Characteristics of Human Behaviour
What is human behaviour?
It is what people do or say.
What is behaviour modification?
The applied science concerned with analyzing and modifying human behaviour.
What does behaviour management focus on?
Changing target behaviours, not personalities.
Who introduced respondent conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov.
Name two areas where behaviour modification is applied today.
Education and mental health.
Name two measurable dimensions of behaviour.
Frequency and duration.
What does analyzing mean in behaviour management?
Identifying the functional relationship between environmental events and behaviour.
What theory guides behaviour management?
Behaviourism.
What is Thorndike's law of effect?
Behaviours producing favourable effects are more likely repeated.
When did research on behaviour modification with humans begin?
1950s.
What is an overt behaviour?
A behaviour observable by others, like playing guitar.
What does modifying mean?
Developing and implementing procedures to help people change their behaviour.
Why is emphasis placed on current environmental events?
Because behaviour is controlled by immediate environment.
Who coined the term behaviourism?
John B. Watson.
Why is behaviour modification widely used today?
Thousands of studies show its effectiveness.
What is a covert behaviour?
A private event observable only by the actor, like feeling anxious.
What is a target behaviour?
An undesirable behaviour that needs to be changed.
Why measure behaviour change?
To know if modifications worked.
Who developed operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner.
Give an example of a problematic behaviour addressed by modification.
Excessive social media use.
Why is behaviour considered lawful?
Because it has a functional relationship with environmental events.
What is behavioural excess?
An undesirable behaviour a person wants to decrease.
Why reject hypothetical causes?
Behaviourism focuses on observable and measurable factors.
What did Skinner contribute?
Applied principles of behaviour analysis to humans.
What principle underlies all applications?
Changing behaviour through environmental control.