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Block 2 Unit 1 Behaviour Modification Techniques

1) What is the basic definition of human behaviour?

The basic definition of human behaviour, according to behaviour modification, is that it is controlled by events in the immediate environment. Behaviour modification seeks to identify these controlling events, and then alter them to modify the behaviour.

2) Identify eight defining characteristics of behaviour modification?

Eight defining characteristics of behaviour modification are:

• Focus on behaviour: Behaviour modification aims to change behaviour, not personal traits or labels. It targets behavioural excesses and deficits.
• Procedures based on behavioural principles: Behaviour modification uses principles derived from experimental research, particularly with laboratory animals.
• Emphasis on current environmental events: Behaviour modification focuses on assessing and modifying the current environmental factors that are related to the behaviour.
• Precise description of procedures: Behaviour modification procedures involve specific changes in environmental events that are functionally related to the behaviour.
• Treatment implemented by people in everyday life: Behaviour modification procedures are often implemented by individuals such as teachers and parents after sufficient training.
• Measurement of behaviour change: Behaviour is measured before and after the intervention to document the change resulting from the procedures.
• De-emphasis on past events as causes of behaviour: Behaviour modification focuses 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.
• Scientific study: 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.

3) Briefly describe the contributions of Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, and Skinner to the development of behaviour modification?

The contributions of Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, and Skinner to the development of behaviour modification are:

• Ivan P. Pavlov (1849–1936) conducted experiments that uncovered the basic processes of respondent conditioning. He demonstrated that a reflex could be conditioned to a neutral stimulus.
• Edward Thorndike: Developed the "law of effect", which states that behaviours that are followed by positive consequences are more likely to occur in the future, while behaviours followed by negative consequences are less likely to occur. This concept is a key principle of operant conditioning.
• John B. Watson (1878–1958) asserted that observable behaviour was the proper subject matter of psychology, and that all behaviours were controlled by environmental events. He described a stimulus-response psychology in which environmental events (stimuli) elicited responses. Watson started the movement in psychology called behaviourism.
• B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) expanded the field of behaviourism originally described by Watson. He explained the distinction between respondent conditioning and operant conditioning, in which the consequence of a behaviour controls its future occurrence. Skinner’s work is the foundation of behaviour modification.

4) Discuss in depth the various operant procedures in behaviour modification?

• Stimulus Control: Operant behaviours occur more in some situations than others, and are triggered by cues, called discriminative stimuli (SD). These stimuli set the occasion for the behaviour, making it more or less probable that it will occur.
• Increasing Desirable Behaviours: This is typically done through reinforcement, which increases the probability of a behaviour.
  • Reinforcer sampling is a procedure where a client is given experience with a reinforcer to make it more effective.
  • Self-reinforcement is when individuals give themselves reinforcement for desired behaviours.
• Strategies for Initiating Behaviours: Ways to help initiate behaviours to be reinforced include:
  • Shaping: Involves reinforcing small steps towards the desired behaviour.
  • Modeling: Involves changing a person’s behaviour as a result of observing the behaviour of another person.
  • Fading: Involves gradually changing a situation where a behaviour occurs to get it to occur in a second situation.
  • Punishment: Can suppress a behaviour, leading to other behaviours occurring that may be reinforced.
  • Guidance: Consists of physically aiding a person to make some response.
• Variables of Reinforcement: Variables that affect the effectiveness of reinforcement include:
  • Amount of reinforcement: Both the quality and quantity of reinforcement affect its effectiveness.
  • Delay of reinforcement: Reinforcement is most effective when it occurs immediately after the behaviour.
  • Schedule of reinforcement: Reinforcement can be continuous or intermittent. Intermittent reinforcement increases resistance to extinction.
• Contingency Contracting: Involves formalizing operant contingencies into a contract which is often written.
• Token Economies: Involves earning tokens for desired behaviours which can later be exchanged for reinforcers.
• Decreasing Undesired Behaviours:
  • Extinction: Involves terminating the contingency between a behaviour and a contingent event, leading to a decrease in the probability of that behaviour.
  • Punishment: Applying a contingent event to a behaviour that results in a decrease in the probability of the behaviour.
    • Positive Punishment: Involves adding an aversive event to reduce the behaviour.
    • Negative Punishment: Involves taking away something desirable to reduce the behaviour.
    • Response cost is the loss of a reinforcer contingent on a behaviour.
    • Time out is a period of time during which reinforcers cannot be acquired.
  • Overcorrection: Aims to reduce undesirable behaviour through restitution and positive practice.
    • Restitution requires clients to correct the results of their misbehaviour to a better than normal state.
    • Positive practice requires clients to engage in the desired behaviour multiple times.
  • Stimulus Satiation: Involves dramatically increasing exposure to a stimulus to reduce its reinforcing effect.

5) Discuss respondent conditioning

Respondent conditioning is a learning model in which a stimulus situation comes to elicit a relatively new response or increase in response because of the pairing of a conditioned stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

• The CS is associated with (provides information about) the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which elicits the unconditioned response (UCR).
• In respondent conditioning, there are two ways of dealing with undesired behaviours: extinction and counterconditioning.
• Respondent extinction involves terminating the contingency between the CS and the UCS.
• Counterconditioning involves establishing a new contingency between the CS and a new UCS.

Important Points

1. The statement “the consequences of behaviour affect their recurrence” is a basic principle of operant conditioning.

2. When using desensitisation with a client, you should first put the client into a heavy state of relaxation. Desensitisation aims to replace anxiety responses with relaxation.

3. In the desensitisation process for Bill's fear of public speaking, the last and most tense scene should be Bill preparing for his presentation the night before he has to present it. This is because desensitisation involves a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations, progressing from least to most anxiety-inducing. The final step involves confronting the real stimulus.

4. Punishment:

   • Behaviours learned under punishment conditions extinguish quickly.
   • Mild punishment is also not as effective as the use of positive rewards.
   • Punishment may result in unforeseen negative emotional consequences.
5. In the extinction process, reinforcement is totally eliminated. Extinction involves terminating the contingency between a behaviour and a reinforcing event, which decreases the probability of that behaviour occurring again.
• The client is not prevented from behaving, but the behaviour is no longer reinforced.
• Intermittent reinforcement is not part of the extinction process; rather, it increases resistance to extinction.
• While stimulus satiation can reduce the reinforcing effects of events, it is a different procedure from extinction.
6. Having a client repeat a negative behaviour until it becomes aversive is called stimulus satiation. In stimulus satiation, the client is flooded with the reinforcer repeatedly until it loses its reinforcing effect.
   • Drive satiation and reinforcer satiation are not terms used in the sources.
7. Response satiation is also not a term used in the sources and this term might be confused with 'stimulus satiation'.

8. Behaviour modification programs work best when none of the above conditions are met.

   • Behaviour modification programs are most effective when the individual is aware of the consequences of their behaviour and is motivated to change.
   • The behaviours selected for modification need to occur with enough frequency to be able to be measured reliably.
   • Baseline data is crucial to determine whether the intervention has been effective.

9. The best example of punishment through satiation to eliminate an undesirable behaviour is giving the client an overabundance of whatever he or she wants. This is the definition of stimulus satiation, where the client is flooded with the reinforcer repeatedly until it loses its reinforcing effect.

   • Administering an aversive stimulus is an example of positive punishment, not satiation.
   • Withdrawing privileges is an example of negative punishment, not satiation.
   • Allowing the client to do whatever he or she pleases and rewarding him or her only for desirable behaviour, is an example of positive reinforcement.