Question

You have quit smoking and now want to keep from 'falling back' into this old habit. To maintain the 'new non-smoking you,' you imagine someone offering you a cigarette, and you politely turning them down. This image is followed by imagining a pleasant, rewarding scene of yourself being told by the doctor that you are now so healthy that you should live to a ripe old age. You have just used the technique known as:

a. thought stopping.
b. covert sensitization.
c. desensitization.
d. covert reinforcement.

Answer 1

The correct answer is d. covert reinforcement. The technique used when imagining turning down a cigarette and receiving positive health feedback is covert reinforcement, which rewards the individual for resisting an unwanted behavior, in this case, smoking.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario described, the technique used is covert reinforcement. This behavioral modification tool involves mentally rehearsing a positive outcome after successfully resisting an unwanted behavior, such as smoking. The individual imagines a situation where a cigarette is offered and then visualizes oneself refusing the offer, which is immediately followed by a rewarding scene, such as receiving positive health news from a doctor. By consistently pairing the act of refusal with a positive image, the behavior of not smoking is reinforced, making it more likely that the individual will continue to abstain from smoking in the future.

It is important to note that covert reinforcement is different from strategies like thought stopping, which involves interrupting negative or unwanted thoughts, or covert sensitization, which pairs an unwanted behavior with unpleasant thoughts to discourage the behavior. Desensitization, on the other hand, involves gradually reducing the negative emotional responses to a stimulus by slowly exposing an individual to the stimulus in a controlled manner.