Simply which can be observed and recorded
Behavior modification
Behavior modification is the traditional term for the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of behavior through its extinction, punishment and/or satiation. Behavior modification is a generic term for Applied behavior analysis (ABA) and Positive behavior support (PBS).
Description
The first use of the term behavior modification appears to have been by Edward Thorndike in 1911. His article Provisional Laws of Acquired Behavior or Learning makes frequent use of the term "modifying behavior".Through early research in the 1940s and the 1950s the term was used by Joseph Wolpe's research group. The experimental tradition in clinical psychology used it to refer to psycho-therapeutic techniques derived from empirical research. It has since come to refer mainly to techniques for increasing adaptive behavior through reinforcement and decreasing maladaptive behavior through extinction or punishment (with emphasis on the former). Behavior modification is a form of Behavior therapy now known as Applied behavior analysis. Emphasizing the empirical roots of behavior modification, some authors consider it to be broader in scope and to subsume the other two categories of behavior change methods.
In recent years, the concept of punishment has had many critics, though these criticisms tend not to apply to negative punishment (time-outs) and usually apply to the addition of some aversive event. The use of positive punishment by board certified behavior analysts is restricted to extreme circumstances when all other forms of treatment have failed and when the behavior to be modified is a danger to the person or to others (see professional practice of behavior analysis). In clinical settings positive punishment is usually restricted to using a spray bottle filled with water as an aversive event. When misused, more aversive punishment can lead to affective (emotional) disorders, as well as to the receiver of the punishment increasingly trying to avoid the punishment (i.e., "not get caught").
Martin and Pear indicate that there are seven characteristics to behavior modification, They are:
- There is a strong emphasis on defining problems in terms of behavior that can be measured in some way.
- The treatment techniques are ways of altering an individual's current environment to help that individual function more fully.
- The methods and rationales can be described precisely.
- The techniques are often applied in everyday life.
- The
techniques are based largely on principles of learning
specifically *operant conditioning and respondent conditioning - There is a strong emphasis on scientific demonstration that a particular technique was responsible for a particular behavior change.
- There is a strong emphasis on accountability for everyone involved in a behavior modification program.
Some areas of effectiveness
*Functional behavior assessment forms the core of applied behavior analysis and thus forms the core of behavior modification. Many techniques in this therapy are specific techniques aimed at specific issues. Interventions based on behavior analytic/modification principles have been extremely effective in developing evidence-based treatments.
In addition to the above, a growing list of research-based interventions from the behavioral paradigm exist. With children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), one study showed that over a several year period, children in the behavior modification group had half the number of felony arrests as children in the medication group. These findings have yet to be replicated, but are considered encouraging for the use of behavior modification for children with ADHD. There is strong and consistent evidence that behavioral treatments are effective for treating ADHD. A recent meta-analysis found that the use of behavior modification for ADHD resulted in effect sizes in between group studies (.83), pre-post studies (.70), within group studies (2.64), and single subject studies (3.78) indicating behavioral treatments are highly effective.
Behavior modification programs form the core of many residential treatment facility programs. They have shown success in reducing recidivism for adolescents with conduct problems and adult offenders. One particular program that is of interest is teaching-family homes (see Teaching Family Model), which is based on a social learning model that emerged from radical behaviorism. These particular homes use a family style approach to residential treatment, which has been carefully replicated over 700 times. Recent efforts have seen a push for the inclusion of more behavior modification programs in residential re-entry programs in the U.S. to aid prisoners in re-adjusting after release.
One area that has repeatedly shown effectiveness has been the work of behaviorists working in the area of community reinforcement for addictions. Another area of research that has been strongly supported has been behavioral activation for depression.
One way of giving positive reinforcement in behavior modification is in providing compliments, approval, encouragement, and affirmation; a ratio of five compliments for every one complaint is generally seen as being effective in altering behavior in a desired manner and even in producing stable marriages.
Of notable interest is that the right behavioral intervention can have
profound system effects. For example, Forgatch and DeGarmo (2007) found that
with mothers who were recently divorced, a standard round of parent management
training (a program based on social learning principles that teaches rewarding
good behavior and punishing bad behavior combined with communication skills)
could help elevate the divorced mother out of poverty. In addition, parent
management training programs, sometimes referred to as behavioral parent
training programs, have shown relative cost effectiveness for their efforts for
the treatment of conduct disorder. Thus, such intervention can have profound
effects on socializing the child in a relatively cost effective fashion and
help get the parent out of poverty. This level of effect is often looked for
and valued by those who practice behavioral engineering and results of this
type have caused the Association for Behavior Analysis International to take a
position that those receiving treatment have a right to effective treatment and a right to effective education.
(Functional analysis in behavioral psychology is the application of the laws of operant conditioning to establish the relationships between stimuli and responses. To establish the function of a behavior, one typically examines the "four-term contingency": first by identifying the Motivating Operations (EO or AO), then identifying the antecedent or trigger of the behavior, identifying the behavior itself as it has been operationalized, and identifying the consequence of the behavior which continues to maintain it.
Functional analysis in behavior analysis employs principles derived from the natural science of behavior analysis to determine the "reason", purpose or motivation for a behavior. A functional analysis of behavior requires that data be collected on changes in the dependent variable (behavior) that occur as a result of the direct manipulation of independent variables (antecedents and consequences); therefore, functional analysis of behavior should not be confused with functional assessment procedures such as ABC assessments because they do not involve the direct manipulation of independent variables and the use of experimental designs.)