... of the principles of conditioning. Advocates of behavior modification assume that behavior is a product of learning, conditioning, and environmental control. Therefore, they believe that people can be "reconditioned" to produce more desirable patterns of behavior. This essay will describe the theory of behavior modification, the stages of behavior modification methods and examples of cases where behavior modification is applied to a variety of behaviors within an educational setting. Behavior modification is based on the concepts of observable antecedents, observable behavior, and consequences (Weiten 2004). Antecedents are events that typically precede the target response and consequences are events that occur after the behavior occurs. The process of behavior modification consist of a series of stages. An inappropriate behavior is observed, identified, targeted, and stopped. A new, appropriate behavior is identified to replace the inappropriate behavior and is developed, strengthened, and maintained. According to Skinner (1969, cited in Weiten, 2004), two ...

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