Posted: May 15th, 2016

Behaviour modification report

Behaviour modification has been applied in a wide variety of areas to assist people in changing theirbehaviour. For example it is one of the key treatments underlying cognitive behavioural therapy usedwidely in clinical psychology.Self management is one area where behaviour modification has been applied. Individuals can usebehavioural modification techniques to control personal habits, health behaviours, professionalbehaviours and personal problems.

The aims of this assignment are to:

•Teach you about behavioural self management techniques, by giving you an opportunity to modify your own behaviour.
•Consider and discuss some of the different dimensions that influence the target behaviour.
•Explain the way that learning contributes to behaviour.
•Apply learning theory to modify behaviour.
•Develop skills in writing a research report.
•Gain experience in the use of APA format.

Choose a target behaviour that you would like to modify. Examples include:

• Increasing the number of hours of study.
• Increasing the occurrence of a healthy habit (e.g. exercise).
• Decreasing unhealthy food consumption.
• Decreasing the occurrence of an unhealthy habit (e.g. smoking).

To do this you will:

• Identify and precisely describe the behaviour.
• Choose an appropriate method to monitor the behaviour
• Monitor and record the behaviour for a minimum of 14 days
• Identify some principles which should lead to changing the behaviour in the desired direction.
• Using these principles, design a strategy or set of strategies to change the frequency of the behaviour.This is called the intervention.
• Implement the intervention for 14 days while continuing to monitor and record the behaviour.
• Write a report based on what you have done.

There is only one reference:

Miltenberger, R.G. (2008) Behavior modification: Principles and procedures (5th Ed.).Wadsworth, Belmont CA.

The critical chapters of this book are provided in a weblink contained in this folder. However, you will need additional chapters depending on the type of intervention/s you use. If you cannot afford to purchase the book, please email me:

You may use additional references if you require them. However this is not mandatory, nor is it expected. Please look at the BM marking criteria.doc to see what is important for this assignment.