Introduction to Behavior Modification (Chapter 1)

Discussion Questions

  • Why do people do things they regret later, such as yelling at a child, or cheating on their diet? What interferes with a person's self-control?
  • What is willpower? What interferes with a person's self-control?

The Three Ways to Explain Behavior

  • The environment: Events and forces outside the person such as stars, luck, fate, other people, or the situation.
  • Personal characteristics: Forces inside the person such as willpower or personality traits.
  • The person and environment interact: The person’s behavior changes depending on the situation AND the skills the person has to deal with that situation.
  • Three Ways to Explain Behavior (summary):
    • External environment can influence behavior
    • Internal traits and dispositions can influence behavior
    • Behavior results from the interaction between person and environment

Behavior Modification: Working Definition

  • The applied science and professional practice concerned with analyzing and modifying human behavior.
  • Synonymous with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
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Assumptions Across Approaches and Key Debates

  • All approaches start with assumptions about the origins of behavior.
  • Example: Joey’s intense temper tantrum.
    • Freud (Psychoanalytic approach) assumed tantrums result from underlying or “hidden” causes (e.g., sexual or aggressive conflicts with parents); repressed feelings produced the tantrum.
    • Skinner (Behaviorism) assumed a different cause; behavior is a function of environmental contingencies rather than hidden causes.
  • Freud’s explanations were called by Skinner “explanatory fictions.” Underlying causes cannot be measured or manipulated to demonstrate a functional relationship to the behavior they explain, thus they are unscientific (Skinner’s view).
  • Skinner’s view (Behaviorism): Joey’s behavior is controlled by events in the immediate environment, NOT underlying causes.
  • Behavior is a product of what Joey has learned through trial and error while interacting with his environment.
  • Depending on the situation, Joey’s behavior is either rewarded or punished by the environment because of contingencies in place.
  • Conceptual takeaway: Focus on observable environmental events and learned relations rather than presumed hidden causes.

Behavior Modification: Step #1 — Analyze Behavior

  • Assumption: Human behavior is controlled by the events in the immediate environment, NOT underlying causes.
  • The goal: Identify the functional relationship between environmental events and Joey’s specific behavior.
  • Identify the controlling variables in the environment.
  • Determine why Joey behaved that way.
  • Representing the functional relationship: B=f(E,C)B = f(E, C) where $B$ is the behavior, $E$ represents environmental events, and $C$ represents controlling variables.

Behavior Modification: Step #2 — Modify Behavior

  • Assumption: Since human behavior is controlled by the events in the immediate environment, then altering the environmental events will produce behavioral change.
  • The goal: Develop procedures to change the controlling variables and implement procedures to change the controlling variables.
  • Practical implication: Change the situational contingencies to shape future behavior.

Behavior Modification: Working Definition and ABA

  • Reiteration: The applied science and professional practice concerned with analyzing and modifying human behavior.
  • Synonymous with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

Characteristics of Behavior: Definition and Observation

  • Before a behavior can be analyzed, it should be defined in a clear, concise, and objective manner.
  • Defining behavior in objective terms produces a scientific way of observing and recording behavior.

Characteristics of Behavior: Focus and Change

  • Focus on an individual’s actions, not labels or inferring traits.
  • Behavior modification procedures change behaviors, NOT personal characteristics or traits.

Characteristics of Behavior: Overt vs Covert

  • Overt Behavior: Actions that could be observed and recorded by others.
  • Covert Behavior: Actions that cannot be readily observed by others.

Characteristics of Behavior: Measures of Behavior

  • Duration: How long the behavior lasts.
  • Frequency: How often the behavior occurs.
  • Intensity (or force): The physical effort or energy involved in emitting the behavior.

Characteristics of Behavior: Target Behavior

  • Target behavior is the behavior selected for change.
  • Example: If a parent wants their child to eat with a fork, then “eating with a fork” is the target behavior.

Characteristics of Behavior: Lawfulness and Ethical Practice

  • Behavior is lawful: It is governed by the interaction of the person and the environment.
  • Practical guidance:
    • Reward good behavior
    • Do not "accidentally reward" bad behavior
    • Punish some bad behavior, but do it mildly
    • Be consistent

Areas of Application

  • Developmental disabilities
  • Mental illness
  • Education and special education
  • Rehabilitation
  • Community psychology
  • Clinical/counseling psychology
  • Business, industry, and human services
  • Self-management
  • Child behavior management
  • Prevention
  • Sports performance
  • Health-related behaviors
  • Gerontology
  • (These areas reflect the breadth of application for behavior modification/ABA.)

Key Terms and Concepts Recap

  • Behavior: Observable actions and, in some cases, internal processes that can be inferred but defined in observable terms when studied in applied settings.
  • Environment: External events and stimuli that can influence behavior.
  • Controlling Variables: Specific environmental factors that influence whether a behavior occurs.
  • Functional Relationship: The causal relationship between environmental events and the occurrence of a behavior.
  • ABA: Applied Behavior Analysis; the scientific approach to modifying behavior.
  • Target Behavior: The behavior chosen for change in an intervention.
  • Law of Behavior: Behavior is influenced by reinforcement and punishment contingencies within the environment.

Notable Examples Mentioned

  • The phrase “People take action, if they want to” as a critique of over-emphasizing internal willpower.
  • Joey’s temper tantrums used to illustrate different theoretical explanations and the shift to environment-focused analysis.

Connections and Implications

  • Empirical focus: Emphasizes measurable, observable data over hypothetical internal causes.
  • Practice orientation: Emphasizes designing interventions that change environmental contingencies to achieve desired behavior changes.
  • Ethical considerations: The move toward observable, controllable factors aligns with evidence-based practice and concerns about stigmatization from trait-based explanations.

Quick References to Formulas and Structures

  • Functional relation example: B=f(E,C)B = f(E, C)
  • Step structure: extStep1:extAnalyzebehavior extStep2:extModifybehaviorext{Step } 1: ext{Analyze behavior} \ ext{Step } 2: ext{Modify behavior}