Behavioural Treatments & Therapies

Test yourself on Behavioural Treatments & Therapies

Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Token Economy for Behavioural Treatment of Prison Inmates

The token economy is a system of rewards based on the principles of operant conditioning. The concept is to modify behaviour and promote good behaviour by providing tokens.

Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is based on the principles of reinforcement of behaviour deemed appropriate or good and punishments for behaviour deemed inappropriate or bad.
The token economy, used with various groups like school children and prison inmates, is based on these principles.
- Good behaviour is rewarded with tokens for meeting specific goals of behaviour.
- Tokens can be saved up and spent to gain rewards.

Effectiveness

The token economy must be completely adhered to for it to be effective.
Several rules have to be put in place for it to be successful.

Rules

No other rewards or tokens outside of the system should be given, otherwise the tokens would have no value.
The ‘good’ behaviour that the prison wants inmates to have must be clearly defined.
To encourage participation, a selection of rewards must be put in place to appeal to the majority of inmates.

Rules cont.

Inmates must be told specifically the reasons behind receiving tokens.
The token:reward value must be clearly established.
- For example, how many tokens does it take to receive a bag of crisps.
The amount of tokens received for particular behaviours must also be clearly addressed.
- For example, keeping your cell neat and tidy will earn you 5 tokens.

Token Economy Evaluation

The programme has strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

The programme has been seen as a success by studies such as Milan and McKee (1976).
They studied a block of inmates who participated in three conditions:
- Those that underwent normal prison methods.
- Those that underwent a system of behaviour modification with no tokens.
- Those that underwent a full token economy.

Milan and McKee (1976) findings

Milan and McKee (1976) found that monitored behaviours like getting up on time and keeping their cell tidy did best in the full token economy.

Weaknesses

A weakness is the short lasting effects of the token economy.
A study by Kirigin et al. (1982) examined a token economy put in place with juvenile delinquents.
The programme was effective during the course of the programme.
However the rates of criminal behaviour (such as truancy) returned to the control level rates after the programme was complete.

Ethical issues

Another weakness would be the ethical issues raised by the implementation of a token economy.
It could be considered unethical to withhold things like food and water.
For a token economy to work best in a prison environment, withholding those items may be necessary.
However, food and drink, to most people, are considered a right and not a privilege.

Anger Management as Therapy

Anger management is a therapy whereby participants are taught to control their aggression and anger. It has been used to treat violent criminals.

Therapy

Anger management is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy.
The participants are taught to identify their anger and aggression.

Role of the therapist

The therapist helps the participant to challenge their anger and aggression.
The therapist works with them to prevent their angry thoughts from turning into aggressive behaviours.
They also teach simple acts like counting to 10 and breathing exercises to help control the anger.

Anger and crime

The participants are taught to control their anger to decrease their levels of violence.
It works on the principle that aggression and anger lead to violent criminal acts.
Therefore reducing the former, reduces the latter.

Goals

The ultimate goal is to reduce violent acts committed by the prisoner both in and out of prison.
Prisoners need to be made more self-aware and have better control.
This could also reduce the likelihood of recidivism.

The program

The therapy has been specifically tailored to prison.
Generally, the course has weekly two-hour sessions for 8 weeks.
Throughout the week, the prisoners are encouraged to keep track of their behaviours, thoughts and emotions.
By becoming aware of changes in these thoughts and emotions, it is hoped that they will have more control over them.