Watch the Unit 2 Lecture.

Watch the Unit 2 Lecture.  

Read the following scenario. 

• Marla is a 24-year-old woman who recently graduated from college and began a new job at an advertising firm. She has come to see you, a behavior analyst, for what she reports as extreme fear of social situations. When she is in a group of 3 or more people, she says her heart starts racing, she gets sweaty, she stutters, and she shakes. In college, Marla tripped and fell in front of the class on the way to giving a class speech. Some of the students laughed. Afterwards, she began avoiding parties and large gatherings and tended to keep to herself. Now that she is working, it is becoming increasingly difficult for her to avoid social situations. Her boss and co-workers expect her to attend office functions and client parties, as networking is a large part of the job. Marla is very artistic and creative and has already designed several successful ads for clients, but she is afraid that she will lose her job because of the difficulties she is experiencing socially.

Your response should be written as if you are explaining your plan to Marla.

Identify a possible unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response in Marla’s case. Identify the neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response from her case. Use the diagram below.

• Reference

Purdue Global. (2018). Relationships between an unconditioned and conditioned stimulus to response.

Explain to Marla how you could help her modify her behavior utilizing either systematic desensitization or in vivo desensitization. Provide a rationale for your selection.

Include the following in your behavior modification procedure:

A sample behavior hierarchy with at least 10 situations

1. At least one relaxation procedure

A description of how relaxation procedures and the behavior hierarchy are used together

Peer Responses:

Review two of your classmates’ posts to assess the following:

Was each topic covered thoroughly?

Critique each of your peer’s choice of either systematic desensitization or in vivo desensitization. Play devil’s advocate and provide a rationale for the use of the other procedure.