ABPC3303

FAKULTI SAINS SOSIAL GUNAAN (FASS)

JANUARY 2018

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PRINCIPLE OF BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

BY
PADLYALPATTANI

padlyalpatanni@gmail.com

Abstract:
Do you remember being punished as a child? Why do you think your parents did that?
Despite what we thought back then, it was not because they hated us and enjoyed
watching us suffer through a week without television or tablet. They merely
disapproved of our actions and were hoping to prevent us from repeating them in the
future. This is an excellent example of behaviour modification.

Behaviour modification refers to the technique or treatment procedure used to change

behaviour by altering a person’s current environment to help the person function
better in everyday life (Pear & Martin, 2003). Behaviour modification focuses on
using a principle of learning and cognition to understand and change people’s

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behaviour. This might sound very technical, but it is used frequently by all of us.
Parent use this to teach their children right from wrong. Therapists use it to promote
healthy behaviour 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
significant others in dealing with everyday life experiences.

Content:-

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1.0 Introduction.

2.0 An interview report.

3.0 A relation between the interview and a theory.

4.0 Conclusion.

5.0 References.

1. Introduction.

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Do you remember being punished as a child? Why do you think your parents did that?
Despite what we thought back then, it was not because they hated us and enjoyed
watching us suffer through a week without television or tablet. They merely
disapproved of our actions and were hoping to prevent us from repeating them in the
future. This is an excellent example of behaviour modification.

Behaviour modification refers to the technique or treatment procedure used to change

behaviour by altering a person’s current environment to help the person function
better in everyday life (Pear & Martin, 2003). Behaviour modification focuses on
using a principle of learning and cognition to understand and change people’s
behaviour. This might sound very technical, but it is used frequently by all of us.
Parent use this to teach their children right from wrong. Therapists use it to promote
healthy behaviour 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
significant others in dealing with everyday life experiences.

Our beliefs and needs are the strongest factors that govern our behaviour. When we
were born, we were almost clean state and ready to collect information from our life
experiences and form beliefs based on that information. They are the strongest factors
that influence our personality but that does not mean that we are stuck with them.
They are hard to change but not impossible. The beliefs that we form later on in life
are comparatively less rigid and can be changed without much effort. So, how do we
go about changing our beliefs? The first step becomes conscious of the beliefs that are
shaping your personality. Once, you are identified them, then you need to dig into
your past and understand why you formed these beliefs. This is the hard part. The
process of formation of beliefs happens unconsciously and that is why we feel
powerless before them but once we make the unconscious conscious, we start gaining
real power. Identifying the beliefs that you want to change and understanding, how
you formed them is enough for you to break free from their clutch and not let them
control your behaviour. Awareness is like a fire which melts away everything.

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Learning is defined as a lasting change in behaviours or beliefs that results from

experience. The ability to learn provides every living organism with the ability to
adapt to a changing environment. Learning is an inevitable consequence of living and
if we could not learn, we would die. Learning theories are broadly separated into two
perspectives. The first perspective argues that learning can be studied by the
observation and manipulation of stimulus-response associations. This is known as the
behaviourist perspective and was first articulated in 1913 by John Watson. The
second type of learning theory argues that intervening variables are appropriate and
necessary components for understanding the processes of learning. This perspective
falls under the broad rubric of cognitive learning theory and it was first articulated by
Wilhelm Wundt. Although proponents of these two perspectives differ in their view
of how learning can be studied, both schools of thought agree that there are three
major assumptions of learning theory: (1) behavior is influenced by experience, (2)
learning is adaptive for individual and for the species, and (3) learning is a process
governed by natural laws that can be tested and studied.

The goal of behaviour modification is to reduce or eliminate undesirable behaviours

and teach or increase acceptable behaviours. This is accomplished through the use of
behavioural techniques and strategies such as systematic desensitization, modelling,
reinforcement and aversive conditioning. On the other hand, cognitive theories grew
from the concern that behaviour involves more than an environmental stimulus and a
response, whether it be voluntary or reflexive. These theories are concerned with the
influence of thinking about and remembering experiences or behaviour. The
assumptions about learning under cognitive theories are not the same as those for
behaviourist theories because thinking and remembering can be made as long as they
are paired with careful observation of behaviour. Cognitive theories assume that some
types of learning such as language learning are unique to humans, which is another
difference between these two perspectives. Cognitive theories also focus on the
organism as an active processor of information that modifies new experiences, relates
them to past experiences and organizes this information for storage and retrieval.
Behaviour therapy and behavioural techniques have been used by psychiatrists,
psychologists, and other mental health and medical professionals in the treatment of

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wide range of disorders, conditions, and problems. They include; Specific phobias,
substance abuse and addiction, depression, personality disorders, smoking cessation,
suicidal behaviour and many more.

2. An interview report.

Abu bin Seman, age 50 years old. Working as manager of a plantation in Sabah with a
very high reputable company. Grew up in Bandar Sandakan, Sabah. Both of his
parents smoked. Abu started smoking at age 15 and by the time, he was smoking half
a pack of cigarettes each day. “ My parents found out that I was smoking when I was
16 years old, but that did not stop me,” he said.

At age 25, Abu joined the plantation company and was assigned to work at an estate
base in Sukau, Sabah. He soon fell in love and married his sweetheart, an ‘orang
Sungai’ girlfriend, he had previously dated. Abu had many responsibilities as a field
supervisor during that time. As a result, he struggled with job stress and often smoked
cigarettes to cope. One morning, Abu had chest pains, while walking at work. He was
out of breath and sweating, and the pain becomes intense and worsened. Suddenly, he
collapsed. Abu was having a heart attack at age 35. The next day, he had an
angioplasty that a procedure in which a surgeon uses a balloon-like device to open up
a blocked blood vessel. Abu slowly regained his strength but kept smoking. “ The
moment, I walked out of the hospital, I started sneaking cigarettes again,” he said.

While on leave after his heart attacked, Abu had more chest pains. He was admitted to
hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, where he was diagnosed with a serious arrhythmia,
an irregular heartbeat that can be life-threatening. Abu underwent surgery to have a
defibrillator put in his chest. A defibrillator is a device that helps regulate abnormal
heartbeats. He was determined to quit smoking, so that, he could have a chance to
live. In the spring of 2010, Abu joined a smoking cessation class in hospital.“ I did
everything they told me to do, and I never looked back,” he said. Now living in
Sandakan, Abu is extremely grateful and glad he quit smoking. “Every day is a gift to

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spend time with my wife and children. If I am around after everything I have been
through, other people can have hope, too.”

Conclusion and observation in the case of Abu bin Seman.

The biological factors involved in smoking relate to how the brain responds to
nicotine. When a person smokes, a dose of nicotine reaches the brain within about ten
seconds. At first, nicotine improves mood and concentration, decreases anger and
stress, relaxes muscles and reduces appetite. Regular doses of nicotine lead to changes
in the brain, which then lead to nicotine withdrawal symptoms when the supply of
nicotine decreases. Smoking temporarily reduces these withdrawal symptoms and
can, therefore, reinforce the habit. This cycle is how most smokers become nicotine
dependent.

Social and psychological factors also play a part in keeping smokers smoking.
Although many young people experiment with cigarettes, other factors influence
whether someone will go on to become a regular smoker. These include having
friends or relatives who smoke and their parents’ attitude to smoking. As young
people become adults, they are more likely to smoke, if they misuse alcohol or live in
poverty. Most adults say that they smoke because of habit or routine and or because it
helps them relax and cope with stress.

The idea that people smoke cigarettes to help the signs and symptoms of stress is
known as ‘self-medication.’ Stress is very common, affecting us when we feel unable
to cope with unwelcome pressure. These feelings can alter our behaviour and feel
stressed ofter makes people smoke more than usual. Long-term stress is also related to
anxiety and depression. Nicotine creates an immediate sense of relaxing so people
smoke in the belief that it reduces stress and anxiety. This feeling of relaxing is
temporary and soon gives way to withdrawal symptoms and increased crave.

People with depression have particular difficulty when they try to stop smoking and
have more severe withdrawal symptoms during attempts to give up. Nicotine
stimulates the release of the chemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is involved in

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triggering positive feelings. It is often found to be low in people with depression, who
may the use cigarettes as a way of temporarily increasing their dopamine supply.
However, smoking encourages the brain to switch off its own mechanism for making
dopamine, so in the long term the supply decreases, which in turn prompts people to
smoke more.

Although the reasons for smoking differ from person to person, understanding why
many people smoke can help those who want to stop.

3. A relation between the interview and a theory.

(a) An interview report statement 1:-

Both of his parents smoked. Abu started smoking at age 15 and by this time, he was
smoking half a pack of cigarettes each day. “My parents found out that I was smoking
when I was 16 years old, but that did not stop me,” he said.

The above statement can be linked to social cognitive theory, an extension of social
learning theory posits that people learn from one another through observation,
instruction, or modelling. It expands on behaviourism by explaining behaviour as a
product of reciprocal interactions between cognitive, behavioural, and environmental
influences. An important tenet of the social cognitive theory is self-efficacy or the
belief or expectation a person has that he/she can successfully perform a task. The
social cognitive theory posits that self-efficacy is fundamental to any behaviour
change. Social learning theory forms the basis of cognitive behavioural therapy,
which considers that people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours can interact with and
influence each other to maintain problem behaviours like smoking.

Social learning theory focuses on the sort of learning that occurs in a social context
where modelling, or observational learning, constitutes a large part of the way that
organisms learn. Both humans and animals can learn through observation and
modelling such as Abu’s case. Children learn many behaviours through modelling. A
classic experiment by Albert Bandura (1961) allowed one group of children to

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observe an adult who aggressively pounded on a bobo doll, while another group
watched a nonaggressive model and a third group had no model at all. The children
who saw the aggressive adult often modelled this behaviour when given an
opportunity to play with the same doll. The children who saw the nonaggressive
model showed the least amount of aggressive play when compared to the other two
groups. Social learning theorists retain the behaviourist principles of reinforcement
and response contingencies, but they also extend the area of inquiry for leaning to
include components of cognitive processing such as attention, remembering, the
processing of information about the environment, and the consequences of behaviour.

(b) An interview report statement 2:-

Abu had many responsibilities as a field supervisor during that time. As a result, he
struggled with job stress and often smoked cigarettes to cope.

Behavioural theories focus on how people learn to behave in particular ways.

Behaviourism was born from two main schools of thought:

 Classical conditioning, whereby a person learns to associate two previously

unrelated stimuli. For example, Parlov’s famous experiments in which dogs
learned to associate the sound of a bell with food. In term of smoking, a
person can learn to associate smoking with other feelings and events such as
being in a stressful situation like Abu and these situations then automatically
induce craving and cue his smoking behaviour.

 Operant conditioning, which posits that behaviour is shaped by its

consequences (reward or punishment). When nicotine is inhaled, it causes a
rapid release of dopamine, in turn causing feelings of pleasure that reward
and reinforce the behaviour. This pleasure and reinforcement drive the
process of addiction to nicotine.

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(c) An interview report statement 3:-

Abu was having a heart attack at age 35. Abu slowly regained his strength but kept
smoking. “The moment, I walked out of the hospital, I started sneaking cigarettes
again,” he said.

Physiological models of addiction. These models attempt to explain the brain

mechanism that underlies addiction. Nicotine use causes the release of dopamine,
leading to feelings of reward and pleasure. However, the effects of nicotine are short
lasting and often followed by withdrawal symptoms such as craving and irritability.
Over time and continued use, the number of nicotine receptors in the brain can
increase, compounding nicotine cravings. Frequently pairing smoking with another
activity can also lead to neurochemical changes that affect how parts of the brain
connect with each other, which creates associations between certain activities such as
having a cup of coffee and cravings. Further, a person’s genes play an important role
in addiction, with certain genetic variants appearing to influence how heavily a person
will smoke how addicted to nicotine and the likelihood of relapse after quitting.

(d) An interview report statement 4:-

He was diagnosed with a serious arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat that can be life-
threatening. He was determined to quit smoking, so that, he could have a chance to
live. Abu joined a smoking cessation class in hospital. “I did everything they told me
to do, and I never looked back,” he said.

The health belief model is based on expectancy-value theory, which posits that a
person’s value and expectations drive motivation. This model was developed to
explain and predict health-related behaviours and is one of the most commonly
applied models in health behaviour research and practice. It suggests that engagement
or otherwise in health-promoting behaviour can be predicted by people susceptibility
(for example that Abu felt and concerned about the seriousness of contracting an
illness or leaving it untreated), perceived benefits of taking health action and barriers
to action, perceived self-efficacy, and cues/triggers to action. In regards to Abu’s
addiction to smoking, this model would predict that nicotine use is determined by an

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individual’s perceptions regarding: susceptibility to tobacco-related diseases; costs,

benefits, and barriers to engaging in smoking or quitting behaviours; and triggers to
change the behaviour. In terms of quitting, high perceived susceptibility to illness and
high self-efficacy have been shown to predict reductions or totally quit smoking.

The determinants of smoking are some mix of biological, psychological, and

social/cultural factors. Theories of smoking and smoking cessation differ in their
conceptualization of the relative importance of and inter-relationships between these
factors. Interventions aiming to promote healthy behaviour that is based on theory or
theoretical constructs are more effective than those not grounded in theory.

4. Conclusion.

Behaviour modification techniques work in any situation. Behaviour modification

techniques include the use of positive and negative reinforcements, flooding, systemic
desensitization, aversion therapy, modelling, extinction and other ways. The specific
techniques and strategies used in behaviour modification will depend on the
presenting problem and goals of treatment. Ultimately, the goal of behaviour therapy
is to modify or reduce the problematic behaviour and learn or increase desirable
behaviour. Compared to many other types of psychotherapy, one of the primary
advantages of behaviour therapy is that it is a relatively short-term treatment. This
makes it a more cost-effective treatment approach than longer-term therapies. The
techniques and strategies used in behaviour therapy are also fairly straightforward and
easy for most clients to understand and learn. However many mental health
professionals believe that behaviour therapy alone is not sufficient for the treatment of
many psychological problems because ignoring the role of thoughts, feelings, and
unconscious processes play in human behaviour. One of the characteristics of human
behaviour is behaviour may be overt or covert. The techniques stem to a large extent
from basic and applied research in the psychology of learning in general, and the
principle of operant and classical conditioning in particular.

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The behavioural dependency to smoke can last a lifetime. Cigarettes become a ritual
like Abu’s case. Most people smoke at the same times every day. For example, they
have a cup of coffee, smoke a cigarette, talk on the phone, smoke a cigarette, drive the
car, smoke a cigarette. This pattern just becomes an automated routine that is
performed without thought. A habit actually is three parts; the cue, action and reward.
Most people are familiar with their cues or triggers to smoke a cigarette. The action is
the smoking of the cigarette but what most people find is that the reward is not the
smoking and nicotine. Their reward may actually be something normally unrelated,
like relief from boredom, a break from stressful activities or an excuse to socialize. In
case of Abu, once the reward becomes punishment (can be life-threatening) then he
was determined to quit smoking. Later successful changed his behaviour by attended
a smoking cessation class in hospital.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a promising psychological intervention for

people like Abu, who want to quit smoking because changing and restructuring
thought processes, combined with new learning behaviours is essential for people who
want to effectively quit smoking and maintain cessation. CBT alone does not usually
have a significant effect on smoking cessation but is very successful when combined
with other quit strategies. Studied have shown that pharmacotherapy combined with
CBT achieves high and stable abstinence rates. CBT is particularly effective for
people who also experience anxiety or depression or distress or who are dependent on
additional substances.

CBT techniques for smoking include:

 Individualized problem-solving strategies to help you cope with difficult

environment and situations. May involve developing behaviours to avoid
smoking when you are an environment where you are used to smoking, such as
on coffee breaks;

 Changing thinking patterns: You can cope better emotionally with the mood
changes associated with nicotine withdrawal by working on the way you think
about certain situations. For example, if when stressed the first thought that

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comes to mind i.a, “I need a cigarette,” you can change this to, “I need some fresh
air,” This will allow you to better handle stress without a cigarette.

 Education about the quit process: The more you know and understand about
nicotine dependence, quit strategies and withdrawal symptoms, the better
equipped you will be to face the challenge of quitting.

 Identifying social or environmental cues that trigger the urge for a cigarette: By
determining which situations make you most desire nicotine, you can better avoid
them. For example, if having a coffee is a strong cue for lighting a cigarette, the
drinking tea or milk instead may be a better option. In order to identify these
cues, you may wish to use a diary to record every time you feel like a cigarette,
and what you were doing and how you were feeling at the time.

 Identifying motivational cues: If there are certain time/places/people/actions that

make you feel more motivated to quit, visit the more often! A diary can help
identify these cues as well.

 Aversion therapy: Cigarette aversion can be achieved by highlighting all your

negative associations to smoking. It may be helpful to construct a chart that links
the number of cigarettes you smoke with unpleasant feelings and poor mood you
felt when you smoked that many cigarettes.

 Social support: It is important to determine the level of social support you will
have when you attempt to quit. What is the smoking status of your current social
network? If you have many friends and family members who smoke, think about
how supportive they will be of your quit attempts. You may need guidance to
help you manage your current social network or build a larger non-smoking
network.

 Nicotine replacement therapy and medication: Nicotine replacement therapy

(NRT), anti-depressants and other medication have all been shown to help
smokers without mental health problems to stop smoking and they may also be
helpful for people with depression or schizophrenia. NRT appears to be more
effective when combined with a talking therapy.

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In summary, when attempting to change behaviour, keep the following in mind: the
value of small steps; the importance of experimenting with different tactics; the need
to practice; to keep your focus on the positive and remember that making any amount
of progress, no matter how small, is significant!. Any effort in the direction of
positive change is well-used energy, regardless of the ‘outcome’.

Lastly, learning theories are facing new challenges as people grapple with increases in
the amount of available information that needs to be learned, rapidly changing
technologies that require new types of responses to a new problem, and the need to
continue learning throughout one’s life even into old age. Contemporary learning
theories supported by empirical research offer the promise of enhanced learning and
improved thinking-both of which are critical in a rapidly changing and complex
world.

(3577 Words)

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5. References.

Bandura, Albert. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
Hall.

Martin, G., & Pear, J. (2003). Behaviour modification: What it is and how to do it (7th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Skinner, B. F. (1938). “A system of behaviour.” In A History of Psychology: Original

Sources and Contemporary Research, ed. Ludy T. Benjamin. New York: McGraw-
Hill.

Thorndike, Edward, L. (1913). “The laws of Learning in Animals.” In A History of

Psychology: Original Sources and Contemporary Research, ed. Ludy T. Benjamin.
New York: McGraw-Hill.

Tolman, Edward. C. (1948). “Cognitive Maps in Rats and Men.” In A History of

Psychology: Original Sources and Contemporary Research, ed. Ludy T. Benjamin.
New York: McGraw-Hill.

Watson, John. B. (1913). “Psychology As the Behaviorist Views It.: In A History of

Psychology: Original Sources and Contemporary Research, ed. Ludy T. Benjamin.
New York: McGraw-Hill.

Westen, Drew. (1996). Psychology: Mind, Brain, and Culture. New York: John Wiley
and Sons.

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