Behaviour Modification
Behavior modification is a psychological approach that focuses on changing an individual's behavior through various techniques such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment. It aims to promote desirable behaviors and reduce or eliminate undesirable ones by shaping and conditioning behavior through systematic and structured interventions. This approach is often used in clinical, educational, and organizational settings to address a wide range of behavioral issues.
5 Key excerpts on "Behaviour Modification"
- Howard E. A. Tinsley, Suzanne H. Lease, Noelle S. Giffin Wiersma(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...Chapter 6 Behavior Modification Joseph J. Pear Heather D. Simister University of Manitoba Abstract With roots in basic principles of behavior, behavior modification comprises two branches or approaches to therapy: applied behavior analysis and behavior therapy. Applied behavior analysis focuses on working with individuals in natural settings using stimulus control and reinforcement to modify habitual behaviors and develop skills that help individuals function effectively in society and cope with various life situations. Applied behavior analysis also stresses the use of functional analysis of behavior to develop treatments. Behavior therapy focuses on dysfunctional behavior that often brings clients in for counseling or therapy. Behavior therapy techniques include exposure therapy to treat phobias and anxiety; behavioral activation therapy to treat depression, obesity, and other disorders; and acceptance- and mindfulness-based approaches to treat a variety of disorders. These current behavioral treatments are often used in conjunction with cognitive strategies. A strong understanding of behavior principles and the ability to apply them across numerous settings are key for any applied behavior analyst and behavior therapist practicing today. Key words acceptance and commitment therapy, applied behavior analysis, behavior principles, cognitive behavior therapy, exposure, learning, relaxation Introduction Most theoretical approaches to counseling and psychotherapy grew out of the experiences of insight therapists who struggled to understand the results they were observing in therapy and the theoretical mechanisms underlying those results. Over time, in conjunction with basic research findings, applied researchers began to undertake controlled scientific investigations of behavior change...
eBook - ePubSelective Mutism (Psychology Revivals)
Implications for Research and Treatment
- Thomas R. Kratochwill(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...4 Behavior Modification: A Perspective This chapter is intended to provide a general overview of current issues in behavior modification, particularly its use in applied settings. There are literally hundreds of texts dealing with various aspects of behavior modification, and the interested reader is referred to some primary sources for a comprehensive overview (Bandura, 1969; Catania & Brigham, 1978; Craighead, Kazdin, & Mahoney, 1976; Gelfand & Hartmann, 1975; Kazdin, 1980a; Marholin, 1978; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1977). This chapter is primarily designed to elucidate certain features of the behavioral approach that help set it apart from the psychodynamic view discussed in Chapter 2. It does not deal with critical issues in the area of controversy or attempt to embrace the many new dimensions of behavior modificaion such as the use of cognitive therapeutic procedures (e.g., Meichenbaum, 1977) and self-control techniques (e.g., Mahoney & Thoresen, 1974; Thoresen & Mahoney, 1974). Scope of Behavior Modification It is useful to clarify the relation between behavior modification and the broader concept of behavior influence. Stolz, Wienchowski, and Brown (1975) contrasted these two concepts by suggesting that whereas behavior influence occurs whenever one person exerts some degree of control over another (e.g., formal education, child rearing, interpersonal interactions), behavior modification refers to a special form of behavior influence that involves the application of principles derived from research in experimental psychology to alleviate human suffering and enhance human functioning (p. 1027). In many respects, the behavioral model of deviant behavior that developed out of psychological research helped to provide an identity to psychology independent of medicine where psychodynamic approaches were closely aligned...
eBook - ePub- John R. Frew(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Austin Macauley Publishers(Publisher)
...If we want the child to learn the skills that will empower them to take charge of their life in this different environment, there is no alternative than to empower them to develop a new set of behaviours that will function in this new world. And so, we come to the place of Behaviour Modification. This is the process where conditions are established that will produce a specific behaviour to replace an existing one. At the core of this process is that we assume the outcome of the modification is to replace a socially dysfunctional behaviour with a functional one. There is, of course, a huge ethical minefield around Behaviour Modification but—fortunately or unfortunately—it is society that decides what is ‘functional’. Brain-washing is little more than Behaviour Modification and through history we have seen, and still see, examples of people having their behaviour changed to suit what I would consider functional in an uncivilised society. To avoid spending time on such a philosophical tangent, for this work I consider the goal of Behaviour Modification to provide the child with actions that allow them to be successful at meeting their ongoing needs in a functioning classroom, which we assume reflects a functional society. To achieve this outcome, we have to develop a strong, powerful sense of the importance of their self, the skills to successfully integrate themselves with those around them, to enjoy a sense of independence and to be free to pursue their ambitions. The modification of behaviour has always occurred and is not specific to our species. Mothers of many animals and birds teach their children how to behave. Families and tribes teach their young about how to act in a way that is acceptable to their culture and so on. However, at the turn of the 20 th century, it was Ivan Pavlov through his most famous experiment on classical conditioning that focussed on Behaviour Modification as something that could be studied and controlled...
eBook - ePub- Sue Cave(Author)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...4 Behavioural therapies General principles Behaviour therapies Behaviour Modification techniques Applicability and evaluation General principles Formation of behaviour disorders Behavioural therapies are based on the assumption that mental disorders are maladaptive behaviours which have resulted from faulty learning. The case of Little Albert, given in Chapter 1, provides an example of the way that phobias may be learnt. The solution is therefore to unlearn the behaviours. Learning occurs through either association (classical conditioning) or through reinforcement (operant conditioning), and the therapies based on these are known as behaviour therapy and Behaviour Modification respectively. In both cases the focus is on the individual’s present symptoms, not the historical causes of the problem. Before we can explore the different types of therapy that have utilised these principles, it is essential to outline what is involved in the two types of conditioning. Note that in both cases what is being produced is learning, which can be defined as ‘a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience’. This definition excludes behaviours that are the result of physical changes, either temporary states such as those induced by drugs, or permanent states such as those resulting from accidents (e.g. amputations). Classical conditioning procedures have been derived from Pavlov’s studies of salivation in dogs in 1927. These showed that if a bell was rung just before food was presented, dogs would learn to salivate to the bell alone after a series of such trials. The reflex response of salivation had become associated with a new stimulus, i.e. the bell...
eBook - ePubCompanion Encyclopedia of Psychology
Volume One
- Andrew M. Colman, Andrew M. Colman(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...It will also suggest that disciplinary diversity is increasing rather than condensing to an essential core. Those texts will show the reader the larger context of behavioural application, which makes discussion of any one of its variants somewhat arbitrary. However, careful reading of those chapters may also show that although practitioners display great diversity in discussing the meaning of their work, the work itself shows considerably less diversity. Reinforcement Concepts and Techniques in Applied Behaviour Analysis In its early years, applied behaviour analysis was mainly an attempt to see whether learning theory, until then essentially a laboratory science based mainly on studies of animal behaviour, could be applied to the problems of real people in their society. The basic principle in learning theory appeared to be reinforcement: whether a behaviour will occur more or less frequently in the future is determined most fundamentally by certain of its consistent, systematic consequences (cf. Skinner, 1938, 1953). Those consequences that affect the future occurrence of the behaviours that precede them are termed reinforcers, simply to label the fact that they affect the behaviours that precede them. Some of them are called positive reinforcers because they increase the future probability of responses that consistently and systematically produce or increase them, and others of them are called negative reinforcers because they increase the future probability of responses that consistently and systematically avoid or reduce them...
