http://www.shanlaxjournals.in
21
Shanlax
International Journal of Education
s h an la x
# S IN C E 1 9 9 0
• Positivereinforcement
• Negativereinforcement
• Punishment
• Flooding
• Systematicdesensitization
• Aversiontherapy
• Extinction
Positive reinforcement is pairing a positive
stimulus to behaviour. A good example of this is
when teachers reward their students for getting a
goodgradewithstickers.
Negative reinforcement is the opposite and is
thepairingofbehaviourtotheremovalofanegative
stimulus.Achildthatthrowsatantrumbecauseheor
shedoesn’twanttoeatvegetablesandhashisorher
vegetablestakenawaywouldbeagoodexample.
Punishment is designed to weaken behaviours
by pairing an unpleasant stimulus to behaviour.
Receiving detention for bad behaviour is a good
exampleofpunishment.
Flooding involves exposing people to fear-
invokingobjectsorsituationsintenselyandrapidly.
Forcingsomeonewithafearofsnakestoholdone
for10minuteswouldbeanexampleofooding.
Systematic desensitization is alsousedto treat
phobias and involves teaching a client to remain
calm while focusing on these fears. For example,
someonewithanintensefearofbridgesmightstart
bylookingataphotoofabridge,thenthinkingabout
standingonabridgeandeventuallywalkingovera
realbridge.
Aversive Therapy involves developing love
towardsapersonnourishingpositivethoughtsabout
theperson.Insteadofndingfaultofaperson,one
noticesignicantgoodaspectsthepersonpossesses,
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 persongetridof
unwantedbehaviour.Achildwhoisputonatime-
out because of bad behaviour may eventually stop
thatbehaviour.
Signicance 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
certiedbehaviour analystsisrestrictedtoextreme
circumstances when all other forms of treatment
havefailedandwhenthebehaviourtobemodiedis
adangertothepersonorothers.Inclinicalsettings,
positivepunishmentis usuallyrestrictedto usinga
spray bottle lled with water as an aversive event.
Whenmisused,moreaversivepunishmentcanlead
toaffective(emotional)disorders,as wellastothe
receiver of the punishment increasingly trying to
avoidthepunishment(i.e.,“notgetcaught”).
Behaviour modication 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 modication is in
providing compliments, approval, encouragement,
andafrmation;aratioofvecomplimentsforevery
onecomplaintisgenerallyseenasbeingeffectivein
alteringbehaviourinadesiredmannerandevenin
producingstablemarriages.
The right behavioural intervention can have
profoundsystemeffects.Parentmanagementtraining
programs sometimes referred to as behavioural
parent training programs, have shown relative
cost-effectivenessfortheireffortsforthetreatment
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 forandvaluedbythosewhopractice
behavioural engineering and results of this type
havecausedtheAssociationforBehaviourAnalysis
Internationalto takea positionthat thosereceiving
treatmentshavearighttoeffectivetreatmentanda
righttoeffectiveeducation.
Cognitive behavioural interventions have been
usedtomodifyawidevarietyofsocialandaffective
behaviours such as attention decits, impulsivity
anger, depression, noncompliance, attributions,
motivation,socialskills,andmeta-cognitionaswell
as academic decits in reading, written expression
handwriting,math,andspelling.Inthiscontext,the
presentstudyassumessignicance.