Behavior Modification: What It Is And How To Do It (8th Edition) 
This easy-to-use handbook is ideal for practitioners concerned with overcoming behavioral deficits and excesses in a wide variety of populations and settings. Written in a reader-friendly style that assumes no prior knowledge of behavior modification or psychology, it provides a comprehensive, practical presentation of both the elementary principles of behavior modification and step-by-step “how-to” guidelines for their application. Includes real-life cases and examples throughout. Getting A Behavior To Occur More Often With Positive Reinforcement. Developing And Maintaining Behavior With Conditioned Reinforcement. Decreasing A Behavior With Extinction. Developing Behavioral Persistence Through The Use Of Intermittent Reinforcement. Types Of Intermittent Reinforcement To Decrease Behavior. Doing The Right Thing At The Right Time And Place: Stimulus Discrimination And Stimulus Generalization. Developing Appropriate Behavior With Fading. Getting A New Behavior To Occur: An Application Of Shaping. Getting A New Behavior To Occur With Behavioral Chaining. Eliminating Inappropriate Behavior Through Punishment. Establishing A Desirable Behavior By Using Escape And Avoidance Conditioning. Procedures Based On Principles Of Respondent Conditioning. Respondent And Operant Conditioning Together. Transferring Behavior To New Settings And Making It Last: Generality Of Behavior Change. Capitalizing On Existing Stimulus Control: Rules And Goals, Modeling, Guidance, And Situational Inducement. Behavioral Assessment: Initial Considerations. Direct Behavioral Assessment: What To Record And How. Functional Assessment Of The Causes Of Problem Behavior. Planning, Applying, And Evaluating A Treatment Program. Token Economies. Helping An Individual To Develop Self-Control. Systematic Self-Desensitization. Cognitive Behavior Modification. Areas Of Clinical Behavior Therapy. Ethical Issues. For practitioners of various helping professions who are concerned directly with enhancing various forms of behavioral development (e.g., education, counseling, clinical psychology, medicine, nursing, psychiatry, psychiatric nursing, social work, speech therapy, sport psychology, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy).
Reviews
For anyone interested in behavior modification, or behavior therapy - whether as an educator, clinician, or even a parent (who might be wondering why their child doesn't seem to be responding to certain "punishment" perhaps?) - this text is written and laid out in a very simple, easily accessible format. Case studies or examples are provided to illustrate the application of new concepts, and most of them are very well chosen. Regardless of prior education on the subject, most individuals will be able to understand it and gain new knowlege that they can apply in the real world.
HOWEVER. The chapters, while short, are at times very repetitive - it becomes very hard to follow (motivationally) when you find yourself reading the same concept five times. The book can also seem very dry, and it makes it very tempting to skip over entire sections just to find something more engaging or interesting. Although this book is very easily read and understood - potential readers need to be warned (and actually are in the beginning) that finishing this text will not dramatically increase their ability to change other people, and that any behavioral modification procedures should be used with extreme caution - many behavioral problems result from behavioral modification that was improperly designed or administered! My last word of caution would be that although the majority of these techniques will work in nearly all cases, there will be some cases in which, due to context or individual factors, they will not. Be sure to read it while keeping an open mind to considering practicality and ethical applicability.