About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about behaviour modification as a form of rehabilitation, focusing in particular on: (i) the definition of behaviour modification as changing a person’s criminal behaviour into non-criminal behaviour; (ii) the aims of behaviour modification programmes to reinforce obedience and desirable behaviour in offenders, using operant conditioning; (iii) token economy programmes within prisons as a method of implementing behaviour modification principles; (iv) debates around the effectiveness of token economies, suggesting their effectiveness is limited to the short-term for young offenders.

About the lecturer

Professor Ciarán O’Keeffe is associate professor of education and research and head of the School of Human and Social Sciences at Buckinghamshire New University. Professor O’Keeffe’s research interests include investigative psychology and parapsychology, and has made numerous television and radio appearances alongside an array of celebrities. Some of Professor O’Keeffe’s recent publications include 'Things That Go Bump In The Literature: An Environmental Appraisal of 'Haunted Houses'' (2020) and 'Restorative Justice and Recidivism: Investigating the impact of victim-preference for level of engagement' (2014).