Behaviour Modification: Principles and Procedures PDF

Behaviour Modification: Principles and Procedures Chapter 1: Defining Human Behaviour: -​ Definition of Behaviour; ​ Behaviour is what individuals do or say, encompassing their actions, rather than static characteristics. ​ Action-based Description: Behaviour must be de...

Behaviour Modification: Principles and Procedures Chapter 1: Defining Human Behaviour: -​ Definition of Behaviour; ​ Behaviour is what individuals do or say, encompassing their actions, rather than static characteristics. ​ Action-based Description: Behaviour must be described with action verbs. ​ For example; Instead of saying, "Jennifer was angry," describe her actions: "Jennifer screamed, ran upstairs, and slammed her door." -​ Measurable Dimensions of Behaviour; ​ Behaviour has specific dimensions that can be quantified: ​ Frequency: Count how many times a behaviour occurs ​ Example: Shane bit his nails 12 times during class ​ Duration: Measure the time from when the behaviour starts to when it stops ​ Example: Rita jogged for 25 minutes ​ Intensity: Assess the physical force or energy involved in the behaviour. ​ Example: Garth bench pressed 220 pounds. ​ Latency: The time between an event and the start of the behaviour. ​ Example: The delay between a teacher’s question and a student raising their hand. -​ Observability and Recordability; ​ Behaviours are observable actions, meaning they can be perceived through the senses (e.g., seen, heard). ​ They can be described and recorded: ​ Example: Observers can note that a child claps hands or jumps. ​ Recording methods are elaborated in behaviour-modification techniques. -​ Impact on the Environment; ​ Behaviour always affects the environment, whether: ​ Physical environment: A light turns on when a switch is flipped. ​ Social environment: Raising a hand led to the teacher calling on the student.  ​ Personal impact: Reciting a phone number aloud helps with memory ​ Effects may be obvious or subtle: ​ Example: A person smiles (visible social effect) or silently remembers a fact (subtle internal effect). ​ All behaviour operates within space and time, influencing either oneself or others. -​ Lawfulness of Behaviour; ​ Behaviour is governed by functional relationships with environmental events. ​ Example: A child’s disruptive behaviour increases when the teacher gives less attention. ​ Behavioural principles: These describe how behaviour changes in response to environmental triggers and are foundational in behaviour modification. ​ By understanding these principles, environments can be adjusted to change behaviour. ​ Example: Increasing teacher attention can reduce disruptive classroom behaviour. -​ Types of Behaviour; ​ Overt Behaviour: Visible actions that can be observed and measured by others. ​ Examples: Walking, talking, or writing. ​ Covert Behaviour: Internal or private behaviours, observable only by the individual. ​ Examples: Thinking, dreaming, or imagining. ​ While behaviour modification focuses on overt behaviour, understanding covert behaviours is also significant in certain contexts. -​ Behaviour Modification; ​ Behaviour modification involves identifying environmental causes of behaviour and making adjustments to influence it. ​ Built on basic behavioural principles like reinforcement, punishment, and stimulus control (covered in later chapters). ​ Example: Reducing disruptive behaviour by ensuring consistent teacher attention demonstrates how modifying environmental factors alters behaviour. Examples: 1.​ Martha sits at her computer and types an e-mail to her parents. -​ This is behaviour because pressing the keys on the keyboard while typing is an action, has physical dimensions (frequency of pressing keys, duration of typing), is observable and measurable, has an impact on the environment (produces letters on the screen), and is lawful (occurs because of previous learning that pressing the keys produces letters on the screen) 2.​ Samantha is a 6-year-old with an intellectual disability who attends special education classes. When the teacher is helping other students and not paying attention to Samantha, Samantha cries and bangs her head on the table or floor. Whenever Samantha bangs her head, the teacher stops what she is doing and picks Samantha up and comforts her. She tells Samantha to calm down, assures her that everything is all right, gives her a hug, and often lets Samantha sit on her lap. -​ Samantha’s head banging is a behaviour. It is an action that she repeats a number of times each day. The teacher could observe and record the number of occurrences each day. The head banging produces an effect on the social environment: The teacher provides attention each time the behaviour occurs. Finally, the behaviour is lawful; it continues to occur because there is a functional relationship between the head-banging behaviour and the outcome of teacher attention. Defining Behaviour Modification: -​ Concerned with analysing and modifying human behaviour -​ Analyse; identifying the functional relationship between environmental events and a behaviour to understand the reasons for behaviour -​ Modifying; developing procedures to help people change their behaviour ​ Involves altering environmental events so as to influence behaviour -​ Behaviour modification procedures are developed by professionals and used to change socially significant behaviours with the goal of improving one’s life Characteristics of Behaviour Modification: 1.​ Focus on Behaviour; -​ Behaviour modification procedures are designed to change behaviour therefore it de-emphasises labelling ​ For e.g., behaviour modification is not used to change autism (a label) it is used to change problem behaviours exhibited by children with autism -​ The behaviour to be modified is called the target behaviour, a behavioural excess is an undesirable target behaviour the person wants to decrease ​ E.g., smoking -​ A behavioural deficit is a desirable target behaviour the person wants to increase ​ E.g., exercise and studying 2.​ Procedures Based on Behavioural Principles; -​ Behaviour modification is the application of basic principles originally derived from experimental research with animals -​ This study is called experimental analysis of behaviour and it is to help people change behaviour in meaningful ways which is called applied behaviour analysis 3.​ Emphasis on Current Environmental Events; -​ Involves assessing and modifying the current environmental events that are related to behaviour -​ Human behaviour is controlled by events in the immediate environment, and the goal of behaviour modification is to identify those events -​ Once these controlling variables have been identifying they are altered to modify behaviour and successful behaviour modification procedures alter functional relationships between the behaviour and the controlling variables in the environment -​ Sometimes labels are mistakenly identified as the causes of behaviour ​ E.g., a person might say that a child with autism engages in problem behaviours (such as screaming, hitting himself) because the child is autistic. In other words, the person is suggesting that autism causes the child to engage in the behaviour. However, autism is simply a label that describes the pattern of behaviours the child engages in. The label cannot be the cause of the behaviour because the label does not exist as a physical entity or event. The causes of the behaviour must be found in the environment (including the biology of the child)  4.​ Precise Description of Behaviour Modification Procedures; -​ Involve specific changes in environmental events that are related to behaviour -​ For the procedures to be effective, changes in the environment must occur -​ By describing the procedures clearly, researchers make it more likely that the they will be used correctly each time 5.​ Treatment Implemented by People in Everyday Life; -​ Behaviour modifications are done by professionals however, they are often implemented by people such as teachers, parents etc. -​ People who implement behaviour modifications should do so after training 6.​ Measurement of Behaviour Change; -​ It measures the behaviour before and after intervention and ongoing assessment is also done after the point of intervention to see if the behaviour is maintained 7.​ De-emphasis on Past Events as Causes of Behaviour; -​ Knowledge of the past provides useful information about environmental events related to behaviour ​ E.g., learning experiences have shown to influence behaviour 8.​ Rejection of Hypothetical Underlying Causes of Behaviour; -​ Behaviour modification rejects hypothetical explanations of behaviour -​ Skinner has called such explanations “explanatory functions” because they can never be proved nor disproved -​ These underlying causes can never be measured or manipulated Historical Roots: -​ Ivan P. Pavlov ​ Conducted experiments that uncovered the basic processes of respondent conditioning ​ He demonstrated salivation in response to food ​ Conditioned reflex; the dog salivates to the sound of a bell -​ Edward L. Thorndike ​ Major contribution; Law of Effect ​ Law of effect is a behaviour that produces a favourable effect on the environment and is more likely to be repeated in the future  ​ Experiment; he put a cat in a cage and food near the cage and the cat has to hit a lever to get the food (it produced an effect on the environment as the cat presses the lever every time to eat) -​ John B. Watson ​ Asserted that observable behaviour was the proper subject matter of psychology and that all behaviour was controlled by the environment ​ He described a stimulus-response psychology in which the environment elicited responses ​ He started behaviourism -​ B.F. Skinner ​ Explained the distinction between respondent conditioning and operant conditioning ​ He elaborated the basic principles of operant behaviour ​ He applies the principles of behaviour analysis to human behaviour Areas of Application: 1.​ Developmental Disabilities; -​ People often have serious behavioural deficits and behaviour modification has been used to teach fundamental skills to overcome these deficits -​ They may exhibit serious problem behaviours such as self-injurious, aggressive and destructive behaviours -​ These behaviours can be controlled or eliminated with behavioural interventions 2.​ Mental Illness; -​ Behaviour modifications has been used with patients with chronic mental illness to modify their daily living skills, social behaviour, aggressive behaviour, treatment compliance, psychotic behaviours and work skills -​ An important contributions was the development of a motivational procedure for institutional patients called token economy 3.​ Education and Special Education; -​ It has improved teaching methods and developed procedures for reducing problem behaviours in the class room -​ Behaviour modification procedures have been used in higher education to improve instructional techniques 4.​ Rehabilitation; -​ The process of helping people regain normal function after an injury or trauma -​ Behaviour modification is used to promote compliance with routines such as physical therapy, new skills, decrease problem behaviours, help manage chronic pain and improve memory performance 5.​ Community Psychology; -​ Behavioural interventions are designed to influence the behaviour of large numbers of people -​ Some targets of behavioural community interventions include reducing littering, increasing recycling, reducing energy consumptions, unsafe driving, illegal drug use, increase of seat belts, decrease of illegal parking 6.​ Clinical Psychology; -​ Psychological principles and procedures are applied to help people with personal problems -​ Behaviour modification in clinical psychology is called behaviour therapy 7.​ Business, Industry and Human Services; -​ The use of behaviour modification here is called organisational behaviour modification or organised behaviour management -​ It improves work performance and job safety and decreases tardiness, absenteeism and accidents, increases profits and job satisfaction 8.​ Self-Management; -​ Use these procedures to control personal habits, health-related behaviours, professional behaviours and personal problems 9.​ Child Behaviour Management; -​ Help children overcome bed wetting, nail biting, temper tantrums, noncompliance, aggressive behaviours, bad manners, stuttering and other common problems 10.​Prevention; -​ Behavioural modification procedures have been applies to preventing problems in childhood -​ They prevent child sexual abuse, child abduction, accidents in the home, child abuse and neglect, poising, infections and sexually transmitted diseases 11.​Sports Performance; -​ Behaviour modification is used widely in the field of sports psychology -​ Used to improve athletic performance in a wide variety of sports during practice and in competition 12.​Health-Related Behaviours; -​ Used to promote health-related behaviours by increasing healthy lifestyle behaviours (exercise and proper nutrition) -​ Promote positive behaviours on physical or medical problems 13.​Gerontology; -​ These procedures are applied in nursing homes and other care facilities to help manage behaviours of older adults -​ Help them deal with their declining physical abilities, help them adjust to nursing homes, promote health-related behaviours and social interactions