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Behavior modification is a treatment approach that uses respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior. Based on methodological behaviorism, [1] overt behavior is modified with (antecedent) stimulus control and consequences, including positive and negative reinforcement contingencies to increase desirable behavior, as well as positive and negative punishment, and extinction to reduce ...
While similar to reinforcement, punishment's goal is to decrease behaviors while reinforcement's goal is to increase behaviors. Different kinds of stimuli exist as well. Rewarding stimuli are considered pleasant; however, aversive stimuli are considered unpleasant. There are also two types of punishers: Primary and secondary punishers.
Another early form of the theory was proposed by Reiss (1951) [3] who defined delinquency as, "...behavior consequent to the failure of personal and social controls." ." Personal control was defined as, "...the ability of the individual to refrain from meeting needs in ways which conflict with the norms and rules of the community" while social control was, "...the ability of social groups or ...
Positive reinforcement attempts to increase a behavior by adding something the target wants (e.g. awarding good behavior with a treat). Negative reinforcement is attempting to increase behavior by removing something unwanted from the target. (e.g., a child's room is messy and their mother nags them to clean it up, they will eventually try to ...
Signs warning of prohibited activities; an example of social control. Social control is the regulations, sanctions, mechanisms, and systems that restrict the behaviour of individuals in accordance with social norms and orders. Through both informal and formal means, individuals and groups exercise social control both internally and externally.
After a functional behavior assessment has been conducted, the information collected is used to develop treatments and interventions. Interventions are designed to manipulate the antecedent or/and the consequence of the problem behavior to decrease its occurrence rate and increase the rate of occurrence of functional replacement behaviors. [4]
The definition requires that punishment is only determined after the fact by the reduction in behavior; if the offending behavior of the subject does not decrease, it is not considered punishment. There is some conflation of punishment and aversives, though an aversion that does not decrease behavior is not considered punishment in psychology.
If one reduces the deviant behavior after receiving a negative consequence, then they have learned via punishment. If they have engaged in a behavior consistent with a social norm after having an aversive stimulus reduced, then they have learned via negative reinforcement. Reinforcement increases behavior, while punishment decreases behavior.