reinforcement therapy

noun

, Psychology.

1. a behavior modification technique in which appropriate behavior is strengthened through systematic reinforcement.

Example Sentences

In some mental hospitals, reinforcement therapy inspired by Skinner is helping apathetic or rebellious patients to behave more like healthy human beings.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jane's rescue from the subhuman existence of a mental-hospital ward is one of several hundred dramatic improvements that have been achieved by a relatively new�and hotly debated �technique known as reinforcement therapy.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unlike psychiatric techniques which seek to deal with deep-seated causes of a patient's psychosis, reinforcement therapy concentrates on controlling and guiding everyday behavior.

From Time Magazine Archive

The principles that underlie reinforcement therapy go back to Russia's Ivan Pavlov, whose classic experiments with salivating dogs first proved that human and animal reflexes could be conditioned.

From Time Magazine Archive

An even more challenging experiment in reinforcement therapy was begun eight years ago by Psychologists Teodoro Ayllon and Nathan Azrin at Anna State Hospital.

From Time Magazine Archive