Do you remember being punished as a child? Why do you think your parents did that? Despite what we thought back then, it wasn’t because they hated us and enjoyed watching us suffer through a week without television. They merely disapproved of our actions and were hoping to prevent us from repeating them in the future. This is an excellent example of behavior modification.
Behavior modification refers to the techniques used to try and decrease or increase a particular type of behavior or reaction. This might sound very technical, but it’s used very frequently by all of us.
- Parents use this to teach their children right from wrong.
- Therapists use it to promote healthy behaviors 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.
Our responses to them teach them what we like and what we don’t.