Covert Conditioning

Covert Conditioning deals with covert conditioning procedures, the rationale underlying their use, and their potential application (either singly or in combination) to a variety of clinical problems. Each procedure's most representative use in clinical practice is described, and results of experimental analogue studies as well as reports of promising breakthroughs in the application of covert conditioning techniques to new clinical problems are discussed. A broad range of target behaviors, clinical settings, and client populations is also examined. This book is comprised of 36 chapters and opens with an overview of the theoretical background of covert conditioning and evidence to support its basic underlying assumptions. Each of the next six chapters introduces one of the major covert conditioning techniques (covert sensitization, covert reinforcement, covert negative reinforcement, covert extinction, covert modeling, and covert response cost) and presents experimental analogue evidence (if available) of its efficacy. The use of each procedure in treating a number of clinical target behaviors is also discussed. The final section describes the clinical application of combinations of covert conditioning techniques to a variety of problems. This monograph will be a useful resource for psychologists and behavioral therapists.

PrefaceSection I-Theoretical Background 1. Covert Conditioning: Assumptions and Procedures 2. Covert Conditioning: A Theoretical AnalysisSection II-Covert Sensitization 3. Covert Sensitization 4. Experimental Control of Sexual Deviation through Manipulation of the Noxious Scene in Covert Sensitization 5. Treatment of Smoking by Covert Sensitization 6. The Treatment of a Nail-Biting Compulsion by Covert Sensitization in a Poorly Motivated Client 7. Covert Sensitization Treatment of ExhibitionismSection III-Covert Reinforcement 8. Covert Reinforcement 9. A Laboratory Analogue of Two Covert Reinforcement Procedures 10. Group Systematic Desensitization versus Covert Positive Reinforcement in the Reduction of Test Anxiety 11. Treatment of a Rodent Phobia by Covert Reinforcement: A Single Subject Experiment 12. Covert Reinforcement: Two Studies and a Comment 13. Covert Positive Reinforcement Studies: Review, Critique, and GuidelinesSection IV-Covert Negative Reinforcement 14. Covert Negative Reinforcement 15. Covert Negative Reinforcement: An Experimental Test 16. The Use of Imagery in the Modification of Attitudes toward the Elderly: A Preliminary ReportSection V-Covert Extinction 17. Covert Extinction 18. An Experimental Study of Covert Extinction 19. Covert Extinction of Amphetamine AddictionSection VI-Covert Modeling 20. The Present Status of Covert Modeling 21. Covert Modeling: An Experimental Test 22. Covert Modeling and the Reduction of Avoidance Behavior 23. The Effects of Covert and Overt Modeling on Assertive Behavior 24. Covert Modeling, Imagery Assessment, and Assertive Behavior 25. The Adaptation of Covert-Modeling Procedures to the Treatment of Chronic Alcoholism and Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior: Two Case ReportsSection VII-Covert Response Cost 26. Covert Response Cost 27. Suppression of Specific Eating Behaviors by Covert Response Cost: An Experimental AnalysisSection VIII-Clinical Applications of Combined Covert Conditioning Techniques 28. Multifaceted Behavior Therapy for Self-Injurious Behavior 29. Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior by Covert Sensitization and Covert Reinforcement 30. Case Conference: A Transvestite Fantasy Treated by Thought-Stopping, Covert Sensitization and Aversive Shock 31. The Use of Covert Conditioning in the Treatment of Drug Abuse 32. Use of Covert Conditioning in the Behavioral Treatment of a Drug-Dependent College Dropout 33. Sequential Phases of Covert Reinforcement and Covert Sensitization in the Treatment of Homosexuality 34. The Treatment of Over-Eating by Covert Conditioning 35. Covert Conditioning in the Behavioral Treatment of an Agoraphobic 36. The Use of Covert Conditioning in Modifying Pain BehaviorName IndexSubject IndexAbout the Contributors