Behaviour Modification

Abstract

Behaviour modification has as its goal the change or removal of a patient’ symptoms, usually concentrating upon the directly observable manifestations of abnormality. It is generally held by behaviour therapists that the methods of treatment which they employ derive from theories of learning and conditioning, although there is nowadays a tendency to broaden the ‘behavioural’ approach to include some apparently successful strategies which have more doubtful connections with such theories and are, in consequence, referred to as ‘behaviour modification’ procedures.