Verbal Behavior Analysis of Expert and Inexperienced Therapists Applying the Socratic Method

  1. Rebeca Pardo-Cebrián 1
  2. Ana Calero-Elvira 1
  3. María Cristina Guerrero-Escagedo 1
  1. 1 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01cby8j38

Journal:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Year of publication: 2022

Issue: 25

Pages: 1-10

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2022.14 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

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Abstract

The Socratic method, as an eminently verbal procedure, will be analyzed from a behavioral perspective in order to clarify how verbal conditioning works within. This work compares the verbalizations that expert and inexperienced therapists emit during Socratic method to find out which and why certain therapist verbalizations are most successful in changing client responses. The sample consisted of 113 Socratic method fragments from 18 cases, analyzed by observational methodology. The expert therapists had more than 6 years of experience, the inexperienced less than 2. Experts had fewer failure Socratic method fragments, but there were no differences in successful ones. The way of questioning had a different pattern: Inexperienced therapists suggested more the response, experts used more didactic verbalizations; also, experts used the aversive component more and contingently. The creation of guidelines based on functional description of verbal interaction and the need for novice psychologists training are some implications of these results.

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