NCJ Number
183026
Date Published
2000
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This discussion of radical behavior interventions discusses classical conditioning, operant conditioning, decreasing problematic behaviors, radical behavioral approaches with offenders, and the stability of newly acquired or decelerated behaviors.
Abstract
Behavior modification, or behavior therapy, is a stark contrast to the psychoanalytical, insight-oriented strategies of treatment. The research is showing that the best chances of achieving success with offenders rests with the radical behavior strategies presented in this chapter and with related cognitive, cognitive behavioral, and social learning methods discussed in the following two chapters. Behavior approaches differ from psychoanalytical approaches in focusing on the present and in attempting to increase or decrease specific target behaviors. Behavior therapists devote little attention to the emotional sources of problematic behaviors and instead focus on identifying the current conditions that are maintaining or discouraging these behaviors. Radical behavior interventions may occur with no interaction at all between the therapist and the client, because the vehicle for change is not the counseling relationship but rather the therapist's manipulation of stimuli, rewards, and punishments, the mechanisms that instigate and maintain behavior. Finally, behaviorists make no assumption that pathology or illness is the cause of dysfunctional behavior. In the learning perspective, problematic behavior is no different from normal behavior. Both are learned in the same way and can be explained by using the same models for learning. This chapter highlights considerations for planners of behavior modification programs. 4 figures, key concepts and terms, and discussion questions