a03 behav modification

• One limitation research has shown long term it has little effect on recidivism rates, (blackburn) once the rewards cease the stimulus response link can become exctint which can happen when they leave the prison. Although their behaviour may seem to improve in the short twem priosn environment. Ultimately it may not have any effect in the real world. Furthermore some behaviour which are learnt in prisons like walking in a straight line aren't as applicable or important in real life. give the illusion of changing ebhaviour don't actually apply in the real world or their natural environment
• cohen and filipczack foudn juvenile delinquents who were trained with a token economy system were less likely to offend after one year. This shows it can be successfully applied to young offenders to reduce offending rates, however, rice studied men in a psychiatric hospital and found 50% men treated in this way reoffended. This shows there are individual differences and it may only be useful for young offenders
• Easy to implement. Behaviour modification does not need a specialist professional involved, whereas this is true for other forms of treatment eg. anger management. Token economy systems can be designed and implemented by virtually anyone. They are cost-effective and easy to follow once methods have been established. This suggests that behaviour modification techniques can be established in most prisons and accessed by most prisoners
• .Not straightforward.

  Basset and Blanchard found any benefits were lost if staff applied

  the techniques inconsistently due to lack of training or because of high

  staff turnover (an issue in many UK prisons). This suggests that behaviour modification schemes may not be as straightforward to implement as they first appear.