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Behaviour and Behaviour Change

Human behavior is defined by observable actions and can be measured in terms of frequency, duration, and intensity. Behavior modification focuses on changing specific behaviors through environmental alterations, emphasizing current events over past causes and rejecting hypothetical explanations. The procedures are implemented by trained individuals and require precise descriptions and ongoing measurement to ensure effectiveness.

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24 views5 pages

Behaviour and Behaviour Change

Human behavior is defined by observable actions and can be measured in terms of frequency, duration, and intensity. Behavior modification focuses on changing specific behaviors through environmental alterations, emphasizing current events over past causes and rejecting hypothetical explanations. The procedures are implemented by trained individuals and require precise descriptions and ongoing measurement to ensure effectiveness.

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2107485
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CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOUR

Human behavior is the subject matter of behavior modification. The characteristics that define
behavior are as follows.

■ Behavior is what people do and say. Because behavior involves a person’s actions, it is
described with action verbs. Behavior is not a static characteristic of the person. If you say that a
person is angry, you have not identified the person’s behavior; you have simply labeled the
behavior. If you identify what the person says or does when angry, then you have identified
behavior. For example, “Jennifer screamed at her mother, ran upstairs, and slammed the door to
her room.” This is a description of behavior that might be labeled as anger.

■ Behaviors have one or more dimensions that can be measured. You can measure the
frequency of a behavior; that is, you can count the number of times a behavior occurs (e.g.,
Shane bit his fingernails 12 times in the class period). You can measure the duration of a
behavior, or the time from when an instance of the behavior starts until it stops (e.g., Rita jogged
for 25 minutes). You can measure the intensity of a behavior, or the physical force involved in
the behavior (e.g., Garth bench-pressed 220 pounds). Frequency, duration, and intensity are all
physical dimensions of a behavior.

■ Behaviors can be observed, described, and recorded by others or by the person engaging
in the behavior. Because a behavior is an action, its occurrence can be observed. People can see
the behavior (or detect it through one of the senses) when it occurs. Because it is observable, the
person who sees the behavior can describe it and record its occurrence.

■ Behaviors have an impact on the environment, including the physical or the social
environment (other people and ourselves). Because a behavior is an action that involves
movement through space and time (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1981), the occurrence of a
behavior has some effect on the environment in which it occurs. Sometimes the effect on the
environment is obvious. You turn the light switch, and the light goes on (an effect on the
physical environment). You raise your hand in class, and your professor calls on you (an effect
on other people). You recite a phone number from the phone book, and you are more likely to
remember it and to dial the correct number (an effect on yourself). Sometimes the effect of a
behavior on the environment is not obvious. Sometimes it has an effect only on the person who
engages in the behavior. However, all human behavior operates on the physical or social
environment in some way, regardless of whether we are aware of its impact.

■ Behavior is lawful; that is, its occurrence is systematically influenced by environmental


events. Basic behavioral principles describe the functional relationships between our behavior
and environmental events. These principles describe how our behavior is influenced by, or
occurs as a function of, environmental events. These basic behavioral principles are the building
blocks of behavior modification procedures. Once you understand the environmental events that
cause behaviors to occur, you can change the events in the environment to alter behavior.

Consider the disruptive behavior of a child with autism in the classroom. When the child receives
high levels of attention from the teacher, his disruptive behavior rarely occurs. When the child
receives low levels of attention from the teacher, his disruptive behavior occurs more frequently.
We conclude that the disruptive behavior is functionally related to the level of teacher attention.

■ Behaviors may be overt or covert. Most often, behavior modification procedures are used to
understand and change overt behaviors. An overt behavior is an action that can be observed and
recorded by a person other than the one engaging in the behavior. However, some behaviors are
covert. Covert behaviors, also called private events (Skinner, 1974), are not observable to others.
For example, thinking is a covert behavior; it cannot be observed and recorded by another
person. Thinking can be observed only by the person engaging in the behavior.

CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

Behavior modification is the field of psychology concerned with analyzing and modifying
human behavior. Analyzing means identifying the functional relationship between environmental
events and a particular behavior to understand the reasons for behavior or to determine why a
person behaved as he or she did. Modifying means developing and implementing procedures to
help people change their behavior. It involves altering environmental events so as to influence
behavior. Behavior modification procedures are developed by professionals and used to change
socially significant behaviors, with the goal of improving some aspect of a person’s life.

Following are some characteristics that define behavior modification (Gambrill, 1977; Kazdin,
1994):
■ Focus on behavior. Behavior modification procedures are designed to change behavior, not a
personal characteristic or trait. Therefore, behavior modification deemphasizes labeling. For
example, behavior modification is not used to change autism (a label); rather, behavior
modification is used to change problem behaviors exhibited by children with autism. Behavioral
excesses and deficits are targets for change with behavior modification procedures. In behavior
modification, the behavior to be modified is called the target behavior. A behavioral excess is an
undesirable target behavior the person wants to decrease in frequency, duration, or intensity.
Smoking is an example of a behavioral excess. A behavioral deficit is a desirable target behavior
the person wants to increase in frequency, duration, or intensity. Exercise and studying are
possible examples of behavioral deficits.

■ Procedures based on behavioral principles. Behavior modification is the application of basic


principles originally derived from experimental research with laboratory animals (Skinner,
1938). The scientific study of behavior is called the experimental analysis of behavior, or
behavior analysis (Skinner, 1953b, 1966). The scientific study of human behavior is called the
experimental analysis of human behavior, or applied behavior analysis (Baer, Wolf, & Risley,
1968, 1987).

■ Emphasis on current environmental events. Behavior modification involves assessing and


modifying the current environmental events that are functionally related to the behavior. Human
behavior is controlled by events in the immediate environment, and the goal of behavior
modification is to identify those events. Once these controlling variables have been identified,
they are altered to modify the behavior. Successful behavior modification procedures alter the
functional relationships between the behavior and the controlling variables in the environment to
produce a desired change in the behavior. Sometimes labels are mistakenly identified as the
causes of behavior. For example, a person might say that a child with autism engages in problem
behaviors (such as screaming, hitting himself, refusal to follow instructions) because the child is
autistic. In other words, the person is suggesting that autism causes the child to engage in the
behavior. However, autism is simply a label that describes the pattern of behaviors the child
engages in. The label cannot be the cause of the behavior because the label does not exist as a
physical entity or event. The causes of the behavior must be found in the environment (including
the biology of the child).
■ Precise description of behavior modification procedures (Baer et al., 1968). Behavior
modification procedures involve specific changes in environmental events that are functionally
related to the behavior. For the procedures to be effective each time they are used, the specific
changes in environmental events must occur each time. By describing procedures precisely,
researchers and other professionals make it more likely that the procedures will be used correctly
each time.

■ Treatment implemented by people in everyday life (Kazdin, 1994). Behavior modification


procedures are developed by professionals or paraprofessionals trained in behavior modification.
However, behavior modification procedures often are implemented by people such as teachers,
parents, job supervisors, or others to help people change their behavior. People who implement
behavior modification procedures should do so only after sufficient training. Precise descriptions
of procedures and professional supervision make it more likely that parents, teachers, and others
will implement procedures correctly.

■ Measurement of behavior change. One of the hallmarks of behavior modification is its


emphasis on measuring the behavior before and after intervention to document the behavior
change resulting from the behavior modification procedures. In addition, ongoing assessment of
the behavior is done well beyond the point of intervention to determine whether the behavior
change is maintained in the long run. If a supervisor is using behavior modification procedures to
increase work productivity (to increase the number of units assembled each day), he or she
would record the workers’ behaviors for a period before implementing the procedures. The
supervisor would then implement the behavior modification procedures and continue to record
the behaviors. This recording would establish whether the number of units assembled increased.
If the workers’ behaviors changed after the supervisor’s intervention, he or she would continue
to record the behavior for a further period. Such long-term observation would demonstrate
whether the workers continued to assemble units at the increased rate or whether further
intervention was necessary.

■ De-emphasis on past events as causes of behavior. As stated earlier, behavior modification


places emphasis on recent environmental events as the causes of behavior. However, knowledge
of the past also provides useful information about environmental events related to the current
behavior. For example, previous learning experiences have been shown to influence current
behavior. Therefore, understanding these learning experiences can be valuable in analyzing
current behavior and choosing behavior modification procedures. Although information on past
events is useful, knowledge of current controlling variables is most relevant to developing
effective behavior modification interventions because those variables, unlike past events, can
still be changed.

■ Rejection of hypothetical underlying causes of behavior. Although some fields of


psychology, such as Freudian psychoanalytic approaches, might be interested in hypothesized
underlying causes of behavior, such as an unresolved Oedipus complex, behavior modification
rejects such hypothetical explanations of behavior. Skinner (1974) has called such explanations
“explanatory fictions” because they can never be proved or disproved, and thus are unscientific.
These supposed underlying causes can never be measured or manipulated to demonstrate a
functional relationship to the behavior they are intended to explain.

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