8 Characteristics of Behavioural Therapy

In recent years, some writers have used the terms behavior therapy or behavior modification to apply to nearly any approach that affects human behavior. This, however, is not the case. Behavioural Therapy, in particular, does not involve brainwashing or mind control. Behavior modification practitioners do not use psychosurgery or electroshock therapy, and they only use medicines as a temporary adjunct to a change procedure on rare occasions. Instead, behavior modification entails systematic learning in which new abilities and other behaviors are learned while unwanted reactions and habits are eliminated. Behavior modification stimulates and encourages the client to make the necessary adjustments. Both experimentally based Behavioural Therapy and Behaviour Modification aim to increase the desirable or desirable behaviors.

Pavlov, Ivan P. (1849-1936) Pavlov conducted tests that revealed the fundamental processes of respondent conditioning. He established that a reflex (food-induced salivation) could be conditioned to a neutral stimulus. Pavlov provided the neutral stimulus (the sound of a metronome) to a dog at the same time in his tests. Later, the dog salivated simply from hearing the metronome. Pavlov referred to this as a conditioned reflex (Pavlov, 1927).

Watson, John B. (1878-1958) Watson argued in his 1913 article "Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It" that observable behavior was the proper subject matter of psychology and that all behaviors were regulated by environmental events. Watson, in particular, described stimulus-response psychology, which held that environmental occurrences (stimuli) elicited responses. Watson pioneered the movement in

Skinner, B. F. (1904-1990). Skinner expanded on Watson's original description of behaviorism. Skinner distinguished between responder conditioning (the conditioned reflexes described by Pavlov and Watson) and operant conditioning, in which the outcome of the behaviour determines its future occurrence (as in Thorndike's law of effect). Skinner's research developed the fundamental concepts of operant behavior. Aside from his laboratory research demonstrating.

Researchers in Early Behavioural Therapy

Researchers continued to examine operant behavior in the laboratory after Skinner laid out the principles of operant conditioning. Furthermore, researchers began showing behavioral concepts and evaluating behavior modification treatments with people in the 1950s. These early researchers, such as John B. Watson, who published Psychological Care of Infant and Child in 1928, and Bowlby, who published Maternal Care and Mental Health in 1951, established the maternal deprivation hypothesis by studying the behavior of children, adults, patients with mental illness, and individuals with mental retardation. Thousands of studies have shown the effectiveness of behavior modification concepts and methodologies since the beginning of human behavior modification research in the 1950s.

Important Publications and Events

Several books had a significant impact on the development of the behavior modification profession. Furthermore, scientific journals such as SEAB, Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour; JEAB, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour; AABT, Association for Advancement of Behaviour Therapy; JABA, Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, and JABA, Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, were established to publish research in behavior analysis and behavior modification, and professional organizations began to support research and professional activity in behavior analysis and behavior modification.

.Characteristics of Behavioural Therapy

1-Behavioural Therapy techniques are intended to change behavior, not a personal quality or trait. As a result, behavior modification deemphasizes labeling. For example, behavior modification is not used to change autism (a label); rather, it is used to change problem behaviors displayed by autistic children. With behavior modification treatments, behavioral excesses and deficits are targeted for change. The behavior to be transformed is referred to as the target behavior in behavior modification.

2-Procedures based on behavioral concepts: Behavioural Therapy is the application of fundamental principles derived from laboratory animal experimentation.

The scientific study of behavior is known as experimental behavior analysis or behavior analysis. The scientific study of human behavior is known as experimental behavior analysis or applied behavior analysis.

Behavioral Therapy techniques are founded on more than 40 years of study in applied behavior analysis.

3-Current environmental events are prioritized: Behavior modification entails examining and adjusting current environmental events that are functionally relevant to the behaviour. Events in the immediate environment govern human behaviour, and the purpose of behaviour modification is to identify such events. Once these controlling variables have been identified, they are changed to influence behaviour. To achieve the intended change in behaviour, successful behavior modification procedures alter the functional linkages between the behavior and the controlling variables in the environment.

4-Detailed description of behavior change techniques: Specific alterations in environmental occurrences that are functionally relevant to the behavior are used in behavior modification approaches.

The specific changes in environmental occurrences must occur each time the methods are performed for them to be effective. Researchers and other professionals increase the likelihood that techniques will be utilized correctly each time by precisely defining them.

5-Behaviour modification techniques are designed by experts or paraprofessionals educated in Behavioural Therapy and executed by people in their daily lives. However, adults such as teachers, parents, job supervisors, and others frequently employ behavior modification strategies to assist people in changing their behavior. People who use behavior modification approaches should only do so after receiving adequate training. Precise procedure descriptions and professional oversight increase the likelihood that parents, teachers, and others will follow procedures appropriately.

6-Measurement of behavior change: One of the distinguishing features of behavior modification is the emphasis on measuring behavior before and after the intervention to document the behavior change caused by the behavior modification techniques. Furthermore, the behavior is assessed on an ongoing basis long after the intervention to evaluate whether the behavior change is sustained in the long run.

7-De-emphasis on past events as causes of behavior: As previously said, behavior modification emphasizes recent environmental events as causes of behavior. However, knowledge of the past can also provide helpful information about contemporary environmental phenomena.

8-Rejection of hypothetical underlying causes of behaviour: While some schools of psychology, such as Freudian psychoanalytic techniques, may be interested in hypothetical underlying reasons of behaviour, such as an unresolved Oedipus complex, behaviour modification rejects such hypotheses. Such explanations, according to Skinner (1974), are "explanatory fictions" since they can never be proven or disproven, and hence are unscientific. These ostensible underlying causes can never be tested or modified in order to demonstrate a functional relationship to the behaviour they are purported to explain.