Do you know why people do what they do? Do you think psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors know this automatically when they get information about a new client’s problem? Sometimes it takes at least just a little more knowledge about a situation than what has been given to start with to understand why something is happening. I was taught to do behavior modification therapy and although the process I used was by the book; it had to be tweaked to work right. The necessary rewards and punishments had to motivate the client to do or not do a certain specified behavior or behaviors. For example, I have a family member for whom chocolate ice cream wouldn’t work, but for time for this family member to take a nice long bath would.
Marestail shows moisture at high altitude, signalling the later arrival of wet weather. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This has been a problem not only when doing behavior therapy but also when doing other kinds of therapy. Sometimes it’s not what you think that is why people do what they do. I knew of a farmer who drank when the weather forecast was bad. I figured he was upset that he couldn’t get into the field the next day and was worried that he wouldn’t get his crops in or out. No, I found out later that he knew he could drink that evening because he wouldn’t be operating farm equipment the next day.
I was using a very successful method of hypnosis for helping a person to quit smoking and I was getting nowhere. The person had very serious health problems caused by smoking. When I did a through follow-up interview, I found out that the only thing that person did for his or her own enjoyment was smoking. He or she constantly did for others 24/7. The amount of such work that he or she did was mind boggling. He or she was at the beck and call of family and friends.
Part of a parent’s job is to modify the behavior of their child or children to protect them from danger and to learn more appropriate ways for their child or children to get what they want or need. For this we get very little training and what we do know we have learned from the way our parents‘ raised us. It is surprising to me that for one of the most difficult jobs in life we get very little education. How we acquire knowledge is very important and yet it is often not studied by the very people who need it.
Behavior modification has been around for a long time. It has been taught to mental health professions, parents, teachers, and others. It seems very simple to do, but it is not that easy to apply. It takes some finesse and that is what makes it work for some users and not for other users. In this method, behavior change is facilitated by the use of rewards and punishments. Rewards can be given consistently or they can be given intermittently. The latter rather than the former is more effective. The behavior targeted to change is also important. Punishment focuses on the wrong, unwanted behavior and rewards focus on the desired behavior. It is usually best to develop an appropriate behavior by rewarding it with which to replace the “bad” behavior. An appropriate replacement behavior for one child might not work for another child. Also the effectiveness of the reward used depends on what the child likes to do or have. Social rewards like praise are better in the long run than concrete ones.
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