Behavior modification focuses on changing specific behaviors rather than traits or characteristics. It targets behavioral excesses that need reducing and behavioral deficits that need increasing. Procedures are based on behavioral principles derived from experimental research. Behavior is measured before and after the modification to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Common applications include developmental disabilities, mental illness, education, rehabilitation, and child management. Functional assessment identifies the triggers and consequences of problematic behaviors. Reinforcement strengthens behaviors by adding or removing stimuli.

1. BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION
Dr. Vimal kumar S V
Clinical psychologist &
Consultant in learning disabilities
CDC Trivandrum

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION
• Focus on behavior
• Behavior modification procedures are
designed to change behavior, not a personal
characteristic or trait. Therefore, behavior
modification deemphasizes labeling.
• For example, behavior modification is not
used to change autism (a label); rather,
behavior modification is used to change
problem behaviors exhibited by children
with autism.

3. • Behavioral excesses and deficits are
targets for change with behavior
modification procedures.
• In behavior modification, the behavior to
be modified is called the target behavior.
• A behavioral excess is an undesirable
target behavior the person wants to
decrease in frequency, duration, or
intensity.
• Smoking -a behavioral excess.
• A behavioral deficit is a desirable target
behavior the person wants to increase in
frequency, duration, or intensity.
• Exercise and studying -behavioral deficits.

4. • Procedures based on behavioral principles.
• Behavior modification is the application of basic
principles originally derived from experimental
research with laboratory animals (Skinner, 1938).
• The scientific study of behavior is called the
experimental analysis of behavior, or behavior
analysis (Skinner).
• The scientific study of human behavior is called
the experimental analysis of human behavior, or
applied behavior analysis
• Behavior modification procedures are based on
research in applied behavior analysis that has
been conducted for more than 40 years

5. • Emphasis on current environmental events.
• Behavior modification involves assessing and modifying the current
environmental events that are functionally related to the behavior.
• Human behavior is controlled by events in the immediate environment,
and the goal of behavior modification is to identify those events.
• Sometimes labels are mistakenly identified as the causes of behavior.
• For example, a person might say that a child with autism engages in
problem behaviors(such as screaming, hitting himself, refusal to follow
instructions) because the child is autistic.

6. Measurement of behavior change
• One of the hallmarks of behavior modification is its emphasis on
measuring the behavior before and after intervention to document
the behavior change resulting from the behavior modification
procedures.
• In addition, ongoing assessment of the behavior is done well beyond
the point of intervention to determine whether the behavior change
is maintained in the long run.

7. • De-emphasis on past events as causes of behavior.
• Behavior modification places emphasis on recent
environmental events as the causes of behavior. However,
knowledge of the past also provides useful information
about environmental events related to the current
behavior.
• For example, previous learning experiences have been
shown to influence current behavior. Therefore,
understanding these learning experiences can be valuable
in analyzing current behavior and choosing behavior
modification procedures.
• Although information on past events is useful, knowledge
of current controlling variables is most relevant to
developing effective behavior modification interventions
because those variables, unlike past events, can still be
changed

8. • Rejection of hypothetical underlying causes of
behavior.
• Although some fields of psychology, such as
Freudian psychoanalytic approaches, might be
interested in hypothesized underlying causes of
behavior, such as an unresolved Oedipus complex,
behavior modification rejects such hypothetical
explanations of behavior.
• Skinner (1974) has called such explanations
“explanatory fictions” because they can never be
proved or disproved, and thus are unscientific.
These supposed underlying causes can never be
measured or manipulated to demonstrate a
functional relationship to the behavior they are
intended to explain.

9. AREAS OF APPLICATION
• Behavior modification procedures have been used in many areas to help people
change a vast array of problematic behaviors.
• Developmental Disabilities
• More behavior modification research has been conducted in the field of
developmental disabilities than perhaps any other area (Iwata et al., 1997).
• People with developmental disabilities often have serious behavioral deficits, and
behavior modification has been used to teach a variety of functional skills to
overcome these deficits
• In addition, people with developmental disabilities may exhibit serious problem
behaviors such as self-injurious behaviors, aggressive behaviors, and destructive
behaviors

10. • Mental Illness
• Some of the earliest research in behavior modification demonstrated its
effectiveness in helping people with mental illness in institutional settings
• Behavior modification has been used with patients with chronic mental
illness to modify such behaviors as daily living skills, social behavior,
aggressive behavior, treatment compliance, psychotic behaviors, and
work skills

11. • Education and special education
• the education of people with developmental disabilities, behavior
modification has played a major role (Rusch et al., 1988) in
developing teaching methods, controlling problem behaviors in the
classroom, improving social behaviors and functional skills, promoting
self-management, and training teachers

12. • Rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation is the process of helping people regain normal function
after an injury or trauma, such as a head injury from an accident or
brain damage from a stroke.
• Behavior modification is used in rehabilitation to promote compliance
with rehabilitation routines such as physical therapy, to teach new
skills that can replace skills lost through the injury or trauma, to
decrease problem behaviors, to help manage chronic pain, and to
improve memory performance

13. • Child Management
• Numerous applications of behavior modification to the management
of child behavior exist
• Parents and teachers can learn to use behavior modification
procedures to help children overcome bedwetting, nail-biting, temper
tantrums, noncompliance, aggressive behaviors, bad manners,
stuttering, and other common problems

14. BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT
• Measuring the behavior before treatment provides information that can help
to determine whether treatment is necessary.
• Behavioral assessment can provide information that helps to choose the best
treatment.
• Measuring the target behavior before and after treatment allows to
determine whether the behavior changed after the treatment was
implemented.

15. • There are two types of behavioral assessment: direct and indirect
• Indirect assessment involves using interviews, questionnaires, and rating scales to
obtain information on the target behavior from the person exhibiting the behavior
or from others (e.g., parents, teachers, or staff).
• With direct assessment, a person observes and records the target behavior as it
occurs. To observe the target behavior, the observer (or a video camera, in some
cases) must be in close proximity to the person exhibiting the behavior so that the
target behavior can be seen (or heard).
• Direct assessment usually is more accurate than indirect assessment. This is
because in direct assessment, the observer is trained specifically to observe the
target behavior and record its occurrence immediately. In indirect assessment,
information on the target behavior depends on people’s memories.
• In addition, the people providing information may not have been trained to observe
the target behavior and may not have noticed all the occurrences of the behavior.
As a result, indirect assessment may be based on incomplete information about the
target behavior.
• Most research and application in behavior modification relies on direct assessment

16. • Defining the target behaviour
• The first step in developing a behavior recording plan is to define the
target behavior.
• To define the target behavior for a particular person, identify exactly
what the person says or does that constitutes the behavioral excess
or deficit targeted for change

17. Functional assessment
• Functional assessment is the process of gathering information about the
antecedents and consequences that are functionally related to the
occurrence of a problem behavior.
• It provides information that helps you determine why a problem behavior
• In addition to information on the reinforcing consequences (functions) of
target behaviors, a functional assessment also provides detailed
information about antecedent stimuli, including the time and place of the
behavior, people present when the behavior occurs, any environmental
events immediately preceding the behavior, and the frequency (or other
dimensions) of the target behavior.

18. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
• It is extremely important to remember that both positive reinforcement and
negative reinforcement are processes that strengthen a behavior; that is, they
both increase the probability that the behavior will occur in the future.
• Positive and negative reinforcement are distinguished only by the nature of
the consequence that follows the behavior.
• Positive reinforcement is defined as follows. 1. The occurrence of a behavior
2. is followed by the addition of a stimulus (a reinforcer) or an increase in the
intensity of a stimulus, 3. which results in the strengthening of the behavior.
• Negative reinforcement, by contrast, is defined as follows. 1. The occurrence
of a behavior 2. is followed by the removal of a stimulus (an aversive stimulus)
or a decrease in the intensity of a stimulus, 3. which results in the
strengthening of the behavior.

19. SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
Fixed ratio
• Reinforcer delivered after a certain number of responses. Produces high rate of
behavior, with a pause after reinforcement.
• Variable ratio
• Reinforcer delivered after an average of x responses. Produces a high and steady
rate of behavior, with no pause after reinforcement.
• Fixed interval
• Reinforcer delivered for the first response that occurs after a fixed interval of time.
Produces a low rate of behavior, with an on-and-off pattern. The response rate
increases near the end of the interval.
Variable interval
• Reinforcer delivered for the first response that occurs after a variable interval of
time. Produces a steady, low-to-moderate rate of behavior, with no on-and-off
pattern.

20. Extinction
• The basic behavioral principle that is illustrated in the preceding examples
is extinction.
• In each example, a behavior that had been reinforced for a period of time
was no longer reinforced
• The behavioral definition of extinction is as follows: Extinction occurs when
1. A behavior that has been previously reinforced 2. no longer results in the
reinforcing consequences 3. and, therefore, the behavior stops occurring in
the future therefore, the behavior stopped occurring.

21. Spontaneous recovery
• One other characteristic of extinction is that the behavior may occur
again even after it has not occurred for some time. This is called
spontaneous recovery.
• Spontaneous recovery is the natural tendency for the behavior to
occur again in situations that are similar to those in which it occurred
before extinction

22. Punishment
• There are three parts to the definition of punishment. 1. A particular
behavior occurs. 2. A consequence immediately follows the behavior.
3. As a result, the behavior is less likely to occur again in the future.
(The behavior is weakened.)
• A punisher(also called an aversive stimulus) is a consequence that
makes a particular behavior less likely to occur in the future

23. ABC
• Antecedent Behavior Consequence
• Mom is present. Jake asks for money. Mom gives him the cash.
• Dad is present. Jake asks for money. Dad does not give him cash.
• Outcome: Jake asks his mom for money in the future and does not ask his dad
for money anymore.

24. SHAPING
• Shaping is used to develop a target behavior that a person does not
currently exhibit.
• Shaping is defined as the differential reinforcement of successive
approximations of a target behavior until the person exhibits the target
behavior.
• Differential reinforcement involves the basic principles of reinforcement and
extinction.
• Differential reinforcement occurs when one particular behavior is reinforced
and all other behaviors are not reinforced in a particular situation.
• As a result, the behavior that is reinforced increases and the behaviors that
are not reinforced decrease through extinction.

25. DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF ALTERNATIVE BEHAVIOR
• Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is a behavioral
procedure used to increase the frequency of a desirable behavior and to
decrease the frequency of undesirable behaviors.
• The desirable behavior is reinforced each time it occurs. This results in an
increase in the future probability of the desirable behavior.
• At the same time, any undesirable behaviors that may interfere with the
desirable behavior are not reinforced. This results in a decrease in the
future probability of the undesirable behaviors.

26. • TIME OUT
• TOKEN ECONOMY
• RELAXATION
• SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION
• COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

27. Time out
• Time allotted
• Environment
• Emotional expression
• EXCLUSIONARY TIME-OUT
• The person is removed from the room (the reinforcing environment)
where the problem behavior occurred and is taken to another room.
This removes the person from all sources of positive reinforcement.
• NONEXCLUSIONARY TIME-OUT
• The person remains in the room while being removed from access to
positive reinforcers

28. TOKEN ECONOMY
• to strengthen clients’ desirable behaviors that occur too infrequently and to
decrease their undesirable behaviors in a structured treatment environment
or educational setting.
• Each point received by the children for desirable behavior is a token. A token
is delivered immediately after a desirable behavior and is later exchanged for
backup reinforcers.
• Because the token is paired with other reinforcers, it becomes a conditioned
reinforcer that strengthens the desirable behavior it follows.
• Backup reinforcers can be obtained only by paying for them with tokens, and
tokens can be obtained only by exhibiting desirable behaviors.
• The backup reinforcers are chosen because they are known to be powerful
reinforcers for the clients in the treatment environment; therefore, the clients
are motivated to engage in the desirable behaviors and avoid the undesirable
behaviors.

29. Examples of Backup Reinforcers for Elementary School-Age Children
• Listening to music
• Choosing a game for the class
• Cutting and pasting
• Finger painting
• Eating lunch with teacher
• Playing marbles
• Extra free time
• Showing hobby to classmates
• Visiting the nurse
• Reading a story out loud to classmates
• Reading morning announcements
• Visiting another class Having a project
displayed
• Erasing the chalkboard
• Helping the librarian
• Positive note home to parents
• Leading student groups

30. • RELAXATION
• SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION
• COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

31. •THANK YOU