token economy and systematic desensitisation...

[rh]

do we need to know these? if so, can someone please explain them?

i know that a token economy is an example of operant conditioning in practice, and that systematic desensitisation has something to do with behaviour modification, but not much else..

[jess3254]

I have no idea whether we need to know this or not, as I am not really down with the VCE Psychology study design. I just learn whatever haha. (I have an issue with distinguishing what I learnt in IB from what I learnt in VCE.)

However, "token economy" is an operant conditioning technique which is used to modify undesirable behaviour, in which points or tokens can be exchanged for rewards (for example; lollies).

Systematic desensitization is a procedure in which a patient is exposed to feared stimulus gradually, in a state that inhibits anxiety.
The steps of systematic desensitization:

1. Psychologist/doctor person teaches patient relaxation techniques
2. Psychologist/ doctor person gets patient to talk about his fears and uses this information to construct a hierarchy of feared stimuli, from scenes that provoke mild anxiety to those that induce intense fear.
3. In the 3rd step the patient relaxes, using techniques learnt, and is then instructed to imagine vividly the first, least threatening scene in the hierarchy.
4. In the fourth step, the therapist encourages the patient to confront his fears in real life and monitors his progress as he does so, desensitizing additional scenes needed to eliminate anxiety and avoidance.

[khalil]

Systematic desensitisation is a type of BEHAVIOUR THERAPY which uses CC principles to replace a fear resonspe with relaxation response

I havent seen any question regarding token economies yet, although its on many lecture notes and study guides

[rh]

thanks jess and khalil. i haven't seen them on any of the practise exams i did either, but better safe than sorry, i guess.

and i just discovered that both topics are explained in a set of notes i got from a lecture i went to. will type them up here later today for anyone else who wants to know.

[username]

My psychology teacher said that token economy is definitely not on the study design, in fact she made us cross out info about it on some handouts. I've only see it on one practice exam, and it was from an old study design.

[ursus]

my teacher said we should have a basic understanding of a token economy, but not to worry about systematic desensitisation because it isn't on the study design.

[rh]

oh really? YAY! one less thing to learn!