psychological methods for treating maladjustment and for changing observable behavior patterns. In the behavior modification process, the procedures used are monitored so that changes can be made when necessary. Physical and mental coercion, brain surgery, brainwashing, drug use, and psychotherapy are often considered methods of behavior modification because they try to, and frequently do, change behavior. None of them, however, is behavior modification as the term is used in present-day psychology.
Historical Development.
The foundation for behavior modification was laid at the beginning of the 20th century in the experimental laboratory of the Russian physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov. A dog was being trained to salivate when a circle was projected on a screen and not to salivate when an ellipse was shown. The shape of the ellipse was gradually modified to resemble the circle. When only a slight difference between the circle and the ellipse could be perceived, the dog became agitated and no longer displayed the conditioned response it had acquired. This type of disturbance was called an “experimentally induced neurosis.”
A second landmark event for behavior modification took place when Pavlov’s conditioning principles were extended to humans. In 1920 the American psychologists John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1898–1935) reported an experimental study in which an 11-month-old baby who had previously played with a white laboratory rat was conditioned to be fearful of the rat by associating a loud noise with the animal, a process known as pairing. The psychologist Mary Cover Jones (1896–1987) later performed experiments designed to reduce already established fears in children. She found two methods particularly effective: (1) associating a feared object with a different stimulus capable of arousing a positive reaction, and (2) placing the child who feared a certain object with other children who did not.
Behavior modification techniques were used in the 1940s and ’50s by psychologists in South Africa, England, and the U.S. Joseph P. Wolpe (1915–97), a South African physician, questioned the effectiveness of psychotherapy for treating disturbed young adults, especially those with disabling fear reactions. To deal with anxiety disturbances, Wolpe devised treatment procedures based on Pavlov’s classical-conditioning model. At about the same time, a group of psychologists in London, headed by Hans J. Eysenck (1916–97) and M. B. Shapiro (1912– ), launched a new program of research on the development of treatment techniques, basing their investigations on the learning theory of the American psychologists Clark L. Hull (1884–1952) and Kenneth W. Spence (1907–67).
In the U.S. two kinds of investigations helped to establish the field of behavior modification. One was a further extension of the classical-conditioning principles to clinical problems such as bed-wetting and alcoholism. The other was the application of the operant-conditioning principles developed by B. F. Skinner to the education and training of disabled children in schools and institutions and to the treatment of adults in psychiatric hospitals.
By the early 1960s, behavior modification had become a clearly identifiable applied psychology movement with two components: behavior therapy and applied behavior analysis.
Behavior Modification Techniques.
Some of the treatment techniques used in behavior therapy became prominent enough to acquire specific names. Among them are systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, and biofeedback.
Systematic desensitization, developed by Wolpe, is the most widely used technique. It attempts to treat disturbances having identifiable sources, such as a paralyzing fear of closed spaces. This method usually involves training the individual to relax in the presence of fear-producing stimuli. The patient generally constructs a hierarchy of feared situations or objects and, beginning with the least fear-provoking stimulus, associates the stimulus with relaxation. The patient is progressively exposed to situations provoking greater fear. The therapist assumes that the anxiety reaction will be replaced gradually with the new relaxation response; this is called reciprocal inhibition.
Aversion therapy was once believed to provide a way to break disabling bad habits. An aversive stimulus, such as an electric shock, would be given together with the “bad habit,” such as an alcoholic drink. It was hoped that repeated pairings would result in changing the values of such stimuli from positive attraction to repulsion. Research findings, however, suggest that aversion therapy is generally not an effective treatment strategy for eliminating bad habits.
Biofeedback is most often used in treating disturbed behavior that has a physical basis. It provides an individual with information about an ongoing physiological process such as blood pressure or heartbeat rate. By the use of a mechanical device, indications of moment-to-moment variations in bodily functioning can be observed and monitored by the individual. The therapist may provide some reward for desirable changes such as a decrease in blood pressure.
Applied behavior analysis is used to develop educational and treatment techniques that can be tailored to each individual’s requirements while still following a constant format. It can be employed in a variety of settings, wherever the individual’s behavior, including its antecedents and consequences, can be naturalistically observed. The approach is not limited to patients in restricted settings such as retarded or disturbed children in a school or special residence, or adults in a psychiatric hospital or rehabilitation center. Five essential steps characterize this approach: (1) deciding what the individual can do to ameliorate the problem; (2) devising a program to weaken undesirable behavior and strengthen desirable substitute behavior; (3) carrying out the treatment program according to behavioral principles; (4) keeping careful and objective records; and (5) altering the program if progress can thereby be improved. S.W.B., SIDNEY W. BIJOU, Ph.D.
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