Cognitive Restructuring with Behavior Disordered Children

Abstract

This study examines the application of psychological reactance with three behaviorally disordered children. The target behaviors were verbal outbursts, yelling out and failure to do math problems. In each case baseline data were collected and an illogical verbal stimulus was then introduced to the subject. The verbal stimulus consisted of an illogical explanation of the cause of the behavior. These illogical explanations included for Subject 1, attribution of behavior to the way his hair was parted; for Subject 2, to the fact that he had freckles; and for Subject 3, that he was not strong enough to hold a pencil. After the introduction of the stimulus, the frequency of Subject l's verbal outbursts and Subject 2'syelling out decreased markedly while Subject 3's completion of math problems increased significantly. The use of this particular technique suggests that some cognitive restructuring may have taken place with each subject.