Behavior
Modification
Carl V. Binder
e-Book 2016 International Psychotherapy Institute
From The Psychotherapy Guidebook edited by Richie Herink and Paul R. Herink
All Rights Reserved
Created in the United States of America
Copyright © 2012 by Richie Herink and Paul Richard Herink
Table of Contents
DEFINITION
HISTORY
TECHNIQUE
APPLICATIONS
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Behavior Modification
Carl V. Binder
DEFINITION
The term “Behavior Modification” was originally coined by practitioners
to emphasize the treatment of behavioral deficits and excesses per se, rather
than the hypothetical psychological states or processes claimed by others to
cause human behavior (Ullmann and Krasner, 1965). Behavior change — the
implicit or explicit goal of all psychotherapy — is conceived of as a learning
process; Behavior Modification, from the practitioner’s point of view, is thus
an “educational” endeavor (Binder, 1977). Because Behavior Modification
refers to outcome rather than method, it does not distinguish between
various means of changing behavior (for example, reinforcement techniques
versus chemotherapy or psychosurgery). This ambiguity has led to a good
deal of public confusion in recent years. And among professional
practitioners, terms such as “behavior therapy,” “contingency management,”
“learning therapy,” “applied behavior analysis,” “applied behaviorism,”
“programmed instruction,” and “precision teaching” (which refer to more
clearly defined subcategories of behavioral treatment) are often used instead
of the term Behavior Modification.
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HISTORY
The roots of Behavior Modification can be traced to early experimental
studies of human and animal learning, most notably in the traditions of Ivan
Pavlov and B. F. Skinner (Barrett, 1977; Rachlin, 1970; Skinner, 1953; Wolpe,
1973). A vast literature of more than sixty years’ accumulation (Britt, 1975)
attests to the power of the quantitative experimental method that forms the
basis of the applied behaviorist’s practice (Hersen and Barlow, 1976).
TECHNIQUE
The conceptual and methodological foundations of behavioral
treatment are to be found in what is known as the functional analysis of
behavior (Skinner, 1953, 1969), according to which the measured
interactions between behaviors and environmental events specify their
functions for the behaver. That is, in a functional analysis, behavioral and
environmental events are defined in terms of their causal relationships with
one another.
In application, functional behavior analysis seeks to discover, through
the experimental method, events preceding behavior (antecedents) and those
following behavior (consequences) that have demonstrable effects on such
measurable behavioral dimensions as frequency, duration, intensity, and
location of the behavior in space and time (Lindsley). Functional behavior
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analysis applies to both manipulation of already existing behaviors and the
development (i.e., teaching) of new forms of responding (cf. Barrett, 1977).
For example, the term “reinforcement” is applied to an event that follows a
behavior if — and only if — it can be demonstrated that the subsequent event
actually increases the frequency (that is, functions as a reinforcer) of that
behavior exhibited by the individual in question.
The applied behaviorist seeks to alter behavior by manipulating
antecedent and consequent events in such a way as to achieve an explicit
behavioral objective — a specific, measurable behavior change. Thus, clinical
assessment, in the framework of behavior analysis, always involves
measurement of past and current behaviors and the conditions under which
they occur, either through direct observation or through the client’s verbal
report.
APPLICATIONS
All human behavior falls within the domain of the behavior therapist,
and practitioners of behavioral treatment are to be found among educators
and special educators, psychologists, social workers, medical professionals,
and paraprofessionals in every area of human service.
The frequent criticism that applied behaviorism ignores subjective (i.e.,
mental) events has been blunted in recent years by an increasing interest in
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the manipulation and treatment of “covert processes’’ (Cautela, 1973).
Thoughts, sensations, and other private experiences now appear to be as
open to functional analysis and modification as overt behavioral events. A
serious problem is that of measurement reliability insofar as private events
are directly observable only by the person within whose body they occur.
Nonetheless, behavior therapists have found that systematic arrangement of
covert events (for example, practiced imaginary sequences) can alter the
frequency of both covert and overt behaviors, and that overt events may have
reliable effects on covert behaviors (Kazdin, 1977).
Self-management is another major focus of behavior therapy in recent
years (Thoresen and Coates, 1976). Clients are taught to make changes in
their environments and to practice procedures that lead to modification of
their own behavior. Relaxation training, or systematic desensitization (Wolpe,
1973), for example, involves procedures clients are encouraged to practice
between therapy sessions in order to acquire the ability to relax “at will.” Self-
reinforcement, thought stopping, behavioral contracting, and other related
procedures also involve attempts on the part of the therapist or educator to
teach clients a set of skills leading to self-control and to the eventual
obsolescence of the therapist, except perhaps in an infrequent consulting role.
The literature of Behavior Modification contains examples of application
to nearly every form of human activity. Psychotic and neurotic behavior, all
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kinds of educational objectives, social and sexual behavior, physiological
functioning and pain control, organizational behavior, overeating, and
addictive behaviors have all been addressed by the practice of behavior
therapy. A more thorough perspective on the practice of behavior therapy
and applied behavior analysis can be gained through study of the works listed
in the bibliography.
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