Behavior Modification Method

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In addition to his contributions to education, Skinner also influenced the clinical treatment of mental disorders. He created the behavior modification method; a process based on operant conditioning, by which subjects received small rewards for good behavior. The method has been used by psychologists and psychiatrist with extremely disturbed patients and has been used to overcome obesity, shyness, speech defects, addiction and other issues. The desired outcome is given a positive reinforcement and the behavior that is undesired is not given a reward. Behavior modification is most commonly used with children and it seeks to connect attention and positive reinforcement to the desired behavior. Later in the 1970's, behavioral therapy was