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