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Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery:
Behavior Modification Basics/Part 2
Presented by: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
Executive Director, AllCEUs
Host: Counselor Toolbox

Continuing Education (CE) credits for addiction and mental health counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists can be earned for this presentation at
https://allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/575/c/

Objectives
–    Continue to explore the usefulness of behavior modification
–    Review basic behavior modification terms:
–    Unconditioned stimulus and response
–    Conditioned stimulus and response
–    Discriminitive stimuli
–    Learned helplessness
–    Learn additional modification terms:
–    Reinforcement
–    Punishment
–    Extinction Burse
–    Premack Principle

Why Do I Care
–    Change means doing something different or modifying a response
–    While stimuli prompt a behavior, reinforcement and punishment are associated with motivation
–    Understanding these principles will help you
–    Elicit a behavior
–    Increase the likelihood it will happen again
–    Decrease the likelihood of unwanted behaviors
Review basic behavior modification terms

–    Unconditioned stimulus and response
–    Loud noise / startle
–    Bright light / squinting
–    Conditioned stimulus and response
–    Doorbell / answer the door
–    Yellow light / slow down
–    Discriminitive stimuli
–    Set the occasion for the behavior (reminder stickies, pictures, alarms,
–    Learned helplessness
–    Lack of responsiveness to a stimulus when all options have been exhausted

New Terms
–    Positive Reinforcement
–    Providing something positive in order to increase the likelihood a behavior will occur again
–    Examples
–    Food
–    Money (Paycheck)
–    Validation
–    Promotion
–    Power (Choosing activities)
–    What can be added that is rewarding AND helpful for the person
New Terms
–    Negative Reinforcement
–    Removing something negative in order to increase the likelihood a behavior will occur again
–    Examples
–    Reducing mandatory counseling sessions
–    Dropping restitution or additional charges upon completion
–    Can leave the table once vegetables are eaten
–    What can be eliminated that would be considered rewarding AND helpful for the person

New Terms
–    Positive Punishment
–    Adding something negative to decrease the likelihood that a behavior will recur
–    Examples
–    Antabuse
–    Spanking
–    Additional sessions
–    Rubberband snaps
–    What can be added that would be considered unpleasant for the person

New Terms
–    Negative Punishment
–    Removing something positive to decrease the likelihood that a behavior will recur
–    Examples
–    Grounding/priviledges
–    Money (Fines)
–    Jail
–    Relationship/Setting boundaries
–    Control/power
–    What can be eliminated that would be considered undesirable

Types of Rewards and Punishments
–    Rewards and Punishments can be:
–    Emotional (Happiness)
–    Mental (Improved decision making, cognitive clarity)
–    Physical (Appearance, health, pain, energy, sleep, relaxation)
–    Social (Acceptance, admiration, support)
–    Spiritual/Karmic
–    Financial
–    Environmental (freedom, pleasant conditions)

Apply It
–    The more rewards that can be gained the stronger the motivation to repeat the behavior
–    Drugs/Addictive Behaviors
–    Positive Reinforcement: Dopamine
–    Negative Reinforcement: Numbing of Pain
–    Self-Injury
–    Positive reinforcement: Endogenous opioids, feeling of control
–    Negative reinforcement: Numbing of pain

New Term
–    Behavior Strain
–    The point at which the reinforcement or punishment is no longer effective
–    Effected by:
–    Age
–    Cognitive development
–    Strength of the reinforcement or punishment
–    Smaller, more frequent rewards for completion of smaller goals:
–    Provide rapid benefits
–    Maintain momentum
New Term
–    Extinction Burst
–    A temporary increase in a behavior when rewards are absent or insufficient
–    Child in the store
–    Pigeon wanting food
–    “Acting Out”
–    The behavior ceases when the demands/costs of the behavior exceed the potential reward
–    Promotion
–    Treatment
New Term
–    Premack Principle
–    Concurrently pairing something undesirable with something desirable
–    Examples
–    Laundry folding with watching television
–    Exercise with socialization/puppy time/nature
–    Studying with peer pressure
–    Cleaning with music/tv/aromatherapy
–    Work with coffee

Apply It
–    Behavior 1: Social Withdrawal
–    Social withdrawal is rewarding mainly due to negative reinforcement (elimination of the unpleasant)
Apply It
–    Behavior 2: Explosive Anger
Apply It
–    Behavior 3: Emotional Eating
Summary
–    If you eliminate a behavior, you must replace it with at least one, preferably 3 new ones
–    People are “motivated” for rewards and to avoid punishment.
–    Decisional balance exercises can help people make new behaviors rewarding and old behaviors…less rewarding
–    Reinforcers must be reinforcing to the person (i.e. jail avoidance to a career criminal, money to Trump)
–    Likewise, punishments must be unpleasant
–    Rewards and Punishments can be:
–    Emotional (Happiness)
–    Mental (Improved decision making, cognitive clarity)
–    Physical (Appearance, health, pain, energy, sleep, relaxation)
–    Social (Acceptance, admiration, support)
–    Spiritual/Karmic
–    Financial
–    Environmental (freedom, pleasant conditions)