PSYCHOLOGY, Acquisition and

Facilitation

By: Dr. Bilal Ahmad Lone

MPhil, Ph.D. Psychology
Social learning takes place through interaction with other human beings, through such
learning processes as imitation, identification and role learning.

Behaviors learned through modeling The people who are being observed are called models
and the process of learning is called modeling. This point supported by (Newman B.M. & P.R,
2007).

Bandura’s stated second and third stages of social learning, imitation and behavior
modeling, will occur if a person observes positive, desired outcomes in the first stage. If, for
example, an instructor attends and observes a course in-world and is entertained, informed,
and approves of the way students act, they are more likely to want to teach a course in-
world themselves.

They can then use the behavior they experienced to imitate and model other instructors’
teaching styles in-world (Bandura, 1986)
Both techniques have been utilized in the acquisition and facilitation of
adaptive behaviors and in the reduction and elimination of maladaptive ones.

Facilitation/Behavioral Capability

Definition: Providing tools, resources, or environmental changes that make new behaviors
easier to perform.

Example: The Minnesota Smoking Prevention Program evaluated sixth grade students'
behavioral capability to resist positive images of smoking. This was more clearly defined as
one's ability to identify, evaluate the truthfulness, and reject favorable images of smoking
presented through media and adult modeling.

How to use it: Provide both knowledge-based training and skill-based training to intervention
participants.
Acquisition most commonly means the process of obtaining something or
the thing that is obtained. The learning or developing of a skill, habit, or quality.

Social learning takes place through interaction with other human beings, through
such learning processes as imitation, identification and role learning.

Woodworth, "Learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge and new

responses.“

Learning is the acquisition of new behaviour or the strengthening or

weakening of old behaviour as a result of experience. It represents progressive
changes in behaviour. It also involves the acquisition of knowledge, habits, and
attitude.
How is behaviour acquired?
Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based on the idea that
all behaviors are acquired through conditioning.

Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our
responses to environmental stimuli shape our action.
PARTICIPANT AND GRADUATED MODELING

Participant Modeling is a technique that is used in psycho-therapy where a therapist

or counselor assists a client in learning desired or appropriate behaviors through
"modeling" (demonstrating the behavior) and then assisting the client in imitating the
modeled behavior.
For instance, if a client needs to learn how to use a public bus the therapist would take them to the bus stop, show
them how to wait for the bus, walk up the steps, pay the driver, find a seat and then get off the bus when they get to
the correct stop. Modeling can also be used to reduce other unwanted responses. During each step of therapy, the
patient’s involvement with the object of the phobia becomes more demanding. The client is exposed directly to a
phobic object in the presence of therapist; for example, a snake phobic approaches the snake and eventually handles
it.

Moreover this method allows the participant to see others persons reactions while slowly acclimate the participant to
their irrational fears. Modeling has been used effectively to treat individuals with anxiety disorders, post-traumatic
stress disorder, specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder, and conduct disorder.

It has also been used successfully in helping individuals acquire such social skills as public speaking or assertiveness.
The effectiveness of modeling has led to its use in behavioral treatment of persons with substance abuse disorders,
which frequently lack important behavioral skills.
What is an example of desensitization?

S‌ ystematic desensitization therapy is a type of behavioral therapy used to treat anxiety disorders, post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and a fear of things like snakes or spiders.

Contact desensitization resembles exposure-based interventions and uses positive reinforcement to gradually

increase contact with the feared object. The combination of these elements into a single treatment package can
be effective by targeting two processes underlying phobias.

We can desensitize ourselves to the summer heat by turning off the air conditioning, or become desensitized to
the cold by walking barefoot in the snow. But desensitize is more often used when talking about negative
emotions.

Parents worry that their children will be desensitized to violence by playing video games.
How does desensitization therapy work?
Systematic desensitization is a type of exposure therapy based on the principle of classical conditioning. It was
developed by Wolpe during the 1950s. This therapy aims to remove the fear response of a phobia, and substitute a
relaxation response to the conditional stimulus gradually using counter-conditioning.