PSYC 164 Behavior Management

Answer 1

In order to understand the respondent conditioning of Erin, there are free terms associated with the conditioning of the individual, which need to be exploited further. Through the understanding, it will be easier to answer the question of what gave rise to the initial fear conditioning in Justin. The Unconditioned Stimulus (US) is the stimulus that elicits a response without the presence of any previous training. The US in nature elicits the Unconditional response (UR) in the organism. Neutral Stimulus (NS) is that which does not give rise to any response in an individual. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is when the stimulus has been paired with the US over time. The NS becomes CS which is now eligible to give rise to a response in the individual. The NS does not remain NS any further.  Conditioned Response (CR) is the response that gets elicited due to the effect of CS. 

Now to understand the mechanism of conditioning with an example from the case study,  a flow diagram will be used. 

US (Crows or ravens swooping down in the woods) UR (Justin showed no fear response since fall) 

Neutral Stimulus

The sight of crows and ravens

CS (repeated swooping down of Ravens and crows) CR (excessive fear in Justin towards crows and ravens)

When the crows and ravens had initially swooped down, which is the US and caused lesions on the teacher, Justin had not shown much of a feared response (UR). However, with repeated exposure to ravens and crows, which is the (CS) showing similar responses, Justin grew phobic to ravens and crows (1). 

Answer 2

Justin can behave in two ways to the feared stimulus which are crows and ravens. He can either show flight or fight response. A fight or flight response is the involuntary and physical response that will allow Justin to escape or avoid the feared stimulus. Both responses can be explained by analysing Justin’s behaviour towards the crows and ravens. He showed feared responses at the discussion or the very sight in real and pictures. 

Escape response: 

Antecedent: real, picture or mention of the very name of crow and raven 

Behaviour: avoid coming out of the daycare service during playtime. 

Consequence: the sight of ravens and crow is subtracted, and harm due to them is avoided.

If Justin is more likely to escape and avoid coming out of the daycare centre during the playtime and he avoids any further discussion of the crows and ravens or keeps avoiding their pictures, his behaviour of his can be termed as his behaviour can be maintained as an escape. 

Avoidance response: 

Antecedent: Justin does not want to move out without an umbrella. 

Behaviour: he might be interested in going out to any other wooded space other than the one by the ravine's edge.

Consequence: completely avoid the wooded space where the crow had hurt his teacher. 

If he is interested in avoiding this wooded space and going elsewhere, his behaviour can be avoidance (2). 

Answer 3

Respondent and operant operate together while deciding a fight or a flight response when encountered with a feared stimulus. Conditioned response of fear would occur in Justin immediately. So, when Justin is thinking of escaping the feared stimuli or situation, the fear for the crows and ravens immediately becomes a part of the antecedent in Justin. 

Thus, the state of Respondent and operations can be explained in terms of Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence.

Antecedent: 

The sight of crows and ravens outside the daycare or in pictures any discussion near him about crows or ravens elicits a fear response. This antecedent in him leads to  

Behaviour: 

Justin would behave to avoid moving out of the daycare centre during playtime. He can avoid the very sight of the crows and ravens or any home they might bring on him like they did several times on his teachers and other friends like plucking on their hair and causing a one-inch lesion in his teacher's forehead. Alternatively, even if he comes out of the daycare centre during playtime, he would not move out without an umbrella as that would protect him from getting hurt. 

Consequence: 

Encounters with feared stimuli are avoided, and thus, fear is also avoided (3).

Answer 4

Systematic desensitisation is a method that can be used to treat the phobia of crows and ravens in Justin. This method works effectively on the physiological side of Justin’s fear which includes fight and flight response, and the operant's side of the fear, including escape and avoidance (4).

Steps of systematic desensitisation:

• Justin will be taught relaxation techniques to deal with his phobia. Through the breathing technique, Justin will learn to gain deep relaxation when he is scared (6). 
•  He will be trained on developing a fear hierarchy where he will be taught to talk about several scenarios where the feared object is involved, and they are asked to rate comfortable level at each scenario. For example, like Justin is scared of crows, he will be asked how comfortable he feels if the crow is, say, 20 feet away sitting near the tree or maybe the crow is right over his head. He has to rate at which stage he is more comfortable and when he is least comfortable (8)
•  The progression after identifying the comfort level is made using images and stories or virtual reality (5). 
•  The rationale for using the technique of Justin is that the technique will help him get exposed to this feared object and deal with his excessive anxiety at its presence.
• He will be trained to stay relaxed at every step and avoid escaping or avoidance.
• The last step includes generalising to the real world. For example, Justin will be helped to move out of his daycare during playtime, even in the presence of crows and ravens, without feeling the fear of being attacked (7).    

Reference

1. Iliescu AF, Dwyer DM, Honey RC. Individual differences in the nature of conditioned behavior across a conditioned stimulus: Adaptation and application of a model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition. 2020 Oct;46(4):460.
2. Millner AJ, Gershman SJ, Nock MK, den Ouden HE. Pavlovian control of escape and avoidance. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2018 Oct 1;30(10):1379-90.
3. Pierce WD, Cheney CD. Behavior analysis and learning: A biobehavioral approach. Routledge; 2017 Jun 14.
4. Samra, C. K., & Abdijadid, S. (2018). Specific Phobia.
5. Monge JP, López G, Guerrero LA. Supporting phobia treatment with virtual reality: systematic desensitization using oculus rift. InAdvances in Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare 2017 (pp. 391-401). Springer, Cham.
6. Campbell C, Hogg F. Relaxation. InDental Fear and Anxiety in Pediatric Patients 2017 (pp. 137-152). Springer, Cham.
7. Maskey M, Rodgers J, Grahame V, Glod M, Honey E, Kinnear J, Labus M, Milne J, Minos D, McConachie H, Parr JR. A randomised controlled feasibility trial of immersive virtual reality treatment with cognitive behaviour therapy for specific phobias in young people with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2019 May;49(5):1912-27.
8. Prayetno A, Sutatminingsih R, Tuapattinaja JM. Effectiveness of Systematic Desensitization for Decreasing of Anxiety in Individual with Specific Phobia. International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science. 2020;5(3).