C.A. Childress, Psy.D. (2011)
I am a trained behavioral psychologist. From the very beginning of my studies at UCLA in the mid-1970s, I was steeped in Learning Theory and the behaviorist model. I may be one of the few clinical psychologists who was actually trained in behavior therapy by first starting with teaching a rat to press a lever in a Skinner box (in a course called Learning Lab) as a way of teaching us the very basic and foundational principles of Learning Theory on which behavior therapy is based. I know Learning Theory and the behaviorist paradigm intimately. And it’s wrong.
I love science. My wife will take a book from the New York Times bestsellers list to read at the beach, I take a copy of Scientific American. Back in the early-70s, when I started my training in psychology, the science was with Learning Theory and behaviorism. But it has shifted. Attachment theory emerged in the late 1960s, and then research on early childhood psychology and brain neuro-development really took off by the mid-1980s. And since 2000, the scientific research on brain neuro-development has been profound.
Science has moved on, but the behaviorist paradigm continues today essentially unchanged from its origins with lab rats in the 1940s and 50s. I love science, and I’ve followed the science into the neuro-developmental areas in which it has shifted.
I practiced from a behaviorist perspective for many years. I even used behaviorist principles in raising my son, Jack, at least initially until I switched to a developmentally supportive paradigm because that’s where the science moved (and my switch from a behaviorist parent to a developmentally supportive parent proved to be much, much more beneficial for both Jack and I).
Again, I will have more to say about behaviorism in my video seminars, but suffice to say at this point is that the entire paradigm of behaviorism is fundamentally wrong and leads to seriously flawed misconceptions when it is applied to child development. Behaviorism represents an inappropriate application of an animal-based model to child development. I am of the firm professional opinion that child psychotherapy needs to be based in the scientifically derived evidence on child development, particularly the neuro-development of the brain during childhood, not in an animal-based model for altering the behavior of animals in the laboratory.
I’m not saying Learning Theory is wrong. It’s just very limited, and it shouldn’t be used as a basis for child psychotherapy. Using Learning Theory as a basis for a model of child psychotherapy represents an inappropriate application of an animal-based model for use with human children. Child psychotherapy should be professionally based in the scientific evidence regarding child development and the neuro-development of the brain during childhood – not on modifying the behavior of lab rats. Human children are not lab rats. Human children are immensely and significantly different from lab rats. And the behaviorist model leads to erroneous interpretations, misperceptions, and seriously flawed treatment recommendations.
Lab rats have a very small brain that takes only a matter of weeks to fully mature, human children have a very large and complex brain that requires YEARS of socially mediated development in order to mature. That’s a major difference.
But even more importantly, lab rats don’t have language. Human children have language. Language development is of immense and central importance to understanding both child development and brain functioning. Language has led to significant and major development of brain systems that simply have no counterpart in other animal species. Even social species, such as dogs, have only very rudimentary relationship and communication systems compared to those possessed by the human brain. The acquisition of language during childhood requires that the central features of human brain development during childhood involve interpersonal communication and relationship features, not simply overt behavior control techniques. A failure to understand and appreciate the fundamentally communicative and relationship basis of human parent-child interaction will lead to seriously flawed misconceptions of what is occurring, resulting in seriously flawed, counterproductive, and potentially even harmful “treatment” recommendations.
And finally, another major and important difference between a human child and a lab rat is that we don’t care if we get an emotionally and psychologically healthy lab rat, we do care if we get an emotionally and psychologically healthy child. There are professional moral and ethical issues involving behaviorist “therapy” with children that I find highly disturbing from a professional standpoint, but I will discuss these professional concerns elsewhere. But let me simply state here that NONE of the research on behaviorist child “therapy” techniques has used as outcome measures the healthy emotional and psychological development of the child. All of the research on behaviorist child “therapy” techniques has simply used behavioral compliance variants as outcome measures.
Can we induce submissive behavior in children through the application of punishment. Absolutely yes. I will stipulate all of the behaviorist research evidence showing we can induce submissive behavior in children through the application of sufficient punishment. But that does not necessarily lead to an emotionally and psychologically healthy child.
So what should we know that will help put us on the right track to achieving an emotionally and psychologically healthy child?
First, the brain does not develop based on the principles of reinforcement and punishment.
Forget reinforcement and punishment as constructs to use with children (we will return to a variant of punishment, and its appropriate use, when we discuss the Authority System, but for now simply purge these constructs from your brain).
Second, there is NO SUCH THING as negative attention. Children DO NOT “misbehave” because they want to be yelled at and punished (we will return to this issue when we discuss “protest behavior”).
Clear your mind of all things behavioral, we’re about to enter a different conceptual world; the world of relationships and communication; the world of co-constructed meaning and the development of self; the world of human brain development during childhood.
Don’t worry, it will all make total sense. Each piece will make sense in turn, and when it’s all put together, the whole thing will make total sense. Ultimately, it will seem self-evident and natural.
All you’ll need is to have the words and constructs to recognize what’s happening, then once you see what’s actually taking place you’ll know exactly what to do to achieve the cooperative, happy, and successful child you want. You’ll be happier, your child will be happier, and (…yes this is true) the world will be a better place.
So here we go…
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