Abstract
Behavior modification is a product of the philosophy of behaviorism initially developed by John B. Watson and elaborated on by B. F. Skinner and others. Behaviorism requires a new approach to ethics that is not dependent on the concept of free will. A major problem with the concept of free will is that it is used by the powerful to justify their control over the less powerful through coercion. The practices of cultures like the traits of species determine which cultures will survive and hence perpetuate their practices. Cultures in which the powerful use coercive methods tend not to survive in the long run. Revolutions, constitutions, and bills of rights are examples of countercontrol or the application of control by the controlled over the behavior of the controllers. Behavior modification as a systematic set of empirically verified methods has been applied in all areas of human conduct and concern. As the power of behavior modification and its potential for abuse became evident, behavior modifiers began to develop ethical codes for behavior modification. It is instructive to note that these codes are directed, to a large extent, toward providing a strong measure of countercontrol to the recipients of behavior modification procedures.
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Baum, W. M. (2005). Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, culture, and evolution (2nd ed.). Malden: Blackwell.
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Pear, J.J. (2015). Behavior Modification. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_36-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_36-1
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