Dealing With Offending Behaviour: Behaviour Modification Flashcards
What is behaviour modification
An application of the behaviourist approach to treatment, based on the principles of operant conditions and the general aim is to reinforce obedient behaviours whilst punish disobedience
Where do token economies occur
Institutions eg prisons
What happens in a token economy
Tokens are given for desirable behaviours (which would have been outlined beforehand) eg avoiding conflict and keeping one’s cell orderly immediately to prevent delay discounting as this reduced effectiveness of reinforcement
-tokens swapped for tangible rewards later (eg cigarettes/time in the gym)
-prisoners also informed disobedience would result in these being withheld or removed
What are tokens and reward in terms of reinforcement
Tokens are not rewarding themselves but are associated with a reward so act as secondary reinforcers and what they are exchanged for are the primary reinforcers, based on principles of operant conditioning
How is it decided which behaviours to reinforce
Desirable behaviour identified, broken down into small steps (increments) and baseline measure is established, behaviours to be reinforced are decided upon and all those who come into contact with the offender must follow same regime of selective reinforcement
What must be desirable behaviours be
Objective, measurable and agreed with all staff beforehand
What must staff and prisoners be made aware of in terms of the token economy
Of the scoring system, how much each behaviour is worth as behaviours are hierarchal (some more demanding than others so should be rewarded as such)
Why must staff be trained before doing token economy
To standardise procedures so all prison staff are rewarding behaviours in same way and must record all rewarded behaviour so progress can be tracked
Outline research example to support effectiveness of token economies
Hobbs and Holt introduced a token economy programme with groups of young delinquents across three behavioural units with fourth acting as a control, observed a signif dif in positive behaviour compared to the non-token economy group and similar effect found with offenders in an adult prison
Expand on strength that token economies are easy to implement and however point
-no need for expertise/specialist professionals as there would be for other forms of treatment eg anger management
-can be implemented by virtually any institution, also cost effective and easy to follow once workable methods of reinforcement have been established
-means despite finding cuts, behaviour modif techniques can be established in most prisons
H: use of such systems depends on a consistent approach from prison staff, research found any benefits lost after staff applied techniques inconsistently due to factors eg lack of appropriate training of staff/high staff turnover
Expand on limitation that token economies have little rehabilitative value
-Blackburn claims any positive changes in behaviour that may occur whilst offender is in prison may quickly be lost when they are released
-progress unlikely to extend beyond custodial setting
-may be because law-abiding behaviour is not always reinforced outside prison or rewards offender receives from breaking the law eg group status may be more powerful, not long term solution
Expand on limitation that there are ethical issues that come with the use of token economies
-potentially regarded as manipulative and dehumanising
-in an institution using the token economy system, participation in scheme is obligatory
-although offender can decide whether to comply with the scheme or break the rules critics have suggested that a programme which involves withdrawal of privileges eg exercise and contact with loved ones is ethically questionable as infringes on their basic rights
Expand on limitation that there is only superficial learning
-deals with surface behaviour only
-other treatments eg anger management are much more active in their approach, individual required to reflect on the cause of their offending and is given greater responsibility for their own rehabilitation
-offenders likely to play along with the token economy system in order to access the rewards but this produces little change in their overall character
-once the treatment discontinued the individual will quickly regress back to their former behaviour, may not be most effective way to deal with offending behaviour
