Behaviour Modification

The first use of the term behavior modification appears to have been by Edward Thorndike in 1911.

His article "Provisional laws of acquired behavior or learning" makes frequent use of the term "modifying behavior".

It has come to refer mainly to techniques for increasing adaptive behavior through reinforcement and decreasing maladaptive behavior through punishment (with emphasis on the former).

Since techniques derived from behavioral psychology tend to be the most effective in altering behavior, most practitioners consider behavior modification along with behavior therapy and applied behavior analysis to be founded in behaviorism.

While behavior modification encompasses applied behavior analysis and typically uses interventions based on the same behavioral principles, many behavior modifiers who are not applied behavior analysts tend to use packages of interventions and do not conduct functional assessments before intervening.

In recent years, the concept of punishment has had many critics, though these critiques tend not to apply to negative punishment (time-outs) and usually apply to the addition of some aversive event.

The use of positive punishment by board-certified behavior analysts is restricted to extreme circumstances when all other forms of treatment have failed and when the behavior to be modified is a danger to the person or to others .

In clinical settings positive punishment is usually restricted using a spray bottle filled with water as an aversive event.

When mis-used, extreme punishment can lead to affective (emotional) disorders, as well as to the target of the punishment eventually focusing only on avoiding punishment (i.e., "not getting caught") rather than improving behavior.

People have consequences for their actions both positive and negative.

This should be taught early as it carries through adulthood.