Undercover conditioning what is, techniques and examples

From the 70s to the present, there has been a fundamental change in the use of cognitive-sports techniques. It is now more important to environmental influences and cognitive processes that are inserted in the stimulus-response sequence and is widely taken into account that, therefore, there are mediating variables that contribute to producing and modifying behavioral responses, including Mental images.

Historically, the use of mental images begins with systematic desensitization, a technique elaborated to reduce states of anxiety and fear through guided exposure to anxious and phobigenous stimuli. Later, other authors such as Joseph caution (1969) began using the principles of operational conditioning in reference to events not directly observable. In this Psychology-online article we will discover together What is undercover conditioning, its application techniques and examples about it.

1. What is undercover conditioning
2. Undercover conditioning techniques
3. Examples of undercover conditioning

What is undercover conditioning

The cognitive-behavioral approach, contrary to what the deceptive and outdated topics affirm, does not refer to techniques that exclusively use observable behavior indices. For some decades, it can boast very sophisticated interventions that imply both measurable psychophysiological indices and COVER responses and variables. These last They can only be detected indirectly through the introspective reports provided by the test subjects or by observable responses after the intervention made.

So, ¿What is undercover modeling? Undercover conditioning is an approach to the treatment of mental health that uses the principles of the analysis of applied behavior or cognitive-behavioral therapy to help people improve their behavior or inner experience. The method is based on the person's ability to use images for purposes Like "mental evidence". For example, a patient is trained to imagine a series of reinforcing situations, or a kind of stimulus, which are evoked in the face of stressful stimuli.

Discover other behavioral processes such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Undercover conditioning techniques

Undercover conditioning is practiced through the following techniques:

• Systematic desensitization: associates an adverse stimulus with a behavior that the client wants to reduce or eliminate. This is done by imagining the objective behavior followed by the imagination of a negative consequence. "Secret extinction" tries to reduce behavior imagining objective behavior while imagining that reinforcement does not occur. The "hidden cost of the response" tries to reduce the behavior by associating it with the loss of a reinforcement that must be decreased.
• Contact desensitization: its objective is to increase a behavior imagining a reinforcement experience in relation to the same. Hidden negative reinforcement tries to increase behavior by linking the end of an adverse stimulus with a greater production of objective behavior.
• Dialectical behavior therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy: They use positive reinforcement and hidden conditioning through consciousness. Although therapies are quite similar in theory and practice, the first is based on the philosophy of cognitive psychology, according to which thoughts and feelings are explanations of motor behavior, while the second, rooted in the analysis of the analysis of the behavior, see thought and feelings as more behaviors to explain.

Examples of undercover conditioning

The patient under -updated conditioning can expect a quite standard procedure series. Let's look at examples of undercover conditioning and what are the different phases of this procedure:

1. The therapist begins by evaluating problematic behavior: most likely the frequency, severity and environment in which it manifests. Depending on the type of behavior to be modified, some therapists can also take treatment measures before, during and after physiological excitement, such as heart rate, to better evaluate the impact of treatment.
2. The therapist will explain the logic and treatment protocol: The understanding and consent of the patient are important, since, deliberately, you will be asked to experience images that raise unpleasant and uncomfortable physical and psychological associations.
3. The therapist and the patient collaborate in the creation of a list of negative images: only significant for the patient who will apply in treatment. Standard aversion images include vomiting, snakes, spiders, parasites and pregnant social consequences. Next, an adverse image is selected appropriate to the behavior of the destination problem. The patient is asked to relax and imagine approaching the situation in which unwanted behavior occurs, for example, the purchase of donuts before eating too much.
4. The image can be presented verbally by the therapist: It is done if the patient has difficulty imagining the scene. While the patient imagines approaching the situation, in this case the donut store, he is asked to clearly imagine an unpleasant consequence, such as vomiting, just before pleased in unwanted behavior. The scene must be imagined with sufficient vitality that causes a feeling of physiological discomfort or high anxiety really experiences. So the patient imagines leaving the situation and feeling great relief.

With this procedure the patient learns to associate unpleasant sensations, such as nausea and vomiting, with unwanted behavior, giving rise to a decrease in desire and the avoidance of the situation in the future. An alternative behavior incompatible with the problem behavior in question can be recommended. In this article, you will find more information about physiological psychology.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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