TECHNIQUE OF BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION AND MENTAL HEALTH

The conceptual and methodological foundations of behavioraltreatment are to be found in what is known as the functional        analysis ofbehavior (Skinner, 1953,1969), according to which the  measured interactions between behaviors and environmental events    specify their functions for the behaver. That is, in a functional analysis, behavioral and environmental events are defined  in terms of their causal relationships withone another.

In application, functional behavior analysis seeks to discover, through the experimental method, events preceding behavior (antecedents) and those following behavior (consequences) that have demonstrable    effects on such measurable behavioral dimensions as frequency,  duration,  intensity,and location of the behavior in space and time (Lindsley). Functional behavior analysis applies to both manipulation   of already existing behaviors and the development (i.e., teaching) of  new forms of responding (cf. Barrett, 1977). For example, the term “reinforcement”   is applied to an event that follows a behavior if  — and only if  — it…