Behavior Modification

Behavior modification is used to treat a variety of problems in both adults and children. Behavior modification has been successfully used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), phobias, enuresis (bed-wetting), generalized anxiety disorder , and separation anxiety disorder , among others.

Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B. F. Skinner (1904-1990). Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his concept applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors and introduced operant conditioning to the general public in his 1938 book, The Behavior of Organisms .  Read more:

Behavior Modification techniques are taught in business schools and especially in Executive professional development seminars, giving them a powerful tool to change the behavior of employees.  For instance, if a company wants team work then they change their performance appraisal system to reward team teamwork.    The foundation of behavior modification is not just reinforcement but reinforcement that has a quick turn-around or impacts their finances or time off.  Reinforcements that are not timely with a perceived low impact, like speeding tickets, have very little influence on changing mass behaviors.

Paying Federal taxes is an example of behavior modification techniques as is those who smoke cigarettes, over-eat, buy the latest fashions, drink certain wines, beers, or alcohols, and are seemingly addicted to a variety of television shows like reality shows and soap operas.  The advertising industry in this country has “honed” their skills with developing advertising that manipulates and changes the behavior of Americans.  The health care industry, likewise has accomplished the same result by going through a back door of encouraging a series of “bad habits” that result in increased visits to the doctor and increased consumption of medicines.

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Our manufacturing industry, specifically in the areas of automobiles and home appliances have changed our behavior by building products that do not last very long by building in obsolescence that did not exist in the 60’s or 70’s.

As a senior citizen now, I have spent my entire life after I discovered the concept of behavior modification in college, of making sure that I was not controlled by anything in my life and one by one shed those behaviors on my own where I thought that behavior modification techniques were being used on me. 

Maybe I am paranoid, but all I say is look around…