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Social reinforcement in psychotherapy

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Conditional reflex : a Pavlovian journal of research & therapy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Conditioning operates importantly in psychotherapy through a number of major mechanisms, one of the least recognized of which is direct behavioral shaping through social reinforcement and punishment. The case presented illustrates the operation of this mechanism in rather pure culture. The case was ideally suited to the use of behavioral shaping as a therapeutic technique. The patient, who had been unable to work or comfortably leave home for 17 years, was treated successfully in a total of approximately ten hours of patient-therapist contact. A four-year follow-up is presented, together with discussion of the importance of this behavioral dimension as it operates generally in psychotherapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Behavioral Psychiatry, Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Harvard University School of Medicine, USA

    Lee Birk

  2. Harvard University Health Services, Boston, Massachusetts

    Lee Birk

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  1. Lee Birk
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Birk, L. Social reinforcement in psychotherapy. Conditional Reflex 3, 116–123 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001142

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001142

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