A.R.T. - AGGRESSION REPLACEMENT TRAINING
ICART Conference 2008 (http://hjem.diakonhjemmeths.no/artk/)Background and general theory basis
Aggression Replacement Training is a program developed over a 15-year period by professor Arnold P. Goldstein at the Center for Aggression Research, Syracuse University, USA, Dr. Barry Glick and Dr. John Gibbs. (Goldstein & Glick, 1988; Goldstein, Glick and Gibbs 1998/2000)
This is a structured educational program proven to be an effective tool in preventing, reducing and replacing aggressive behavior in youth aged 12 to 20.
The program is part of the "multimodal programs" family, i.e. programs aimed at performance (prosocial skills training), thought (moral reasoning) and emotions (anger control training). The program is well-validated (see introduction) and has spread throughout large parts of the USA and Europe.
Arnold Goldstein and colleagues started developing the program, which now constitutes one of the components of ART, as far back as 30 years ago (Goldstein, 1973). The program has gradually been developed and adapted to different age groups and special problem areas, including parents who have abused children (Goldstein et al., 1985) and drug addicts (Goldstein et al., 1990).
In Norway the method is progressing fast and has been used in preschool centers (Dolmen, 2005), primary schools (Dolmen & Solid, 2005), junior high schools (Onsager, 2005), child welfare institutions (Hellerdal, 2005; Olsen & Boutera, 2005) and - with minor adjustments - also on persons with Asperger Syndrome (Husby & Sagstad, 2005) and autism (Moynahan, 2003).
ART has its roots in operant theory, behavior modification and behavioral therapy (see Martin & Pears 1999), social learning theory (Bandura, 1977b), cognitive therapy (Beck, 1991) and cognitive behavioral analysis (Meichenbaum, 1977). Most social competence training programs have this background and are often denoted as cognitive behavioral theory or cognitive approach (Hollin, 2004). With their complexity it is difficult to define exactly what these collective terms imply. Prosocial skills training has thus been characterized as cognitive skills training, social-cognitive approach, cognitive behavioral approach and skills oriented programs (Andreassen, 2003).
There is no doubt that Arnold Goldstein has derived his theory from the psychology of learning, where aggressive behavior is primarily considered a learned behavior. In its original formulation (Skinternal 1974) traditional behavioral therapy is described as the relationship between a person's external behavior and his surroundings. Given the right occasion (A), the behavior (B) will develop through the person's experiences of negative or positive stimuli (C) that follow an action (ref in Hollin 2004 p. 4). We acquire the behavior that gives positive rewards, whether or not such behavior is desired or undesired by one's surroundings. The aim of learning prosocial skills is thus to establish positive behaviors that can have the same function as the earlier strategies and thus replace those strategies.
In learning skills in ART, we apply known behavior analytical principles such as shaping (reinforcing successful attempts at behavior that gradually resemble more and more the target behavior while simultaneously extinguishing previous attempts at target behavior), prompt fading (gradually phasing out help), step-by-step learning in chains and generalization. For a further description of behavior analytical terms, see (Eikeseth and Svartdal 1993).
Social learning theory (Bandura 1997) has also been an important contribution in Goldstein's work. Bandura expanded the term "reinforcement" to denote external (like Skinternal), vicarious as well as self-reinforcement. Vicarious reinforcement denotes that we learn also by seeing other persons being reinforced by a given behavior. Bandura believed that, through models, we acquire skills that we had in our repertoire even before they were used. In that way the cognitive dimension in learning is also present. Vicarious reinforcement is especially an important part of role-playing where participants observe what the others are doing and provide feedback on that. In that way, the other participants see what the role-players are being reinforced for. A thorough review of Bandura's social learning theory is included in Gundersen & Moynahan (2005).
Prosocial skills training
The original model for prosocial skills training (Argyle, 1967) consisted of three related components: social perception, social cognition and social performance (Hollin, 2004).
Social perception refers to the ability to receive and understand verbal and nonverbal cues. This ability is key to all social behavior, and there is persuasive research showing that both children and adults who suffer socially because of aggression have a reduced ability to select and interpret social cues. (Zelli, Dodge, Lochman & Laird, 1999; Lochman & Wells, 2002).
Social cognition refers to contemplating various options and selecting an appropriate response after interpreting the cues of the individual with whom one is interacting. A precondition for social cognition is that the person must have a variety of social responses in his repertoire and the ability to choose the best response. Research shows that, also in this case, criminals usually give less socially competent responses than non-criminals, based on an analysis of numerous social problems (Hollin, 1999; Palmer & Hollin, 1996).
Social performance refers to the ability to actually have and actually apply appropriate social skills in given situations. Here again, studies show that persons with behavioral disorders exhibit significantly less eye contact, they talk less and move more clumsily (Spence, 1981a). These are factors that also contribute toward their scoring lower on social skills tests (Spence, 1981b).
The core of social skills training is 40 social skills for preschool (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1990), 60 skills for primary school (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1984) and 50 skills for junior-high/high school and adults (Goldstein et al., 1998).
The ART Anger Control Program was initially developed by Eva Feindler (Feindler, 1995). The program focuses on physiological responses, cognitive processes and behavioral responses. The physiological responses involve helping participants identify external anger triggers as well as one's own anger cues, and using techniques for curbing one's anger.
The cognitive component emphasizes the typical thought patterns found in persons with aggressive and impulsive actions. Through cognitive restructuring strategies, participants are given help to identify irrational thought patterns and replace them with a more rational situation analysis. Participants are encouraged to develop alternative thought patterns and/or self-instructions that help reduce the conflict and create "mental distance" to the anger triggers (Feindler et al., 20054 p 33).
The behavioral component involves establishing new prosocial actions that can replace previous performance patterns where verbal or physical aggression or withdrawal are most common. One should note here that anger control entails not only focusing on controlling anger, but aiming to provide behavioral options that yield better rewards than the old ones. Self-assertion techniques and communication skills are thus an important part of the program.
Moral reasoning training comprises the value component of ART. This part of the program was primarily developed by John Gibbs. Theoretically, Gibbs bases his work on Piaget (1965) and Kohlberg (1984). Piaget described stages of cognitive development in general, while Kohlberg described the development of six moral stages, from egocentric to more empathetic and value-based understanding of human interaction. Kohlberg believed that, through dilemma discussions, one could help children and youth acquire more mature moral cognition.
Although Kohlberg has been criticized in various ways, there are many indications that the principles behind his theories are correct (Damon 1999), and several studies indicate a strong correlation between behavioral disorders and delayed development of moral reasoning, and that this tends to cause a person to have insufficient cognitive blockers to control and resist temptation (Hollin 2004). John Gibbs has set up four stages based on the Kohlberg model. In order to understand typical ways of thinking, Gibbs cites typical ways of presenting immature standpoints. These are denoted as cognitive distortions. Through dilemma discussions where mature viewpoints are reinforced and cognitive distortions encountered, a more empathetic understanding of reality is developed.
Together, these components comprise one example of social competence, which we can define as follows:
A person exhibits social competence when (i) he/she, in given social situations and, with great probability, achieves his/her own and common goals in ways that preserve his/her own rights and those of the person with whom he/she is interacting, (ii) satisfies explicit rules of his/her culture and society and implicit standards of behavior, which in turn (iii) results in positive esteem from others (Gundersen & Moynahan, 2003).
Based on the perspectives drawn up here, it is clear that social competence training will entail considerably more than specific prosocial skills, although that, too, is important. Depending on the person's problems, it is also important to train situation perception, problem solving and anger control in order to enhance social performance. Especially important is empathy training in order to acquire greater understanding of, and empathy with, the goals and needs of the interacting partner. This is the goal of ART!
For further reading of the theory basis, see Gundersen & Moynahan (2006).
This text is taken from the manual in A.R.T. written by Gundersen, Finne and Mitchell Olsen.
