Introduction To Behaviour Modification

Question 1

Overt behaviour

Answer 1

Objectively measurable
→ ex. Verbal (language) or motor (using the body)

Question 2

Covert behaviour

Answer 2

Not observable by others (inferred from overt behaviours); also called “private events”
→ ex. Thoughts and feelings

Question 3

Target behaviour

Answer 3

The behaviour to be modified or selected for change

Question 4

Response

Answer 4

One instance or occurrence of behaviour

Question 5

Response class

Answer 5

A group of responses with the same function (each response in the group produces the same consequences)
→ ex. Drinking water from a cup vs a bottle

Question 6

Repertoire

Answer 6

The collection of all behaviours a person can perform

Question 7

Dead man test

Answer 7

If a dead man can do it → not behaviour
If a dead man can’t do it → behaviour

Question 8

Behaviour and environment

Answer 8

Behaviour and the environment can interact
→ environment can lead to certain behaviours
→ behaviours can affect one’s environment
→ environmental consequences of a behaviour can affect subsequent behaviours

Question 9

Aspects of psychology

Answer 9

Theoretical: conceptual thinking
Experimental: basic research (often with animals in a lab)
Applied: practical research and treatments to solve a problem; people, real world

Question 10

Behaviourism

Answer 10

Philosophy of the science of behaviour

Question 11

Experimental analysis of behaviour (EAB/behaviour analysis)

Answer 11

Basic scientific research on the functional relationship environmental events and resulting behaviour

Question 12

Behaviour modification (b-mod)

Answer 12

The application of experimentally derived laws of learning to human behaviour and providing behaviour analytic services to consumers
→ analyzing the relationship between environment and behaviour
→ changing the environment to help people modify their behaviour
→ goal is to improve people’s lives

Question 13

Characteristics of behaviour modification

Answer 13

• Defines problems in terms of measurable behaviours (solutions are evaluated in terms of those same behaviours)
• treatments work by affecting an individual’s environment (comprised of stimuli)
• based on the scientific study of learning and the two types of conditioning (operant and respondent)
• emphasizes scientific evidence in evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention
• high importance on accountability for those experiencing, administering, and overseeing treatment programs
• does not rely on hypothetical constructs (ex. Personality traits)

Question 14

Applied behaviour analysis (ABA)

Answer 14

Using knowledge about human behaviour to reduce socially desirable behaviours and/or increase desirable ones
→ sometimes considered as an equivalent to behaviour modification or a replacement for behaviour modification
→ others see b-mod as a larger umbrella that includes:
- ABA (seen as applying principles of operant conditioning)
- application of respondent/Pavlovian conditioning
- behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy (treatment carried out on dysfunctional or maladaptive behaviour/thinking)

Question 15

Ivan Pavlov

Answer 15

• Respondent conditioning: a reflex could be conditioned to a neutral stimulus
• Respondent behaviours are involuntary— elicited by stimuli that precede them
• stimulus and response form a reflex
• S-R psychology: focuses on how environmental events and stimuli (S) affect responses (R)

Question 16

E.L Thorndike

Answer 16

• Law of effect: a behaviour that has a favourable outcome is more likely to occur again in that situation in the future (consequences of behaviour)
• discussed how an animal could modify its behaviour (did not coin the term behaviour modification)

Question 17

J.B Watson

Answer 17

• Founded behaviourism (all behaviour was controlled by environmental events)
• methodological behaviourism: the study of behaviour alone (no internal, mental state or event)
• rationale: mental events cannot be objectively observed or studied
• proposed that most human activities were learned habits
• S-R model

Question 18

B.F Skinner

Answer 18

• Radical behaviourism (departure from Watson’s ideas):
  → goal is to understand and explain all behaviour
  → includes “private events” (thoughts, feelings, mental events); have no special properties, not directly accessible to others, influenced by the same variables as publicly accessible behaviours
  → S-R-S model (three-term contingency, ABCs of behaviour)
• antecedent (comes before) stimulus produces… behaviour (response) which in turn produces… consequence (stimulus or event); reinforcement or punishment

Question 19

Characteristics of behaviour

Answer 19

1. Behaviour involves a person’s actions (what people do and say)
2. Behaviours have dimensions that can be measured (frequency, latency, intensity, duration)
3. Behaviours can be observed, described, and recorded
4. Behaviours have an impact on the environment
5. Behaviour is lawful (its occurrence is influenced by environmental events)

Question 20

Focus on behaviour (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 20

• B-mod procedures are designed to modify behaviour not personal characteristics/traits (ex. change problem behaviours exhibited by children with autism)
  → target behaviour: the behaviour to be modified
  → behavioural excess: undesirable target behaviour that the person wants to decrease in frequency, duration or intensity
  → behavioural deficit: desirable target behaviour that the person wants to increase in frequency, duration or intensity

Question 21

Guided by theory/philosophy of behaviourism (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 21

• B-mod is framed through behaviourism
  → behaviourism emphasizes that behaviour is lawful and controlled by environmental events occurring in relation to the behaviour

Question 22

Procedures based on behavioural principles (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 22

• experimental analysis of behaviour/behaviour analysis: the scientific study of behaviour
• applied behaviour analysis: the scientific study of human behaviour to help people change behaviour in meaningful ways

Question 23

Emphasis on current environmental events (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 23

Behaviour modification procedures alter the functional relationships between the behaviour and the controlling variables in the environment to produce a desired change in behaviour
→ labels are not causes of behaviour but rather describes patterns of behaviour

Question 24

Precise description of behaviour modification procedures (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 24

Procedures involve specific changes in environmental events that are functionally related to the behaviour
→ describing procedures precisely increase the chances that the procedures will be used correctly each time

Question 25

Treatment implemented by people in everyday life (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 25

B-mod procedures are often implemented by people such as teachers, parents, job supervisors etc.

Question 26

Measurement of behaviour change (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 26

B-mod emphasizes measuring behaviour before and after intervention to document behaviour change resulting from b-mod procedures
→ ongoing assessment of behaviour is done to determine whether the behaviour change is maintained in the long run

Question 27

De-emphasis of past events as causes of behaviour (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 27

B-mod emphasizes current environmental events as the causes of behaviour, however past knowledge also provides useful information about environmental events related to the current behaviour

Question 28

Rejection of hypothetical underlying causes of behaviour (characteristic of b-mod)

Answer 28

Hypothetical explanations of behaviour can never be approved or disapproved and are thus unscientific
→ can never be measured or manipulated to demonstrate a functional relationship to a certain behaviour