NCJ Number
63381
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: SPECIAL ISSUE (OCTOBER 1979) Pages: 323-332
Date Published
1979
Length
10 pages
Annotation
THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION, ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO SEXUAL DEVIANTS AND ALCOHOLICS, AND THE PROBLEMS OF BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT FOR OFFENDERS.
Abstract
BEHAVIORAL THERAPY AND BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION AND DEFINED AS ASPECTS OF APPLIED SCIENCE THE PARADIGMS OF SKINNER'S OPERANT CONDITIONING AND PAVLOV'S CLASSICAL CONDITIONING EXPERIMENTS. THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION OF THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH HAS BEEN IN SHOWING THAT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TREATMENTS IN MODIFYING COMPLEX HUMAN BEHAVIORS CAN BE ASSESSED OBJECTIVELY AND COMPARED WITH THE EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES OR NO TREATMENT. AN IMPORTANT STAGE IN BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT IS THE INITIAL BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS IN WHICH THE THERAPIST ATTEMPTS TO REACH AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM IN TERMS OF PARADIGM CONCEPTS, AND TESTS ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUALIZATIONS. EARLY BEHAVIORAL TREATMENTS REMAINED TRUE TO THE PARADIGM BY EMPHASIZING ENVIRONMENTAL MANIPULATION WITHOUT REQUIRING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF THE CLIENT IN DESIGNING AND EXCUTING THE TREATMENT PROGRAM. THE CLIENTS' MAIN ROLE WAS RESPONDING TO THE CONTINGENCIES ARRANGED BY THE THERAPIST. A CHANGE IN THIS STYLE OF THERAPY HAS BEEN BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE APPLICATION OF A PARADIGM CALLED 'SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY' IN WHICH CLIENTS, THEIR BEHAVIOR AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT ARE CONCEIVED AS INTERACTING. THIS RESULTS IN THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF THE CLIENT AND A MORE EQUITABLE THERAPIST-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. ONE OF THE EARLIER APPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY WAS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEXUAL DEVIATIONS BY AVERSION THERAPY. BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL DEVIATION HAS SINCE BECOME MORE COMPREHENSIVE, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT HETEROSEXUAL AROUSAL AND SKILLS DEFICIENCIES, ENABLING INTEGRATED TREATMENT COMBINATIONS. SIMILAR DEVELOPMENTS HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLICS BY COMBINING SIMPLE AVERSION THERAPY WITH MORE COMPLEX SOCIAL REINFORCERS. SINCE EFFECTIVE BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT IS NOW VIEWED AS DEPENDENT UPON INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PERSONS, THEIR BEHAVIOR, AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT, ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE PRISON ENVIRONMENT CANNOT BE EFFECTIVE. BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES SHOULD BE APPLIED TO OFFENDERS WHO ARE NOT IMPRISONED OR TO PRISONERS WHO ARE ABOUT TO BE RELEASED. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (MRK)