Guide to use cognitive restructuring as a shaping procedure

Behavior modification emerged as an alternative for assessment and treatment founded on strong theoretical and experimental bases. The so-called cognitive revolution marked the introduction of a series of mediational variables that contributed to the progressive deviation of the techniques from these principles. The aim of our line of research is to return to the analysis of the learning processes that presumably underlie intervention, choosing for this work the cognitive restructuring technique and, specifically, the Socratic Method. For this study we analyzed the therapist’s and client’s verbal behavior during the clinical interaction in 65 fragments of cognitive restructuring from seven different clinical cases. Results of sequential analysis support the shaping hypothesis whereby the Socratic Method could be defined as a process in which the psychologist reinforces the client’s verbalizations as they come closer to the final verbalization (rational / adaptive); at the same time, the psychologist punishes and / or extinguishes those verbalizations that move away from such verbalization. Some intervention guidelines for the clinical practice of therapists are suggested based on these results.