewards Intrinsic rewards
Categories of Social Groups Emergent Established
Social Exchange Theories - WHOBlau’s Stages
Personal Exchange TransactionsDifferentiation of Status & PowerLegitimatization & OrganizationOpposition & Change
Social Exchange Theories - WHORichard Emerson
Exchange analysis of networks & social structures
Mathematical approachPower dependence
1925 - 1982
Social Exchange Theories - WHOEmerson’s Exchange Network
There is a set of either individual or collective actors.
Valued resources are distributed among the actors.There is a set of exchange opportunities among all
the actors in the network.Some exchange opportunities have developed into
actually used exchange relations.Exchange relations are connected to one another in
a single network structure.
Social Exchange Theories - WHOKaren Cook
Exchange networks v network theory
Exchange theory as integrativeMicroMacro
QUESTION 3: Who are the social workers building on this early thinking?
??????????“exchange theory has received little attention in social work.”
QUESTION 4: How does social exchange theory understand “problems”?Types of Power
CoerciveRewardExpertLegitimateReferent
QUESTION 5: How did problems come to be?
QUESTION 6: How do problems go away on their own?
QUESTION 7: How do social workers help make problems go away?Application
InterpersonalWithin Small GroupsWithin FamiliesBetween Small GroupsBetween Various GroupsBetween Nations and Nations
Think about using social exchange theory
“ Follow an old path and you find the expected.Blaze a new trail and you have an adventure.”
Evelyn Loeb
ApplicationCase C: Two Agencies Competing for Same Grant
A large county agency has had the grant to provide Head Start (HS) services. They have been the only grantee in the area for years. A different, smaller agency unexpectedly gets the grant to provide a new service, Early Head Start (EHS), in the same geographic area. This agency has never gotten a HS grant before. The large agency is not funded to provide EHS services.
ApplicationCase C continued…
So… the small agency will serve the babies and the large agency will serve the preschoolers. As the small agency is writing their start up plan, they are told by the federal office to consult with the large agency for help. When they call, the large agency won’t help.
ApplicationHow would exchange theory define this problem?How do the exchange theory concepts apply?Which of Homan’s propositions do you think is
influencing the behavior of the small agency? Of the large agency? Why?
The small agency needs something from the large agency. Using Blau, what do you think the small agency will do to get it?
Who has the power in this situation? What kind?What would a social worker do in this situation
using this theory?
Many Ways of Knowing “There are many truths and many ways of
knowing. Each discovery contributes to our knowledge, and each way of knowing deepens our understanding and adds another dimension to our view of the world…we must not turn our backs on any opportunities to enhance our knowledge…the boundaries of our profession are wide and deep…no one way of knowing can explore this vast and varied territory.”
Ann Hartman
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