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Model Of Behavior Analysis

Decent Essays

Modeling is undoubtedly a pervasive tendency that governs a variety of human behaviors. Albert Bandura (2006) states that modeling is an effective tool to elicit society-wide change across cultural boundaries. He goes on to say that observational learning is an evolutionary adaptation that allows development of the self and overall functioning. By observing others, people can learn to behave like the models that they observe (Spiegler, 2010). This is simply referred to as imitation. Modeling requires two fundamental elements to be effective. First, an observer must be able to see what the model did, and then the observer must be able to see what happened to the model as a result of the behavior. By the observer observing the cause-and-effect …show more content…

The results of a models behavior are called vicarious consequences. The vicarious consequences of the models behavior largely dictate if the observer will model the behavior or not. Furthermore, there are two types of vicarious consequences; vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment. Vicarious reinforcement occurs when an observer witnesses a models behavior being reinforced. When models behaviors are reinforced, observers are more likely to model the behavior. Conversely, vicarious punishment occurs when an observer witnesses a models behavior being punished. When models behaviors are punished, observer are less likely to model the behavior. Also, there are several different types of models; live models and symbolic models. Live models are models that are living people, whereas symbolic models are indirectly observed models, such as characters on television or read about in books. An aspect of symbolic models is covert modeling, where an individual imagines how a particular person would perform a specific behavior, and then models it. An interesting fact about modeling is that an individual is more likely to model a behavior is the model is similar to the observer. In other words, the likelihood of modeling taking place is a function of similarity between observer and model. From this discovery came self-modeling therapy. With self-modeling therapy, the patient acts as both the observer and the model to optimize similarity between the two (i.e., oneself is the most similar model to oneself). This technique has been proven to be greatly effective in treating a host of mental disorders, with as little as 12 minutes of exposure to the model needed to have lasting effects. Furthermore, self-modeling can be conducted in several ways, including covert self-modeling and video

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