The Behavioural

Approach

 
 Background, key concepts and assumptions

 The Behavioural approach to counselling focuses on the

client's current behaviour and stresses their personal
responsibility
to change behaviour by developing clear plans for new
behaviour.
 This approach therefore places a high premium on taking
active steps to bring about concrete changes in behaviour.
 According to the Behavioural therapy both good and bad
behaviour is learned through interactions with other
people and the environment.
 The assumption is that disturbed behaviour is the result of
a learning process, and can thus be 'unlearned' by using
appropriate techniques, mainly based on the systematic
use of reward or punishment.  
 This approach to counselling follows a formal scientific
approach and focuses only on behaviour
that can actually be observed and measured both before
and after counselling.
 Existing behaviour, unlike feelings, emotions and thoughts
can be observed and measured objectively
and accurately.
 The aim is to change inappropriate behaviour through a
planned system of reward (and/or punishment) in order to
develop more appropriate behaviour patterns.
 The approach focuses on the client's current behaviour
and stresses their personal responsibility to change
behaviour by developing clear plans for new behaviour.
 This approach therefore places a high premium on taking
active steps to bring about concrete changes in behaviour.
 Clients are expected to engage in specific actions to deal
with their problems rather than simply talking about their
problems.
 This approach has a strong educational focus
and the aim is to teach clients skills of self-management
that can be transferred or applied in their daily lives.
 Contemporary behavioural therapy is based on three
major areas of development: classical
conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive therapy.
 Positive and negative reinforcement (reward and
punishment) are considered key elements in changing
behaviour.
 In Classical Conditioning a reward or punishment is
paired with a stimulus to bring about certain behaviour.
 The reinforcement is thus associated with the stimulus and
based on this association specific
behaviour is learned.
 In the Pavlov's experiment a bell and food was given at the
same time and after continuous pairing of the reward
(food) and the stimulus (bell) the dog salivated by hearing
the bell even in the absence of the reward.
 The reason is that the stimulus (bell) and the reward (food)
were associated with each other and this led to the learned
behaviour (salivation).
 This experiment illustrated how behaviour could be
learned through the association of stimuli or more
commonly known through classical conditioning.
 If a grade one child experiences warmth, support and
understanding in his or her classroom on a daily basis he
or she associates these good feelings with school and will be
motivated to continue with school.
 Similarly if the Geography teacher prepares her lessons
well and present her classes in
a lively and interesting manner the learners will learn to
think of the subject Geography as
interesting.
 On the other hand if the teacher comes unprepared and
reads the content from the
book there is a good chance that learners may associate the
subject with boredom.
 In the case of Operant Conditioning Skinner proposed that
the way a person operates in his or
her environment (how he or she behaves) elicits or brings
about consequences.
 Certain behaviour may have positive consequences while
others may have negative
consequences.
 Here we have the stance that rewards or punishment
follow behaviour and the two are thus not paired as in the
examples above.
 A learner who does not study for a test (his/ her
behaviour) may fail the test (consequence).
 This may have further consequences such as
embarrassment, negative feedback from the teacher or
even detention.
 To avoid these negative consequences the child may decide
to rather study for the next test.
 On the other hand the child who studies hard and does
well in the test will feel proud and experience positive
feedback from the teacher
and based on these positive consequences
there is a good chance that child will repeat
this behaviour.
 A soccer player who stays away from practice may be
dropped from the team and will think twice in the next
season before staying away from practice.
 These positive or negative consequences in life to a large
extent teach us to behave in more appropriate ways.
 As teachers we need to make sure that we do not
unwittingly encourage bad behaviour.
 For example if we do not check homework and punish
those who did not do their homework, this practice will
increase.
 The basic principle here is that if desired behaviour can be
rewarded as and when it occurs, a person's behaviour can
be adjusted or controlled to attain the desired behaviour.
 Actions or behaviour that are reinforced tend to be
repeated while those that are discouraged tend to become
extinguished.
 The above two approaches are based on the principle of
contiguity: If two events are presented together repeatedly,
they will become so associated, that when only one is
presented, the missing event will be remembered also.
 The significance of learning via association (contiguous
learning) is that it does not yield deliberate behaviour,
which means that we sometimes learn things that we did
not intend or that are not good for us.
 The role of reinforcement

 In the Behavioural approach to counselling reinforcement

(reward and punishment) plays a central role in the
attempts to change undesirable behaviour.
 It is of great importance that you familiarise yourself
again with the different types of reinforcement that can be
applied
 Types of reinforcement
 Positive reinforcement is described as a form of
conditioning in which something desirable or pleasant is
received as a consequence of behaving in the required way.
 For example a child may receive additional pocket money
if s/he leaves his/her room tidy before leaving for school
every day.
 Please note that in this case nothing is removed.
 Even if the room is not tidied the child will still receive the
regular pocket money, however the child can willingly
participate in the challenge to have the room tidied and to
receive something extra.
 The additional pocket money is therefore a positive
reinforcement.
 Similarly, a teacher telling learners that those who improve
their test marks of the previous test in the next class test
with more than 5% will be the ones to be included in a
desired event (e.g. free visit to the Windhoek
show), is an example of positive reinforcement.
 Learners will study hard to benefit from their
efforts.
 On the other hand a negative reinforcement is described as
a form of conditioning which
involves the removal of an unpleasant or punishing event
or stimulus, as a result of the
appearance of the required behaviour.
 If we stay with the issue of a tidy room the picture changes
slightly to illustrate negative reinforcement.
 A child may lose some of his or her regular
pocket money every time his or her room is not left tidy
before leaving for school.
 This child will therefore keep the room tidy in order to
avoid this punishing event to occur.
 Subtracting pocket money can in this case be considered a
negative reinforcement.
 Please note that in both cases the desired behaviour
(leaving your room tidy) may increase and eventually
become a fixed
behaviour pattern.
 However, normally the first example may lead to more
positive relationships and more motivation from the side of
the child.
 Similarly, a teacher telling learners that those
who fail the class test will have to stay for detention on the
next Friday afternoon is an example of negative
reinforcement.
 Learners will study hard to avoid the negative
consequences.
 In brief we can thus conclude that a teacher uses positive
reinforcement (praising, gold stars, privileges, etc.) to
increase the likelihood that behaviour (hard work, good
manners, etc.) will be repeated and uses negative reinforces
(disapproval, detention, removal of privileges) to reduce
unwanted behaviour (laziness, disruptive behaviour, etc.
 It should be clear that one can achieve the same behaviour
through either positive or negative reinforcement.
 The teacher should always try to determine which
reinforcement will be most suitable to reach the desired
behaviour for the specific circumstances.
 You should also be able to distinguish between and give
examples of primary reinforcers, secondary reinforcers,
tangible reinforcers and social reinforcers.
 Primary reinforcers are things like air, food, snacks,
shelter, warmth, human touch and any
other reinforcer tied to the physiological needs of humans.
 Note that some of these may not be
used by teachers or parents to change behaviour in their
learners.
 For example one cannot deny food or shelter from a person
in an effort to change their behaviour since it is not ethical
to do so.
 Secondary Reinforcers are things such as verbal praise,
tokens, privileges, peer recognition, release from
homework or tests, etc.
 These types of reinforcers can be used very effectively by
teachers and parents to alter behaviour.
 Teachers have to know their learners well in order to use
appropriate secondary reinforcers, whether they are
positive or negative.
 Note that sometimes the reinforcer may have the opposite
effect that what was intended.
 For example keeping learners in for detention, may
increase an undesirable behaviour, if learners prefer
detention to doing chores at home.
 Tangible reinforcers are those that can be seen or touched
for example sweets and certificates while social reinforcers
are those that satisfy social or psychological needs such as
praise and privileges.
 Once again it should be noted that teachers have to know
their learners well in order to use these reinforcers
appropriately and any of these can also be considered as
positive or negative.
 Schedule of reinforcement

 In addition to knowing what a reinforcer is, we have to

know how to deliver a reinforcer so that it is effective.
 The mode and timing of delivering a reinforcer is very
important for effectiveness.
 This is referred to as the schedule of reinforcement.
 We can administer reinforcers continuously which mean
reinforcement is given every time the desired behaviour is
forthcoming.
 Continuous reinforcement helps to establish wanted
behaviour initially.
 For example we could praise a small child every time for
saying "please" and "thank you" when asking and
receiving things to ensure that this behaviour becomes a
habit, but once this behaviour is established no further
praise is required.
 Intermittent schedules help maintain the wanted
behaviour and as the child grows older we praise him or
her less frequently for saying thank you since the
behaviour is expected to be established at a certain age.
 For the majority of teenagers this comes naturally due to a
systematic reward system during early childhood.
 Similarly in the beginning of the year the classroom
teacher will check learners' homework every day and show
approval or disapproval every time for those who did or
did not do their homework to the expected standard
(continuous reinforcement).
 As time passes learners will be more likely to do their
homework every day and gradually the teacher can check
the homework in an intermittent manner (once or twice a
week for example).
 The objective of reinforcement procedures is to reward
progressively less, so that the desired behaviour will
remain even when no reinforcement is given.
 Some other principles of reinforcement

 Not all learners will react in the same manner to rewards

and punishment and aspects such as the age and gender of
the learner, the type of behaviour that need to be changed
or learned, and so on need to be taken into account.
 Thus it is important to identify effective rewards that will
suit the age and gender of the child and also the
circumstances.
 The reward must be desirable for the child.
 The reward must be clearly linked to the desired behaviour
and timing is important.
 The reward or punishment must therefore follow the
desired or undesired behaviour immediately to ensure that
that the link is formed between the behaviour and the
consequences of the behaviour.
 As soon as the teacher discovers that child did not do
homework he or she should express his/her dissatisfaction
regarding the matter.
 One should also be specific about what the reward or
punishment for certain behaviour would be and once this
has been specified one should stick to what was decided
upon.
 It is also not acceptable to promise a reward (or
punishment) and then not remain with what was decided
upon since learners will then not take these promises
seriously.
 For example if we lay down the rule that any person who
does not do homework during the week will sit for
detention on the Friday afternoon, then this must take
place and the
teacher should not change his/her mind about this because
he or she is not in a mood at the
time for the detention.
 One should therefore carefully think about what reward or
punishment we want to give and how and when this will be
given.
 For example if a child comes in late after
a party the parent should not tell the child he or she is
grounded for the month while it will be almost impossible
to implement this restriction.
 Rather one could ground the child for one weekend.
 The message is still quite clear that the behaviour is not
acceptable and there is a good chance that the child will
stick to the rules about time the next time he or she goes
out.
 Steps to change behaviour
 The objective for counselling through the behavioural
model is to introduce and motivate new ways of behaving,
or alternatively to modify existing behaviour.
 The procedure to be used is first discussed in detail with
the client/learner, and his/her willingness to co-operate is
confirmed.
 It is a procedure that is followed to create new behaviour
patterns, by systematically reinforcing behaviour that
approximates the desired behaviour, until the target
behaviour is attained.
 This is a natural process and part of our everyday living as
was seen in the example given above on learning to say
"please" and "thank you".
 The learner or client usually formulates the goals for
counselling.
 Thus he or she states what behaviour he or she would like
to change or learn.
 The learner must be motivated to bring about the
required changes and his or her cooperation is thus crucial
to ensure changes in behaviour.
 However if we want to change behaviour deliberately
through a counselling process because the appropriate
behaviour was not learned in a natural way Behavioural
Counselling makes use of clearly defined steps.
 There are essentially four main steps to be followed:
 1. Identify the problem
 2. Assess the conditions maintaining the unwanted
behaviour
 3. Set the goals
 4. Select strategies to change the behaviour  
Strategies That Strengthen Behaviour or Create New Ones
 Behaviour rehearsal

 This strategy is based on role-play.

 New behaviour is learned and practised under relaxing
conditions during counselling.
 Through behavioural rehearsal the person is introduced to
alternative forms of behaviour.
 For example a person who finds it difficult to talk to peers
may be given the opportunity to practice talking to peers
with the counsellor until he or she feels more comfortable
to try this behaviour outside the counselling conditions.
 Modelling

 Modelling implies that the client observes others with

appropriate behaviour and then try to imitate their
behaviour.
 This can be helpful for learners who have problems with
social skills to develop more effective social skills.
 Through modelling learners may also improve their
communication techniques and learn hoe to deal with
irrational social fears.
 The models that are selected to imitate are important and
learners usually find it easier to identify with models of
their own age, race and status.
 Assertiveness training
 Assertiveness training helps individuals who are hesitant to
express their feelings, or to stand up
for their rights.
 It is important to distinguish between non-assertive,
assertive and aggressive behaviour.
 Persons who are non-assertive will not stand up for their
rights or will be unable to
say No when it is needed.
 An assertive person will be able to do these things without
infringing
on the rights of others..
 Assertiveness training
 An aggressive person will also be able to do these things
but in the process he or she will infringe on the rights of
others.
 One method of assertiveness training
contains three simple steps: First to state the behaviour
that you find unacceptable, secondly to indicate how this
behaviour makes you feel. and lastly indicating what
behaviour you are
expecting.
 Assertiveness training
 For example if someone keeps you waiting on a regular
basis for appointments and then turns up without any
explanation or apology the three steps as indicated can be
applied.
 "You have been late for appointments lately (state
unacceptable behaviour).
 This really annoys me (your feelings) and I will appreciate
it if you will be in time for appointments in future (state
what is expected)".
 Assertiveness training
 If the person does not say anything about this behaviour he
is acting in a non-assertive manner.
 On the other hand a person may start to shout at and
insult the person who is late and thus acts in an aggressive
manner.
 The latter two types of behaviour is not ideal and should
rather be replaced by assertive behaviour.
 Self-management

 Self-management is based on self-reinforcement and the

person must identify his or her goals and work out his or
her own rewards for targets reached.
 For example a learner may decide to
study one chapter and then take a break with friends for
one hour before starting the next
chapter.
Strategies That Reduce Or Eliminate Unwanted Behaviour
 
 Extinction

 Unwanted behaviour can be reduced or extinguished by

removing conditions reinforcing it.
 For example if we ignore a child when

throwing a tantrum he will not get any reward

from the behaviour and will discontinue it. 
 Punishment

 By employing a negative stimulus to unwanted behaviour

we can eliminate the behaviour.
 For example if we give detention to learners who do not do
their homework they will soon realise
that it is better to do homework than to sit for detention.
 Similarly the denial of positive reinforcement can also lead
to the elimination of unwanted behaviour.
 For example if a child refuses to do his or her regular
chores he or she may be denied to watch TV until such
time the chores are done.
 Satiation

 Satiation means to allow a person to continue with

unwanted behaviour until s/he becomes tired or repelled
by it.
 For example a child who makes noises in class can be
asked to make noises for the whole period and the teacher
will even encourage the child to continue with the noises.
 The child will soon feel embarrassed and probably not
continue with this behaviour in the next class period.
 Systematic Desensitisation

 Through the process of Systematic Desensitisation we can

help persons to reduce excessive anxiety for example their
fear of elevators, spiders, speaking in public or
examinations.
 The process implies that we 'pair' the anxiety-provoking
stimuli with a state of relaxation, until the stimuli becomes
weakened and loses its ability to create anxiety.
 Time out

 Time-out is an extreme form of withdrawal of positive

reinforcement.
 It implies that a person is placed in an environment with
minimum opportunities for receiving positive reinforcement.
 This procedure is quite successful in reducing unwanted
behaviour but it could have a number of
potential undesirable side-effects.
 For example if we ask a child to stand outside the classroom
until s/he is ready to give his/her cooperation the child may
find the chance to leave the
classroom rewarding.
 Problem solving

 One of the goals of counselling is to teach learners to solve

their problems and we can teach learners to adopt a
systematic approach to problem solving.
 Once they have mastered some of the skills the process can
be generalised.
 Some of the steps in the process may appear obvious to
adults but many young people are unfamiliar with rational
decision-making skills, and need to be specifically educated
to use them.
 Problem solving
 Of great importance here is that the learner should be
committed and involved in the process and must
acknowledge that there is a problem.
 S/he should also be genuinely motivated to resolve it and
must believe that with the necessary guidance and help
from the counsellor s/he is capable of doing so.
 Problem solving
 There are essentially four main steps in any problem-
solving process and these are:
 1. Identifying the problem
 2. establishing goals.
 3. Generating alternative solutions.
 4. Selecting the most suitable alternatives.