What are the best strategies for enacting change?
Alternatively, you might use negative reinforcement, like nagging, to eliminate behavior you dont want.
Behavior modification is based onB.F.
Klaus Vedfelt / DigitalVision / Getty
Skinnerstheory of operant conditioning.
Skinner emphasized that the best way to understand an individuals behavior is through the consequences of that behavior.
At the center of this is a stimulus, reinforcement, and punishment.
Stimulus and stimulus control
A stimulus is a catalyst that encourages a specific key in of behavior.
Consequences
Consequences occur after a behavior.
A consequence can be positive or negative, Lally says.
In behavior modification, consequences take two forms reinforcement and punishment.
Consistency is key when applying reinforcement and punishment.
Here are some examples.
Behavior modification in children and adolescents
Children and adolescents have already been covered here.
The consequence is good because the person doesn’t have to do the undesired behavior.
They can do this through positive reinforcement.
Behavior modification in educational tweaks
Educational tweaks have been widely studied.
For example, in third grade, a teacher decided to stop Allen from tipping back his chair.
Every time she looked over, he would get a tally mark as punishment if he was leaning back.
In organizational controls, behavioral modification is used as a technique for managers to motivate employees.
Also, the groups labor effectiveness improved significantly.
The control group, whose supervisors werent exposed to behavior modification techniques, showed none of these improvements.
The most important of these from the perspective of a therapist or counselor isinformed consent.
According to Lally, behavior modification… should have clear informed consent with patient autonomy driving the behavior change.
This involves agreement between the therapist and the patient that a given behavior needs to change.
In other words, it would be easy for an unethical therapist to manipulate the patient to change behavior.
Limitations and Criticisms of Behavior Modification
Behavior modification also has several limitations and criticisms.
This can lead to problems that may be suppressed and then resurface later.
In addition, Lally observes that behavior modification does not always use intrinsic motivation to get its results.
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