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20
Shanlax
International Journal of Education
Behavior Modication Techniques - An
Awareness Study
N.Vijayalakshmi
Principal, S.Preethi B.Ed College for Women, Arasanoor, Sivaganagai, Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract
Behaviour modication refers to the techniques used to try and decrease or increase a particular
type of behaviour or reaction. This might sound very technical, but it is used very frequently
by all of us. Parents use this to teach their children right from wrong. Therapists use it to
promote healthy behaviours in their patients. The purpose behind behaviour modication is not
to understand why or how a particular behaviour started. Instead, it only focuses on changing
behaviour, and there are different methods used to accomplish it.
Keywords: behaviour modication therapists, techniques of Behaviour Modication, Aversive Therapy
Behaviour Modication
Behaviourmodicationreferstothetechniquesusedtotryanddecrease
or increase a particular type of behaviour or reaction. This might sound
verytechnical,butitisusedveryfrequentlybyallofus.Parentsusethisto
teachtheirchildrenrightfromwrong.Therapistsuseittopromotehealthy
behaviours in their patients. Animal trainers use it to develop obedience
betweenapetanditsowner.Weevenuseitinourrelationshipswithfriends
andsignicantothers.Ourresponsestothemteachthemwhatwelikeand
whatwedon’t.
Behaviourmodicationreliesontheconceptofconditioning.Conditioning
isa formof learning.There aretwo majortypes ofconditioning; classical
conditioningandoperantconditioning.
Classicalconditioningreliesonaparticularstimulusorsignal.Anexample
ofthiswouldbeifafamilymembercametothekitcheneverytimeyoubaked
cookiesbecauseofthedelicioussmell.Thesecondtypeisknownasoperant
conditioning, which involves using a system ofrewardsand punishments.
Dogtrainersusethistechniqueallthetimewhentheyrewardadogwitha
specialtreataftertheyobeyacommand.
Behaviourmodicationwasdevelopedfromthesetheoriesbecausethey
supportedtheideathatjustasbehaviourscan belearned,theyalsocanbe
unlearned.Asaresult,manydifferenttechniquesweredevelopedtoeither
assistinelicitingbehaviourorstoppingit.Thisishowbehaviourmodication
wasformed.
Techniques of Behaviour Modication
The purpose behind behaviour modication is not to understand why
orhowaparticularbehaviourstarted.Instead,itonlyfocuseson changing
behaviour, and there are different methods used to accomplish it. This
includes:
OPEN ACCESS
Volume:7
Issue:2
Month:March
Year:2019
ISSN:2320-2653
Received:18.02.2019
Accepted:05.03.2019
Published:17.03.2019
Citation:
Vijayalakshmi,N.
“BehaviourModication
Techniques-An
AwarenessStudy.”
Shanlax International
Journal of Education,
vol.7,no.2,2019,pp.
20-24.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34293/
education.v7i2.333
Thisworkislicensed
underaCreative
CommonsAttribution-
NonCommercial-
NoDerivatives4.0
InternationalLicense
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International Journal of Education
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• Positivereinforcement
• Negativereinforcement
• Punishment
• Flooding
• Systematicdesensitization
• Aversiontherapy
• Extinction
Positive reinforcement is pairing a positive
stimulus to behaviour. A good example of this is
when teachers reward their students for getting a
goodgradewithstickers.
Negative reinforcement is the opposite and is
thepairingofbehaviourtotheremovalofanegative
stimulus.Achildthatthrowsatantrumbecauseheor
shedoesn’twanttoeatvegetablesandhashisorher
vegetablestakenawaywouldbeagoodexample.
Punishment is designed to weaken behaviours
by pairing an unpleasant stimulus to behaviour.
Receiving detention for bad behaviour is a good
exampleofpunishment.
Flooding involves exposing people to fear-
invokingobjectsorsituationsintenselyandrapidly.
Forcingsomeonewithafearofsnakestoholdone
for10minuteswouldbeanexampleofooding.
Systematic desensitization is alsousedto treat
phobias and involves teaching a client to remain
calm while focusing on these fears. For example,
someonewithanintensefearofbridgesmightstart
bylookingataphotoofabridge,thenthinkingabout
standingonabridgeandeventuallywalkingovera
realbridge.
Aversive Therapy involves developing love
towardsapersonnourishingpositivethoughtsabout
theperson.Insteadofndingfaultofaperson,one
noticesignicantgoodaspectsthepersonpossesses,
one may not tend to have an aversion to others.
Aversion is a boomerang that returns and assaults
the person who shot it. Hence it is wise to avoid
aversion.
Extinction involves making a persongetridof
unwantedbehaviour.Achildwhoisputonatime-
out because of bad behaviour may eventually stop
thatbehaviour.
Signicance of the Study
In recent years, the concept of punishment has
had many critics, though these criticisms tend not
to apply to negative punishment (time-outs) and
usually apply to the addition of some aversive
event. The use of positive punishment by board
certiedbehaviour analystsisrestrictedtoextreme
circumstances when all other forms of treatment
havefailedandwhenthebehaviourtobemodiedis
adangertothepersonorothers.Inclinicalsettings,
positivepunishmentis usuallyrestrictedto usinga
spray bottle lled with water as an aversive event.
Whenmisused,moreaversivepunishmentcanlead
toaffective(emotional)disorders,as wellastothe
receiver of the punishment increasingly trying to
avoidthepunishment(i.e.,“notgetcaught”).
Behaviour modication programs form
the core of many residential treatment facility
programs. They have shown success in reducing
recidivism for adolescents with conduct problems
and adult offenders. One way of giving positive
reinforcement in behaviour modication is in
providing compliments, approval, encouragement,
andafrmation;aratioofvecomplimentsforevery
onecomplaintisgenerallyseenasbeingeffectivein
alteringbehaviourinadesiredmannerandevenin
producingstablemarriages.
The right behavioural intervention can have
profoundsystemeffects.Parentmanagementtraining
programs sometimes referred to as behavioural
parent training programs, have shown relative
cost-effectivenessfortheireffortsforthetreatment
of conduct disorder. Thus, such intervention can
have profound effects on socializing the child in
a relatively cost-effective fashion and help get
the parent out of poverty. This level of effect is
often looked forandvaluedbythosewhopractice
behavioural engineering and results of this type
havecausedtheAssociationforBehaviourAnalysis
Internationalto takea positionthat thosereceiving
treatmentshavearighttoeffectivetreatmentanda
righttoeffectiveeducation.
Cognitive behavioural interventions have been
usedtomodifyawidevarietyofsocialandaffective
behaviours such as attention decits, impulsivity
anger, depression, noncompliance, attributions,
motivation,socialskills,andmeta-cognitionaswell
as academic decits in reading, written expression
handwriting,math,andspelling.Inthiscontext,the
presentstudyassumessignicance.
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International Journal of Education
Objectives of the Study
The investigator has framed the following
objectivesforthestudy:
1. TohighlightthesalientaspectsofBehaviour
Modication.
2. To nd out the extent of Awareness of
BehaviourModication Techniques among
SecondaryGradeTeachers.
Population and Sample
The population for the study comprises of
Secondary Grade Teachers serving in Sivagangai
District. The sample for the study consists of 90
Secondary Grade Teachers serving in Schools run
by Government and Management. The sampling
techniqueusedforthestudyisarandomsampling.
SurveyMethodhasbeenadoptedforthestudy.
The sample includes both genders drawn with
varied characteristics or sub-variables viz., Type
of Institution working, Locality they hail from,
Qualication,Experienceetc.
Tools Used
Behaviour Modication Questionnaire
This is a standard tool developed by
VijayalakshmiNconformingtothetestsofvalidity
andreliability.Thereare25itemsofthescale.There
areveresponsestoeachstimulus(statements)viz.,
SA – Strongly Agree, A – Agree, N – Neutral. D
– Disagree and D – Strongly Disagree. This is the
Likert type of Scale. A scoreof 5 is given for the
response SA, 4 for A, 3 for N, 2 for D and 1 for
SDforitemsofPositivePolarity.Foritemscoming
under negative polarity, the scoring is done under
reverseorder.
Data Analysis
Datawillbeanalysedusingstatisticaltechniques
suchasMean,StandardDeviation,andt-Test.
Limitations of the Study
1. The study is limited to Secondary Grade
Teachers.
2. The study is limited to certain schools in
SivagangaiDistrict.
Analysis and Interpretation of Data
Hypothesis 1
Thereexistsasignicantdifferenceinthemean
scores of Awareness of Behaviour Modication
Techniques among Secondary Grade Teachers in
termsofGender.
Table 1: Difference due to Gender
Gender N Mean SD
“t”
value
Sig.
Male
Teachers
45 76.44 9.38
0.65 NS
Female
Teachers
45 77.69 8.78
df=88;t(0.05)=1.96;t(0.01)=2.58
Interpretation
The calculated “t” value 0.65 is less than the
tablevalue.“t”valueisnotsignicantatanylevel.
Hencetheresearchhypothesisisnotaccepted.There
existsnosignicantdifferenceinthemeanscoresof
Awareness of Behaviour Modication Techniques
among Secondary Grade Teachers in terms of
Gender.
Hypothesis 2
There exists a signicant difference in the mean
scores of Awareness of Behaviour Modication
Techniques among Secondary Grade Teachers in
termsofTypeofInstitution.
Table 2: Difference due to Type of Institution
(Government Vs Management)
Type of
Institution
N Mean SD
“t”
value
Sig.
Government
Schools
45 75.16 8.54
2.04 S
Management
Schools
45 78.98 9.24
df=88;t(0.05)=1.96;t(0.01)=2.58
Interpretation
The calculated “t” value 2.04 is more than the
table value. “t” value is signicant at 0.05 level.
Hence the research hypothesis is accepted. There
existsasignicantdifferenceinthemeanscoresof
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Awareness of Behaviour Modication Techniques
among Secondary Grade Teachers in terms of
Type of Institution. Management School Teachers
exhibit more awareness of BehaviourModication
Techniques.
Hypothesis 3
Thereexistsasignicantdifferenceinthemean
scores of Awareness of Behaviour Modication
Techniques among Secondary Grade Teachers in
termsofLocalitytheyhailfrom.
Table 3: Difference due to Locality
Locality N Mean SD
“t”
value
Sig.
Urban 32 74.47 8.42
2.11 S
Rural 58 78.50 9.14
df=88;t(0.05)=1.96;t(0.01)=2.58
Interpretation
The calculated “t” value 2.11 is more than the
table value. “t” value is signicant at 0.05 level.
Hence the research hypothesis is accepted. There
existsasignicantdifferenceinthemeanscoresof
Awareness of Behaviour Modication Techniques
among Secondary Grade Teachers in terms of
Locality they hail from. Teachers hailing from
rural area exhibit more awareness of Behaviour
ModicationTechniques.
Hypothesis 4
Thereexistsasignicantdifferenceinthemean
scores of Awareness of Behaviour Modication
Techniques among Secondary Grade Teachers in
termsofQualication.
Table 4: Difference due to Qualication
Qualication N Mean SD
“t”
value
Sig.
High 41 76.05 9.10
0.97 NS
Low 49 77.92 9.02
df=88;t(0.05)=1.96;t(0.01)=2.58
Interpretation
The calculated “t” value 0.97 is less than the
tablevalue.“t”valueisnotsignicantatanylevel.
Hencetheresearchhypothesisisnotaccepted.There
existsnosignicantdifferenceinthemeanscoresof
Awareness of Behaviour Modication Techniques
amongSecondaryGradeTeachersintermsof
Qualication.
Hypothesis 5
Thereexistsasignicantdifferenceinthemean
scores of Awareness of Behaviour Modication
Techniques among Secondary Grade Teachers in
termsofExperience.
Table 5: Difference due to Experience
Experience N Mean SD
“t”
value
Sig.
High 35 76.09 9.01
0.82 NS
Low 55 77.69 9.10
df=88;t(0.05)=1.96;t(0.01)=2.58
Interpretation
The calculated “t” value 0.82 is less than the
tablevalue.“t”valueisnotsignicantatanylevel.
Hencetheresearchhypothesisisnotaccepted.There
existsnosignicantdifferenceinthemeanscoresof
Awareness of Behaviour Modication Techniques
among Secondary Grade Teachers in terms of
Experience.
Findings of the Study
The calculated “t” value 0.65 is less than the
table value. There exists no signicant difference
in the mean scores of Awareness of Behaviour
Modication Techniques among Secondary Grade
TeachersintermsofGender.
The calculated “t” value 0.58 is less than the
table value. There exists no signicant difference
in the mean scores of Awareness of Behaviour
Modication Techniques among Secondary Grade
TeachersintermsofTypeofInstitution.
The calculated “t” value 1.88 is less than the
table value. There exists no signicant difference
in the mean scores of Awareness of Behaviour
Modication Techniques among Secondary Grade
TeachersintermsofLocalitytheyhailfrom.
The calculated “t” value 0.97 is less than the
table value. There exists no signicant difference
in the mean scores of Awareness of Behaviour
http://www.shanlaxjournals.in
24
Shanlax
International Journal of Education
Modication Techniques among Secondary Grade
TeachersintermsofQualication.
The calculated “t” value 0.82 is less than the
table value. There exists no signicant difference
in the mean scores of Awareness of Behaviour
Modication Techniques among Secondary Grade
TeachersintermsofExperience.
Conclusion
It will be laudable if one is endowed with
skills to lead a full-edged desirable life style. It
always doesn’t happen that persons are infused
with desirable psychological and social traits. The
behaviourofapersonneedsmodication;thedegrees
ofmodicationmay differ.Emotional Intelligence,
StressCoping,PeerInuence,CognitiveBehaviour
Modication (CBM) are the strategies that could
be adopted for modifying the behaviour of the
individual.Teacherswhoaretherolemodelsforthe
studentsshouldbeawareoftheneedforbehaviour
modication and the techniques involved in the
same.
References
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Author Details
Dr.N.Vijayalakshmi, Principal, S.Preethi B.Ed College for Women, Arasanoor, Sivaganagai, Tamil Nadu, India