A shift control device comprises: a thermal load prediction unit which predicts a thermal load state of a friction element upon completion of a shift from a current thermal load state of the friction element; and a shift control unit which, when the thermal load state upon shift completion predicted by the thermal load prediction unit corresponds to a predetermined state, either performs the shift in a modified shift mode in which a heat generation amount of the friction element is smaller than the heat generation amount of the friction element when the predetermined state is not established, or prohibits the shift. The predetermined state is set at a different state in a case where the shift is an upshift and in a case where the shift is a downshift, and is set on the basis of a gradient of a traveling road.