RESUMO
An operant group procedure significantly increased the frequency of here-and-now affect, feedback and empathy statements made by psychiatric patients when compared with non-reinforced patients and with base-line performances. Transfer effects were also noted when randomly selected patients from these original groups were 'seeded' into new groups during a non-reinforced session one week after training. Self-disclosure, measured by a modification of Jourard's scale, showed pre-post increases, but the expected interaction with reinforcement was non-significant (P less than 0.20). Scores on the Mooney Problem Check List were unaffected by the procedures. No apparent problem resulted from the absence of a therapist during the group process and it was concluded that the operant group procedures may prove useful both as an adjunct to and as preparation for other therapeutic methods.
Assuntos
Terapia Comportamental/métodos , Relações Interpessoais , Transtornos Mentais/terapia , Reforço Psicológico , Adolescente , Adulto , Condicionamento Operante , Empatia , Retroalimentação , Feminino , Processos Grupais , Humanos , Pacientes Internados/psicologia , Masculino , Autorrevelação , Transferência de ExperiênciaRESUMO
Used an operant group paradigm to investigate the effects of reinforcement in combination with differing therapist styles upon affective verbalizations. Therapists' usage of direct questioning to elicit Ss' affective verbalizations proved quantitatively superior (in number of reinforceable responses) to either a no therapist or role modelling therapist condition (N = 72). There was evidence, however, that Ss in reinforced role modelling conditions were significantly better than direct elicitation Ss in predicting other group members' self-descriptions and in the degree to which Ss felt accurately perceived by others, while the reverse was true for non-reinforced Ss.
Assuntos
Afeto , Terapia Comportamental/métodos , Relações Profissional-Paciente , Psicoterapia de Grupo/métodos , Comportamento Verbal , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Relações Interpessoais , Masculino , Testes Psicológicos , Reforço Psicológico , AutorrevelaçãoRESUMO
An operant group procedure significantly increased the frequency of here-and-now affect, feedback, and empathy statements made by two groups of four subjects during ten one-hour sessions, divided into base line, acquisition, extinction, reacquisition and generalization periods. The continously reinforced group showed resistance to extinction, attributed in part to reinforcement by other group members when a subject made reinforceable statements. Failure of the variably reinforced group to replicate this finding was attributed in part to a less adequate conceptual grasp of the reinforcement categories resulting from the reduced feedback associated with a variable ratio schedule. Both groups showed strong generalization effects when subjects were distributed among eight new groups and the new groups and the new subjects' performance was also significantly higher than typical base levels.
