Behavior modification is a term used in behavioral therapies to denote methods for conditioning behavior. It has its roots in classical conditioning, which involves the pairing of a behavior with a reinforcement. The main idea is to reward the a person if they implement a desired behavior or if they stop undesired behavior. Behavior modification can also involve incurring an unpleasant consequence for undesired behavior. Behavior modification is used in a variety of situations, ranging from the behaviors of a child in the classroom and at home to the behavior of adult prison inmates. This conditioning may be implemented by an authority figure, or it may be used in self-help exercises.
Conditioning to Modify Behavior
Behavioral conditioning occurs when a certain behavior is either rewarded or negatively reinforced. Note that punishment may be, but does not have to be, a reinforcement. Generally, simpler behaviors are easiest to condition; more complex behaviors need to be broken down into smaller steps. At every point, the desired behavior must be attainable by the person learning.
Setting Goals for Desired Behavior
Another type of behavior modification involves setting goals for desired behavior. It is important that goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, and age- and developmental stage-appropriate. For example, if an elementary classroom teacher wants a student or students to stop disruptive classroom behavior, he must first identify the precise behavior that is the cause of the disruption. If the students exhibit more than one negative behavior, the teacher must choose which behavior to work with first. For example, the teacher may send the child to the principal if he fights with the goal that the the child would stop fighting to avoid the consequences of being sent to the principal. This is negative reinforcement.
Rewarding, or Reinforcing the Behavior
In the teacher example, the teacher could decide to reinforce the absence of fighting. In order to do that he might begin by reinforcing no fighting days with a reward, like a star on a chart. One the student collects enough stars, he or she might earn a reward. At first it may be wise to give the reward more often and then increase the number of days required in subsequent weeks. Once the student is successful for a couple of weeks, a further step might be to expand the time frame to stars per month, and increase the reward. A variant on this is for the teacher to give stars to reward good behavior and take them away for bad behavior.
Consistency of Reinforcement is Required
Above all, the reinforcements must be given consistently. For example, if a woman is working with a therapist on the goal of quitting smoking cigarettes, a first step might be that every time she thinks of smoking but doesn't do it, she earns $0.25. The patient would review her progress with her therapist each week. As the woman smokes less and less, additional steps would be added until the smoking behavior was eliminated.
Token Economy
Token economy is used in psychiatric hospitals and prisons. In this approach, tokens are used to represent earnings toward privileges. For example, in a prison, inmates may begin at the lowest level of privileges until they obtain tokens through good behavior. Inmates can use the tokens they earn to obtain extra privileges, like the ability to make more phone calls or borrow more books from the library. Sustained good behavior can result in shorter prison terms.
Longer Term Goals
Some behaviors take several steps or a longer time to change. For example, an employee may not get a bonus for doing exceptional work until his work is evaluated at the end of the year.
Situations Inappropriate for Behavior Modification
While behavior modification may be used with success in a variety of situations, it is not appropriate in high stakes, imminently harmful situations. Examples might include a patient who is threatening suicide or a student who brings a gun to school. In these cases, immediate decisive action is needed to resolve the situation.
References
- "Behavior Modification"; Raymond Mitenberger, Ph.D.; 2008
- "Synopsis of Psychiatry, 9th ed."; Benjamin J. Sadock, M.D., Virginia A. Sadock, M.D.; 2003
