Habit-reversal: A method of eliminating nervous habits and tics

No clinical treatment for nervous habits has been generally effective. The present rationale is that nervous habits persist because of response chaining, limited awareness, excessive practice and social tolerance. A new procedure was devised for counteracting these influences: the client practiced movements which were the reverse of the nervous habit, he learned to be aware of each instance of the habit and to differentiate it from its usual response chain and he was given social approval for his efforts to inhibit the habit. The treatment was given during a single session to 12 clients who had diverse nervous habits such as nail-biting, thumb-sucking, eyelash-picking, head-jerking, shoulder-jerking, tongue-pushing and lisping. The habits were virtually eliminated on the very first day for all 12 clients and did not return during the extended follow-up for the 11 clients who followed the instructions.     

Improvements in the community-reinforcement approach to alcoholism

This study evaluated a modified Community-Reinforcement program for treating alcoholics. The previously tested Community-Reinforcement program included special job. family, social and recreational procedures and was shown to reduce alcoholism. To increase the effectiveness of the program further, the present study incorporated a Buddy system, a daily report procedure, group counseling, and a special social motivation program to ensure the self-administration of Disulfiram (Antabuse). The alcoholics who received the improved Community-Reinforcement program drank less. worked more, spent more time at home and less time institutionalized than did their matched controls who received the standard hospital treatment including Antabuse in the usual manner. These results were stable over a 2-year period. The program appeared even more effective and less time-consuming than the previous program. The present results replicate the effectiveness of the Community-Reinforcement program for reducing alcoholism and indicate the usefulness of the additions to the program.     

Habit reversal treatment of thumbsucking

About 40% of young children suck their thumbs, an action which is associated with dental problems and for which intra-oral devices have been the most effective treatment. The present study of 30 thumbsucking children evaluated the habit reversal treatment which included competing response training, parental support, and stimulus identification during a single session plus follow-up maintenance by the parent. Habit reversal training reduced thumbsucking by 92% in the first week, 95% in the fourth month, and 89% at the 20-month follow-up. A comparison treatment by a bitter tasting substance produced a reduction of about 35%.     

A response-spacing effect: an absence of responding during response-feedback stimuli

In most studies of operant reinforcement a response-feedback stimulus is used which is so brief that the nature of the responding during it is virtually undetectable. The present study investigated the nature of this responding by lengthening an initially brief feedback stimulus. The key-pecking responses of pigeons were maintained by a variable-interval schedule of food reinforcement. Each response produced a brief stimulus light in addition to the usual auditory response feedback. When the duration of the feedback stimulus light was gradually increased, it was found to control a nearly zero rate of responding. The result was a paced, metronomic-like performance in which the pigeon made a single response, paused until the stimulus terminated, and then responded again. As a result, the overall response rate was greatly reduced; the mean interresponse time approximated the stimulus duration. A plausible interpretation is that brief feedback stimuli acquire control over responding because they coincide with few responses and few reinforcers. These findings show that in addition to their known functions as conditioned-reinforcing stimuli and discriminative stimuli, response-feedback stimuli also exert direct stimulus control: responding is reduced during the feedback stimulus itself.     

Behavioral engineering: postural control by a portable operant apparatus

Recent studies suggested a general behavioral engineering approach to behavioral disorders by portable operant treatment instruments. The approach was applied to the problem of poor posture, specifically rounding of the back or slouching. An apparatus was developed that provided a warning stimulus followed by an aversive tone for the duration of slouching. Slouching was thereby punished by onset of the tone, and non-slouching was reinforced by tone termination and postponement. Twenty-five adults wore the apparatus during their normal working day during alternate periods in which the aversive tone was connected and disconnected experimentally. A miniature time-meter recorded the duration of slouching. The results showed that slouching decreased for each subject during each period in which slouching produced the aversive tone. For two subjects, a second control procedure was applied in which slouching terminated the tone. The result was an increase of slouching, demonstrating that the postural changes were controlled by the scheduled relation between the aversive tone and the response, and not by other factors such as simple response feedback. The substantial changes in posture indicate that the present procedure may prove to be an effective treatment alternative and suggests the general value of the behavioral engineering approach.     

Elicitation of aggression by a physical blow

Squirrel monkeys were exposed to brief tail-pinches in the presence of a cloth-covered ball. Attack was elicited against the ball as a direct function of the force of the tail-pinch. This finding in conjunction with previous findings regarding electric shock and intense heat demonstrates that several types of aversive stimulation can elicit aggression.     

The measurement and reinforcement of behavior of psychotics

An attempt was made to strengthen behaviors of psychotics by applying operant reinforcement principles in a mental hospital ward. The behaviors studied were necessary and/or useful for the patient to function in the hospital environment. Reinforcement consisted of the opportunity to engage in activities that had a high level of occurrence when freely allowed. Tokens were used as conditioned reinforcers to bridge the delay between behavior and reinforcement. Emphasis was placed on objective definition and quantification of the responses and reinforcers and upon programming and recording procedures. Standardizing the objective criteria permitted ward attendants to administer the program. The procedures were found to be effective in maintaining the desired adaptive behaviors for as long as the procedures were in effect. In a series of six experiments, reinforced behaviors were considerably reduced when the reinforcement procedure was discontinued; the adaptive behaviors increased immediately when the reinforcement procedure was re-introduced.