BEHAVIOUR

MODIFICATION
MODEL
By
Lovelyrachal Thomas
BEd English
Roll no . 65
BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION
MODEL
 Behaviour Modification refers to the techniques used to try and
decrease or increase a particular type of behaviour or reaction. This
might sound very technical, but it is used very frequently by all of us.
Parents use this to teach their children right from wrong. Therapists
use it to promote healthy behaviours in their patients. Animal traniers
use it to develop obedience between a pet and its owner. We even
use it in our relationships between with friends and significant others.
Characteristics of Behaviour
Models
 Focus on behaviour
 Behaviour modification procedures are designed to change behaviour, not a
personal characteristic or trait. Therefore, behaviour modification deemphasies
labelling. For example, behaviour modification is not used to change autism;
rather, behaviour modification is used to change problem behaviours exhibited
by children with autism. Behavioural excesses and deficits are targets for
change with behaviour modification procedures. In behaviour modification, the
behaviour to be modified is called the target behaviour. A Behavioural excess is
an undesirable target behaviour the person wants to decrease in frequency,
duration, or intensity. Smoking is an example of a behavioural excess. A
behavioural deficit is a desirable target bahaviour the person wants to increase
in frequency, duration, or intensity. Exercise and studying are possible examples
of behavioural deficits.
Procedures based on
behavioural principles
 Behaviour modification is the application of basic principles originally
derived from experimental research with laboratory animals. The
scientific study of behaviour is called the experimental analysis of
behaviour, or behaviour analysis. The scientific study of human
behaviour is called the experimental analysis of human behaviour, or
applied behaviour analysis.
Emphasis on current
environmental events
 Behaviour modification involves assessing and modifying the current environmental
events that are functionally related to the behaviour. Human behaviour is controlled
by events in the immediate environment, and the goal of behaviour modification is to
identify those events. Once these controlling variables have been identified, they are
altered to modify the behaviour. Successful behaviour modification procedures alter
the functional relationships between the behaviour and the controlling variables in the
environment to produce a desired change in the behaviour. Sometimes labels are
mistakenly identified as the causes of behaviour. For example, a person might say that
a child with autism engages in problem behaviours because the child is autistic. In
other words, the person is suggesting that autism causes the child to engage in the
behaviour. However, autism is simply a label that describes the pattern of behaviours
the child engages in. The label cannot be the cause of the behaviour because the
label does not exist as a physical entity or event. The causes of the behaviour must be
found in the environment.
Precise description of behaviour
modification procedures
 Behaviour modification procedures involve specific changes in
environmental events that are functionally related to the behaviour.
For the procedures to be effective each time they are used, the
specific changes in environmental events must occur each time. By
describing procedures precisely, researchers and other professionals
make it more likely that the procedures will be used correctly each
time.
Treatment implemented by
people in everyday life
 Behaviour modification procedures are developed by professionals
trained in human behaviour modification. However, behaviour
modification procedures often are implemented by people such as
teachers, parents, job supervisors, or others to help people change
their behaviour. People who implement behaviour modification
procedures should do so only after sufficient training. Precise
descriptions of procedures and professional supervision make it more
likely that parents, teachers, and others will implement procedures
correctly.
Measurement of behaviour
change
 One of the hallmarks of behaviour modification is its emphasis on
measuring the behaviour before and after intervention to document the
behaviour change resulting from the behaviour modification procedures. In
addition, ongoing assessment of the behaviour is done well beyond the
point of intervention to determine whether the behaviour change is
maintained in the long run. If a supervisor is using behaviour modification
procedures to increase work productivity, he or she would record the
workers behaviour for a period before implementing the procedures. The
supervisor would then implement the behaviour modification procedures
and continue to record the behaviours. This recording would establish
whether the number of units assembled increased. If the workers behaviour
changed after the supervisors intervention, he or she would continue to
record the behaviour for a further period. Such long term observation would
demonstrate whether the workers continued to assemble units at the
increased rate or whether further intervention was necessary.
De-emphasis on past events as
causes of behaviour
 As stated earlier, behaviour mofication places emphasis on recent
environmental events as the causes of behaviour. However,
knowledge of the past also provides useful information about
environmental events related to the current behaviour. For example,
previous learning experiences have been shown to influence current
behaviour. Therefore, understanding these learning experiences can
be valuable in analysing current behaviour and choosing behaviour
modification procedures. Although information on past events is
useful, knowledge of current controlling variables is most relevant to
developing effective behaviour modification interventions because
those variables, unlike past events, can still be changed.
Rejection of hypothetical
underlying causes of behaviour
 Although some fields of psychology, such as Freudian psychoanalytic
approaches, might be interested in hypothesised underlying causes of
behaviour, such as an unresolved Oedipus complex, behaviour
modification rejects such hypothetical explanations of behaviour.
Skinner (1974) has called such explanations "explanatory fictions"
because they can never be proved or disproved, and thus are
unscientific. These supposed underlying causes can never be
measured or manipulated to demonstrate a functional relationship to
the behaviour they are intended to explain.
Historical overview of Behaviour
Modification
 A number of historical events contributed to the development of
behaviour modification. Let's briefly consider some important figures,
publications, and organisations in the field. Following are some of the
major figures who were instrumental in developing the scientific
principles on which behaviour modification is based.
 Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936) Pavlov conducted experiments that
uncovered the basic processes of respondent conditioning. He
demonstrated that a reflex (salivation in response to food) could be
conditioned to a neutral stimulus. In his experiments, Pavlov
presented the neutral stimulus (the sound of a metronome) at the
same time that he presented food to a dog. Later, the dog salivated
in response to the sound of the metronome alone. Pavlov called this a
conditioned reflex.
 Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949)Thorndike's major contribution was the
description of the law of effect. The law of effect states that a behaviour that produces
a favourable effect on the environment is more likely to be repeated in the future. In
Thorndike's famous experiment, he put a cat in a cage and set food outside the cage
where the cat could see it. To open the cage door, the cat had to hit a lever with its
paw. Thorndike showed that the cat learned to hit the lever and open the cage door.
Each time it was put into the cage, the cat hit the lever more quickly because that
behaviour-hitting the lever- produced a favourable effect on the environment: It
allowed the cat to reach the food (Thorndike, 1911).
 John B. Watson (1878-1958)In the article "Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It,"
published in 1913. Watson asserted that observable behaviour was the proper subject
matter of psychology, and that all behaviours were controlled by environmental
events. In particular, Watson described a stimulus response psychology in which
environmental events (stimuli) elicited responses. Watson started the movement in
psychology called behaviourism (Watson, 1913, 1924).
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990). Skinner expanded the field of behaviourism originally
described by Watson. Skinner explained the distinction between respondent conditioning
(the conditioned reflexes described by Pavlov and Watson) and operant conditioning, in
which the consequence of behaviour controls the future occurrence of the behaviour (as
in Thorndike's law of effect). Skinner's research elaborated the basic principles of operant
behaviour. In addition to his laboratory research demonstrating basic behavioural
principles, Skinner wrote a number of books in which he applied the principles of
behaviour analysis to human behaviour. Skinner's work is the foundation of behaviour
modification.
Early Behaviour Modification
Researchers
 After Skinner laid out the principles of operant conditioning,
researchers continued to study operant behaviour in the laboratory. In
addition, in the 1950s, researchers began demonstrating behavioural
principles and evaluating behaviour modification procedures with
people. These early researchers studied the behaviour of children,
adults, patients with mental illness and individuals with mental
retardation. Since the beginning of behaviour modification research
with humans in the 1950s, thousands of studies have established the
effectiveness of behaviour modification principles and procedures.
Observing and Recording
Behaviour
 One fundamental aspect of behaviour modification is measuring the
behaviour that is targeted for change. Measurement of the target
behaviour (or behaviours) in behaviour modification is called
behavioural assessment. Behavioural assessment is important for a
number of reasons. Measuring the behaviour before treatment
provides information that can help determine whether treatment is
necessary. Behavioural assessment provide information that helps in
selecting the best treatment. Measuring the target behaviour before
and after treatment allows determining whether the behaviour
changed after the treatment. There are different methods for
behavioural assessment.
Techniques of Behaviour
Modification
 The purpose behind behaviour modification is not to understand why
or how a particular behaviour started. Instead, it only focuses on
changing behaviour, and there are different methods used to
accomplish it. This includes:
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Punishment
4. Flooding
5. Systematic desensitization
6. Aversion therapy
7. Extinction
 Positive reinforcement is pairing a positive stimulus to behaviour. A good example
of this is when teachers reward their students for getting a good grade with stickers.
 Negative reinforcement is the opposite and is the pairing of behaviour to the
removal of a negative stimulus. A child that throws a tantrum because he or she
doesn't want to eat vegetables and has his or her vegetables taken away would be a
good example.
 Punishment is designed to weaken behaviours by pairing an unpleasant stimulus to
behaviour. Receiving detention for bad wood example of punishment.
 Flooding involves exposing people to fear invoking objects or situations intensely and
rapidly. Forcing someone with a fear of snakes to hold one for 10 minutes would be an
example of flooding.
 Systematic desensitization is also used to treat phobias and involves teaching a
client to remain calm while focusing on these fears. For example, someone with an
intense fear of bridges might start by looking at a photo of a bridge, then thinking
about standing on a bridge and eventually walking over a real bridge.
 Aversive Therapy involves developing love towards a person nourishing positive
thoughts about the person. Instead of finding fault of a person, one notice significant
good aspects the person possesses, one may not tend to have an aversion to others.
Aversion is a boomerang that returns and assaults the person who shot it. Hence it is
wise to avoid aversion.
 Extinction involves making a person get rid of unwanted behaviour. A child who is
put on a timeout because of bad behaviour may eventually stop that behaviour.