BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION AND COUNSELING SITUATIONS | BEHAVIOURAL THERAPIES

      Spielger and Guevremont (2010) refer to behavior modification as a process that modifies behavior. Behavior modification consists of procedures that change the consequences of behaviours such as reinforcement and the stimulus conditions that elicited behaviours like physical settings. Cognitive behavior therapy specifically refers to treatments that change cognitions such as thoughts and beliefs that influence psychological problems. On the broadest sense, behavior therapy includes all aspects of procedures, meant to effect positive changes in the behavior of people.

      Essuman, Nwaogu and Nwachukwu(1990) state that behavior modification is a systematic way of changing an undesirable behavior, to a desirable one. They assert that for orderliness in society, peoples’ behaviours are expected to be acceptable by the society. Good behaviors are not only ideal, but they promote unity, love for mankind, peaceful coexistence and national development, instead of acrimony. This means that acceptable behaviours are meant to promote harmony and concord instead of raising discord and disharmony in the society. Thus, behavior modification can be devised to change ethnic and religious intolerance which mainly could be instituted political ideologies meant as a wish to satisfy the whims and caprices of a few people.
            Egbo (2012) writes that ideology relates, interprets and manifests reasons for peoples’ belief, actions and hope. It mirrors and presents parlance for people to be understood and is generally, an aggregate view of the way people and nations define and see themselves and the way people see and interpret them in related light. Aja-Akpuru (1997) traced radical ideologies to Karl Max who as a revolutionalist was on a historic mission to change the world order from capitalism to communism. The unfortunate thing is that people fan the ambers of violence by inciting the youths on both ethnic and religious ideologies to wreck mayhem and cause violence in Nigeria. Usually, such ideologies end up being generated on personal reasons and gain.
            Thus, Egbo (2012) asserts that ideologies are systematically self centred, have broad and varying scopes of levels of appeals, empirical and normative; have perceptions of reality with claims of truth and understanding; have secret documents and, interested in political movements; resistant to changes; claim pragmatism and designed by inspire, incite, persuade and motivate actions. These have been the driving force behind most ethno- religious uprising in Nigeria. This takes root in the fact that in all societies, there are the rich and the poor; the privileged and the under privileged; the informed and the uninformed; the strong and the weak; the ignorant and the knowlegible, etc. and the affluent must rule over the down trodden. In all, ideology is used to justify or criticize condemnably, actions of either group, rulers or the ruled, as basis for providing finesse, social harmony and or decorum for sustainable co-existence or development or otherwise.
            Behavior modification process can therefore be used on people to unlearn them of inciting people based on ethnic and or religious reasons. Thus, Essuman, Nwaogu and Nwachukwu (1990) identify the benefits of behavior modifications as:
·                 It helps people to function more cooperatively and in less      hostile way
·                 If produces results with disabled people
·                 It can effectively, enhance the self, that is male people feel better about them selves        able to interact batter with other able to produce higher quality work able to keep at         learning tasks longer than even before.
            It is useful in handling a number of problems. When human beings have outstanding behaviour deficits in the cognitive, affective or psychomotor areas, behavioural therapeutic strategies can be used to help those affected acquire the expected skills. The indication is that behavior modification is attained through learning and other psychological principles and can be applied to:
a.      Work places
b.      Neurotic individual
c.      School situations
d.      Home/society
e.      Counseling situations; and the purpose is to prepare people for adjustment both in the home and in the larger society.
            Behavior modification follows a systematic procedure through which if properly followed unlearns people of unwanted behaviours. It involves mutual agreement between the counsellor and the clients expressing the zeal to put a stop to a particular bad behavioural antecedent. Thus the idea of religious and ethnic intolerance can be unlearned using the below steps between the therapist and the clients.
1.      Problem definition and identification
2.      Setting of goals
3.      Selection  of methods and techniques to achieving  the stated goal
4.      Treatment and feed back
5.      Evaluation and  correction
6.      Follow-up services. (Essuman et al, 1990)

            It must be noted that the clients have to participate actively in the setting of goals and they should also vow to decorum ethnic and religion violence and if possible change to observe particular models in both characters and utterances. The emphasis is that oneness can only be achieved if people are in peace and good decorum.
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