The History of Behavior Modification

Behavior modification is a technique that helps change unwanted behavior and increases desired behavior. Rewards such as praise, food or even money can reinforce the desired behavior and increase its frequency. For example, if a child sits still during a lesson, this is desired behavior. A teacher or education assistant reinforces this by giving the child a star on a chart or praise, to encourage the child to repeat the behavior; the child sits still during the next lesson to get another star. This is behavior modification.

Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov studied canine salivation and accidentally discovered conditioning. He noticed if he paired meat powder with the ringing of a bell, after some time the bell alone would cause salivation in dogs, even when not paired with meat. He conditioned his dogs to respond with salivation to a bell, in this way he modified their behavior. You may notice this yourself when you open a can of dog food and your dog suddenly appears. It associates the sound of the can opening with food.

Albert

• John Watson extended Pavlov's ideas to humans. In 1921, he studied Albert, an 11-month-old child. He introduced Albert to a white rat and paired the rat with a loud noise. At first, the child had no fear of the rat, but after repeatedly hearing the loud noise he began to fear all white rats. He modified the child's behavior to fear white rats and created a phobia.

Positive Reinforcement

• BF Skinner demonstrated positive reinforcement. Skinner had a box with a lever that released food when pushed. He introduced a rat to the box, and when the rat pushed the lever, he received food. The rats quickly learned to touch the lever immediately to get food.The positive action of receiving food reinforced the lever pushing behavior. Using behavior charts in school and receiving gold stars for good behavior are examples of positive reinforcement.

Negative Reinforcement

• BF Skinner placed the rat in a different box with a lever. Once in the box the rat received an electric current. While running around the box, the rat would push the lever, which immediately turned off the electric current. The rats learned to touch the lever immediately to switch off the current. Their behavior was reinforced by escaping a negative situation. If a child can get out of time-out by behaving themselves, this is negative reinforcement.

Punishment

• BF Skinner stressed that punishment should only be used as a last resort. He believed that positive reinforcement was more effective because people would work harder for a reward than through fear of punishment. If a child is given detention when they misbehave, this is punishment. Skinner believed, however, that punishment did not result in long term behavior modification, and had only temporary results.