Covert Behavioral Model

According to Spiegler (2015), the behavioral model forms the basis of behavioral therapy. The behavioral model posits that people are defined by their behaviors. Behaviors are either overt or covert. Overt behaviors involve actions that other people can physically see, such as walking and talking. Covert behaviors cannot be seen by others. They are private behaviors that cannot be directly observed. Although covert behaviors are more difficult to assess, covert behaviors can be inferred from overt behaviors. There are three categories of covert behaviors including cognitions or thoughts, emotions or feelings, and physiological responses. Overall, these four concepts (overt behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and physiological responses) are the …show more content…
This concept of symptom substitution posits that treating behaviors rather than causes will result in a maladaptive replace behavior (Elkins, 2017). However, this has not shown to be true. Overall, behavioral therapists do not directly change the target behavior. Instead, they focus on changing the maintaining conditions of the problem behavior. In order to do this, a behavioral therapist must first identify these maintaining conditions. This entails identifying all the antecedents and consequences of the problem behavior. However, not all these would be maintaining conditions. Therefore, the therapist and client must work together to identify which ones are likely, or probable, maintaining conditions (Spiegler, …show more content…
One is that it emphasizes how present conditions influence current behaviors. The question that arises from this is “what about the past?” This model implements that past experiences only indirectly influence present behaviors and that whatever is directly causing the behavior now is in the present. Therefore, present behaviors are maintained by present conditions and to change the present behavior one must change the present conditions (Spiegler, 2015). Also, the behavioral model indicates that all behaviors are influenced by biological/hereditary factors as well as learning/environmental factors. By changing problem behaviors via learning/environmental factors, behavioral therapists are able to change behaviors that are more strongly biologically influenced. Although environmental factors play a major role in behavior, reciprocal determinism is present. This depicts that environment, covert behaviors, and overt behaviors all influence one another (Spiegler,