Foundations

of Individual
Behavior
Ability
An acquired or natural capacity or talent that enables an individual to
perform a particular job or task successfully.
The difference between a skill and an ability is much less obvious. In
very basic terms, abilities are natural or inbuilt whilst skills are learned
behaviors.
When cutting hair you might have an ability to keep your hand steady
or cut a straight line, but the skill is what you learned on your
hairdressing course.
Skills can be developed and improved over time, by combining our
abilities and our knowledge, but the underlying abilities are needed in
order for the skills to be developed.
Abilities, likewise, can be improved and honed to some extent running
fast is a skill, but the ability to run fast comes in part from having strong
leg muscles, which can be developed through regular exercise.
Ability and knowledge combine to create skills that can be used.
 Intellectual
abilities
Physical
Abilities
The role of
Disabilities
Biographical Characteristics

Age
Gender
Disability
Tenure, Religion, Sexual Orientation
and Gender Identity
Case of Billy (Described in SR Walen, NM Hauserman &
PJ Lavins Clinical guide to Behaviour Therapy)

Billy is 9 year old but still wets his bed, almost

every night.
Therapist tried basic learning principles
Wee Alert
Therapy Contract
On 62nd treatment night, Billys bed has been dry
for 21 days.
During next 18 months of follow up, Billy did not
once wet the bed.
 Learning

Learning can be defined as a

relatively permanent change in
behavior that occurs as a result of
practice or experience.
Theories of Learning
 Principles of
Learning
Classical Conditioning
Instrumental Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning
Pavlovs Experiment
Designed an apparatus to measure how much a dogs
mouth waters in response to food.
Trained the dog by sounding the bell and shortly
afterwards, presenting the food.
Found that some saliva was produced in response to the
bell alone.
As training continued, the amount of saliva on tests with
the bell alone increased (upto a point, off course)
This is what was learned, it is the conditioned
response.
 Classical Conditioning
In classical conditioning, two stimuli are presented
to the learner.
One of the stimuli is called the conditioned stimulus
(CS), it is the neutral stimulus: bell in the dogs
experiment.
The other stimulus is known as unconditioned
stimulus (US), food in dogs experiment.
The response that reliably follows the US is known
as unconditioned response (UR).
The response that is learned is known as conditioned
response (CR)
Classical Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning
Extinction
Occurs when CS is presented alone without the US
for a number of trials.
The strength or magnitude of the CR gradually
decreases.
Spontaneous recovery
Increase in magnitude of a CR after a period of time
with no explicit training.
Extinction does not completely erase conditioning,
some learning is left.
 Classical Conditioning
Stimulus generalization
Learner tends to generalize CR to other stimuli
that are somewhat similar to the original CS
Example, irrational fear or phobias
Stimulus discrimination
Learning to make one response to one
stimulus and a different or no response to
another stimulus
Application of Classical Conditioning

Neural basis of learning and

memory
Behavioral therapies
Conditioned drug response
Conditioned hunger
Conditioned emotional response
 Instrumental Conditioning
Skinners experiment
operant conditioning chamber (also known as the Skinner box)
is a laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior
placed a hungry rat inside the Skinner box. The rat was initially
inactive inside the box, but gradually as it began to adapt to
the environment of the box, it began to explore around.
Eventually, the rat discovered a lever, upon pressing which;
food was released inside the box. After it filled its hunger, it
started exploring the box again, and after a while it pressed
the lever for the second time as it grew hungry again. This
phenomenon continued for the third, fourth and the fifth
time, and after a while, the hungry rat immediately pressed
the lever once it was placed in the box. Then the conditioning
was deemed to be complete.
Instrumental Conditioning
 Instrumental Conditioning
Reinforcers & Punishers
An environmental event that is the consequence of
an instrumental response and that makes the
response more likely to occur again is known as a
reinforcement.
Positive reinforcer increases the likelihood that the
response will be made again.
Negative reinforcer is when a response or behavior
is strengthened by stopping, removing or avoiding a
negative outcome or aversive stimulus
Punisher decreases the likelihood that the response
will occur again
Instrumental Conditioning
Application of Instrumental Conditioning

Parent management training

Praise
Psychological manipulation
Traumatic bonding