Faculty Bibliography

Beginning in the 1960s, social learning theorists argued that behavioral learning principles could not account for behavior acquired through observation. Such a viewpoint is still widely held today. This rejection of behavioral principles in explaining vicarious learning was based on three phenomena: (1) imitation that occurred without direct reinforcement of the observer's behavior; (2) imitation that occurred after a long delay following modeling; and (3) a greater probability of imitation of the model's reinforced behavior than of the model's nonreinforced or punished behavior. These observations convinced social learning theorists that cognitive variables were required to explain behavior. Such a viewpoint has progressed aggressively, as evidenced by the change in name from social learning theory to social cognitive theory, and has been accompanied by the inclusion of information-processing theory. Many criticisms of operant theory, however, have ignored the full range of behavioral concepts and principles that have been derived to account for complex behavior. This paper will discuss some problems with the social learning theory explanation of vicarious learning and provide an interpretation of vicarious learning from a contemporary behavior analytic viewpoint

The purpose of this review is to propose a systematic approach to the assessment of social phobia for monitoring treatment outcome in clinical settings. A selection of measures is available, including questionnaires and structured interviews varying in length, complexity, and content. To design an assessment protocol for a particular patient or patient population, the clinician needs to be familiar with the characteristics of these available measures. The measures selected for detailed description and discussion here: (a) are specifically designed to assess social anxiety and social phobia, (b) have been demonstrated to have acceptable psychometric characteristics, and (c) have been utilized in treatment outcome research. Five questionnaire measures will be reviewed: (1) the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) (Turner et al., 1989a: Psychol Assessment 1:35-40), (2) the Social Interaction and Anxiety Scale (SIAS) (Mattick and Clarke, 1989 in Heimberg et al., 1992), (3) the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) (Mattick and Clarke, 1989 in Heimberg et al., 1992: Behav Therapy 23:53-73), (4) the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNES) (Watson and Friend, 1969: J Consult Clin Psychol 33:448-457), and (5) The Social Anxiety and Distress Scale (SADS) (Watson and Friend, 1969: J Consult Clin Psychol 33:448-457). Two interview measures will be reviewed, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) (Liebowitz, 1987: Modern Problems Pharmacopsych 22:141-173) and Brief Social Phobia Scale (BSPS) (Davidson et al., 1991: J Clin Psychiatry 52:48-51). Measures developed for specific subgroups, including patients with speech anxiety and musical performance anxiety, as well as the application of other evaluation methods, such as the Behavioral Assessment Test, will also be discussed. Guidelines for selecting appropriate social phobia measures for varying clinical and research situations will be proposed that take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of these methods