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cla@umn.edu
612-624-9839
cla@umn.edu
612-624-9839
Shaping Behavior
by Deane Morrison
Gail Peterson
Photo by Leo Kim
Gail Peterson
Professor, psychology
Education
Ph.D., Indiana University
Committed to …
“Extending basic behavioral science findings and principles to the solution of practical problems in human and animal behavior.”
In his spare time he …
Raises, trains, and exhibits Siberian Huskies.
Enjoys horseback riding, biking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, and dogsledding, as well as more sedentary pleasures—music and reading.
Speaking of himself:
“A lifelong gymnast, the old boy [Peterson] still manages to eke out respectable routines.”
An honors psychology student made a big difference for a local family a few years ago when she helped an 11-year-old child with autism break a lifelong habit of bedwetting.
The student owes her magic to psychology professor and behavioral psychologist Gail Peterson, an award-winning teacher whose service-learning courses prepare students to practice behavior therapies.
Following two semesters of classroom work, students provide supervised behavioral interventions in the home of a child with autism. They learn how to teach the child functional language and social skills, including how to shed the repetitive-motion behaviors often associated with autism.
“There's a great need for qualified people to provide early intensive behavior therapy to children with developmental delays, including autism,” says honors psychology major Bassim Birkland.
“Dr. Peterson's classes give students an opportunity to learn how to do this.”
“Children [with autism] resonate with these nice young people more than with an old fogey like me,” says Peterson, who, at 59, has been with the department for more than 30 years .
Students are placed in homes by service agencies, chiefly the Minnesota Autism Center and the Lovaas Institute For Early Intervention. Many students, says Peterson, go on to be employed by these agencies.
“[Peterson's] classes give you a taste of what it's like to assess people and provide therapy,” says Birkland. “It confirms in us that we have chosen the right career path.”
Decidedly and emphatically a behaviorist in a department that pioneered in behavior research and therapy, Peterson focuses on environmental interventions that reshape behavior. Because the brain is “plastic,” it can be reengineered, in a fashion, through behavioral interactions with the environment, he says. He sees neuroscience as discovering the exact nature of the underlying brain mechanisms.
“Neuroscience has confirmed that behavioral activity of the kind induced by behavior therapists has an impact on the physical structure and organization of the brain,” says Peterson. This is “not surprising,” he adds. “We [behaviorists] have assumed all along that that must be the case.
“All behavior is a product of the nervous system, and therefore when behavior changes dramatically, it follows that there must have been a change of some kind in the nervous system. Neuroscience aims to tell us exactly what that is.”
