THE MODIFICATION OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

THROUGH OPERANT CONDITIONING

JOHN BURCHARD* and VERNON TYLER JR.
Fort Worden Treatment Center, Port Townsend, Washington, U.S.A.
(Received 27 November 1964)
Summary-The
frequent antisocial behaviour of a 13-year-old delinquent boy was hypothesized as resulting
from contingencies existing between such behaviour and social reinforcements provided by staff and peers.
Systematic use of such operant techniques as time-out from reinforcement, differential reinforcement and
discrimination training over a five-month period resulted in a declining rate of anti-social behaviour together with a decrease in seriousness of offences. Five months of operant conditioning was more effective in
modifying and controlling his behaviour than the more conventional types of psychotherapy utilized during
the previous four years of his institutionalization.
IN recent
years there has been an impressive
demonstration
of the modification
of
maladaptive
behaviour with psychotherapeutic
techniques which are based upon principles
of learning(Bandura,
1961; Eysenck, 1960; Rachman, 1963; Wolpe, 1958). Inmostinstances
the behaviour being modified has involved some form of neurotic disorder and the therapeutic technique has been based upon the principles of classical conditioning
(i.e. desensitization, aversion-relief
therapy). There has also been an increasing number of studies in which
pathological
behaviour has been significantly modified with techniques based on operant
conditioning
(Ayllon, 1963; Ayllon and Haughton,
1962; Lindsley, 1956; Rickard, Dignam
and Horner. 1960; Wolf, Risley, and Mees, 1964). There have, however, been few attempts
to modify the antisocial behaviour
of the delinquent
(Slack, 1960; Schwitzgebel,
1960;
Schwitzgebel,
1963; Schwitzgebel and Kolb, 1964).
In the exploratory study to be reported here, a programme was developed to eliminate
antisocial behaviour utilizing the principles of operant conditioning.
It was hypothesized
that the frequent disruptive and antisocial behaviour of the subject used in this study was
a function of the contingencies
existing between such behaviour and the social reinforcements received from peers and staff within the institution, and it was felt that such behaviour
could be eliminated through a systematic modification
of those contingencies.

CASE HISTORY
Donny has been institutionalized
since he was nine years old, a period of four and a
half years. He was committed to the Department
of Institutions
of the State of Washington
due to his mothers inability to handle his destructive
and disruptive behaviour
which
included destruction of property, cruelty to domestic animals and small children, stealing,
starting fires, bed-wetting,
etc. Diagnostic
labels have ranged from possible childhood
schizophrenia
to psychopathic
personality and in each psychiatric or psychological evaluation he has received, it was concluded that his general adjustment had deteriorated and that
his behaviour was becoming more difficult to control.
* Presently Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina.
245

246

JO~NBUR~H~D

and VERNONTYLER

JR.

A psychiatric report written shortly after Donny was committed to the institution
set
the pattern of his treatment for the next two years. The report stated that Donny would be
a perfect candidate for regressive therapy; that he should be regressed to the point of taking
a bottle from his therapist, that he should have as much physical contact as possible, even
if only to sit on the therapists lap for an hour and suck candy, and that if he could be brought
to smearing faeces it would surely be good for him. The report continued that the only
alternative would appear to be to lock Donny up for the remainder of his life and that the
worst outcome of the recommended
procedure would be that he would remain at an early
level of development
and then be suitable for a mental hospital.
After this two year period of regressive therapy, other methods of treatment
were
undertaken
including a more behaviourally
oriented approach, but they were all ineffective
in controlling
Donnys behaviour and were therefore abandoned.
In conjunction
with the
various psychotherapeutic
endeavours, Donny was also receiving various types and dosages
of tranquilizers,
none of which seemed to have a consistent or enduring effect.
During the year prior to this study, Donnys behaviour led to his confinement
in an
individual isolation room* on more than 40 occasions where he spent a total of 200 days.
His most serious offences included : smearing paint over the walls and curtains of his room,
breaking and entering, glue-sniffing,
damage to property, attempted escape, and inflicting
injuries on himself and others.
Approximately
three months prior to the beginning
of the study, it was the staff
consensus that Donny could not be controlled in a cottage setting.? Therefore he was placed
in an isolation room on a continuous
basis and it was recommended
that he be transferred
to an institution
where greater external controls were available.
PROCEDURE
Analysis of Donnys behaviour with its consequences strongly suggested that his antisocial behaviour was controlled by various contingencies
that existed within the institution.
Observation of the interaction between Donny and the institutional
staff indicated that much
of his antisocial behaviour was followed by rewards rather than punishment.
The events
which were acting as reinforcers and thereby increasing the probability
of this behaviour
seemed to be the following:
1. Increased staff attention as a consequence of his disruptive or antisocial behaviour.
Whenever Donny was placed in a cottage for the first time (e.g. after transfer from isolation),
he would gradually become more difficult to control.
Associated with this behaviour was
a temporal sequence of staff reactions which appeared to be reinforcing; efforts to ignore the
behaviour
as long as possible, attempts at supportive persuasion
to desist, frustration,
ambivalence, expression of anger, the administration
of punishment (placement in isolation),
and then guilt reactions with sympathy and visits to isolation.
Although the time Donny
* The isolation room was one of several rooms, 8 x 10 ft, in a security unit and contained a stationary
meta bed and toilet. The isolation unit was on a separate floor from the cottage and was checked hourly by a
security man.
t The cottage consisted mainly of a large dormitory and dayroom containing a ping-pong table, TV,
pool table. Although the total population varied, there were usually 20 to 22 boys residing in the cottage.
The cottage and the institution provide an open setting inasmuch as there are no physical barriers to
prevent unauthorised leave. The staff assigned to the cottage consisted of a cottage supervisor and five
cottage parents all of whom had at least a high school education. On all occasions there was one staffmember in the cottage, although during the day shift on weekdays, the regular stat? were frequently assisted
by the cottage supervisor.

THE MODIFICATION

OF DELINQUENT

BEHAVIOUR

THROUGH

OPERANT

CONDITIONING

spent in the isolation unit far exceeded that of any other boy in the institution,
apparent that he was also receiving far more individual attention than anyone else.
2. Snacks which were given to Donny
3. Peer
inciting the
assaultive.
was able to
these same

by the staff while he was in his isolation

247
it was
room.

attention,
praise and sympathy
as well as considerable
gratification
from
boys in the cottage to the point where they became emotionally upset, vocal and
Also, because the isolation rooms were in close proximity to each other, Donny
communicate
verbally with other boys in the security unit and actually obtained
types of rewards while in isolation.

Associated with the administration

of these reinforcers were other factors which could
explain why there was such a high operant level of antisocial behaviour.
The immediate
reinforcement
of staff and peer attention appeared to be considerably more potent than the
delayed punishment
(isolation).
In addition, the competing,
socially-acceptable,
good
behaviour,
which in Donnys case mainly consisted of apathetically
watching TV and
suppressing unacceptable
behaviour, was not sufficient to evoke much reinforcement
from
others. In a cottage setting where one staff-member
is responsible
for 15 to 25 boys,
considerable
attention must be focused on problems which develop within the cottage and
in many instances there is little time to direct attention toward the boy who is not acting
out. In general, the contingencies
described above indicate that the staff were actually
shaping and maintaining
Donnys antisocial behaviour.
During the five months of this study, Donny was taken off all medication, placed in a
regular cottage setting and routine and removed from all the conventional
forms of
psychotherapy.
The contingencies
of his behaviour were systematically modified to produce
the following programme
of concurrent
punishment
of antisocial
behaviour
and the
differential reinforcement
of all other behaviour.
1. In order to avoid the reinforcement
of antisocial behaviour, Donny was immediately
and perfunctorily
placed into his isolation
room upon displaying
any unacceptable
behaviour.
He was to remain there for a period of three hours unless he was sent in the late
evening in which case he remained there until 7.00 a.m. All staff-members
who were in
contact with Donny were given the following instructions:
Whenever Donny displays any unacceptable
behaviour, he is to be immediately placed in
isolation.
Unacceptable
behaviour is defined as any behaviour which would normally
require a sanction, verbal or otherwise.
If you dont feel the behaviour should warrant
isolation, then the behaviour
should be ignored.
However, if any action is taken to
modify or eliminate the behaviour, it should be isolation.
The use of isolation should be
on an all-or-none basis; that is he should never be threatened with the possibility of being
sent to isolation.
He should be sent to isolation in a matter-of-fact
manner.
He should
be told in simple terms why he is being sent and any further verbal interaction with Donny
should be held to a minimum.
It is important that you do not become too emotionally
involved with Donny. Anyone who feels guilty or for some reason does not send Donny
to isolation when his behaviour warrants it is not participating
in the treatment plan. As
long as Donny is fouling up, the more he is sent to isolation, the more effective the
treatment programme will be.
2. In order to remove possible positive reinforcement
from the punishing
situtation,
while Donny was in isolation a radio immediately
above his room was played at moderate
volume between the hours of 7.00 a.m. and 10.00 p.m. The purpose of the radio was to

248

JO~NBURCHA~D

and VERNON

TYLER

JR.

prevent communication
between Donny and any other boys who might be in the isolation
unit or any unnecessary communication
with staff who might be in the area.
Aside from a metal bed without any mattress and a toilet, there were no objects within
Donnys isolation room. If Donny had to remain in isolation overnight, he was given a
mattress and blankets at 10.00 p.m.
All staff were instructed not to pay unnecessary
attention to Donny while he was in
isolation.
Whenever Donny acted out while he was in isolation, his length of stay in
isolation was extended by an hour.
3. For each hour that Donny remained out of isolation between the hours of 7.00 a.m.
and 10.00 p.m., he was given a token (poker chip). (If Donny remained in the cottage for the
entire overnight period between 10.00 p.m. and 7.00 a.m., he was given three tokens at
7.00 a.m.)
4. With his tokens, Donny was permitted to buy such things as cigarettes, soda pop,
trips to town, recreational activities, attendance at movies, and so on. These privileges were
only available to Donny when he was able to pay for them with the appropriate number of
tokens. At irregular intervals, approximately
three times a week, he was given an opportunity to spend his tokens in the institution
canteen.
The opportunity
to purchase nonmaterial rewards (i.e. recreational activities) usually occurred on a daily basis.
After twp months of this procedure, the following changes were made in his programme:
1. Donny was required to stay out of isolation for two hours rather than one hour in
order to receive one token. Whenever Donny remained out of isolation for a period of 24
hours, he received a bonus of seven tokens. These changes represented an attempt to shape
longer periods ot acceptable behaviour by increasing the time interval between reinforcements and by increasing
the reinforcement
for a long interval (24 hours) of other
behaviour.
2. Trips to the canteen were made at regular, predetermined
intervals, three times a
week. After two months of the study, it was evident that the intermittent
schedule for
primary reinforcement
(trips to the canteen) created anger and frustration
for Donny.
Therefore that schedule was changed.
3. Time in isolation was changed from three to two hours. It was feIt that two hours
was sufficient time-out
and this gave Don an opportunity
to spend more time in the
cottage.
RESULTS
The results show a gradual but consistent decline in the frequency of unacceptable
behaviour.
Donny was placed in isolation 18 times during the first month and 12 times
during the fifth month, a decline of 33 per cent. The significance of these results was
enhanced by a subjective analysis which indicated that as the study progressed, the seriousness of the offences decreased.
Donnys most serious offences during the first one-month
period included glue-sniffing on two occasions, attempting to sniff purex which he pilfered
from the storeroom,
stealing fish while visiting a fish hatchery, stealing from the staff,
and fighting with peers. During the last month, Donnys most serious offences were:
fighting, running in the cottage, disrupting his ciassroom at school, insolence to cottage
staff and general disruptive behaviour in the cottage. It should also be mentioned
that it
was the opinion of some of the staff that as the study progressed they had raised their
behaviour
to include behaviours
which were previously
criterion
for unacceptable
unpunished
(e.g. running in the cottage). Several comments made by the staff during the

THE MODIFICATION OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR THROUGH

OPEKANT CONDlTlONlNG

249

study indicated that Donny was much easier to control and that, for the most part, his
attempt verbally to manipulate
staff (cajoling and begging) decreased.
Regarding the procedural changes made at the close of the second month, there was
no noticeable
change in the number of trips to isolation to suggest that the procedure
for the succeeding three months was any more or less effective than the procedure for the
preceding two months.
DJSCUSSION
In general, it is felt that many of the initial objectives of this study were accomplished.
As an exploration into the use of operant techniques in modifying the antisocial behaviour
of delinquents,
useful information
was obtained, especially with regards to methodology.
Because there were many relatively
untrained
institutional
staff members
who were
responsible
for applying the contingencies
and recording the data, it was impossible to
obtain laboratory
precision and therefore, it was impossible to ascertain which aspects of
the procedure were responsible for the behavioural
changes which occurred. Nevertheless,
this study does provide evidence which strongly suggests that Donnys antisocial behaviour
was shaped and maintained
by the natural contingencies
within the institution and that the
overall modification
of those contingencies
was responsible
for the obvious decline of
that behaviour.
After five months on this programme,
the ,g~~sly unmanageable
aspects
of Donnys behaviour were eliminated so that he could be controlled in an open cottage
setting.
One factor that contributes
to the lag in applying operant techniques to the treatment
of delinquents
is the delinquents
ability to conceal his pathology
(Cleckley, 1955).
Most delinquents
possess considerable
control over their behaviour
and can adapt to
significant alterations in their environment.
Unlike the neurotic whose anxiety attacks are
consistent and stimulus-bound,
or the psychotic who frequently displays grossly atypical
behaviour, the delinquent may function quite adequately in certain situations for relatively
long periods of time, especially if his environment
possesses considerable
structure and
control.
Therefore it is difTicult to study the effects of operant techniques
on any one
particular type of antisocial response (e.g. stealing), because of its extremely low operant
level in most situations where such techniques could be applied.
In order to avoid this problem a subject was chosen for this study who displayed a wide
variety of antisocial
behaviour
within the institution
and the dependent
variable was
defined in terms of an extremely broad class of behaviour (unacceptable
behaviour) providing an operant level of sufficient magnitude
for study. At the present time. however,
the investigators
are evaluating two other ways of resolving this prnhlem.
The tir\t conbists
of systematically
removing
considerable
structure
and control
from the institutional
environment
so that the delinquent is given progressively greater responsibility
and freedom.
It is felt that under such conditions
an individual will be more apt to display the type of
behaviour that led to his institutionalization.
It is also apparent that this would serve to
increase the similarity between the institutional
and home environments
thereby facilitating
any generalization
that might take place.
A second way in which antisocial behavil-z,
inight be made more susceptible to this
type of investigation
would be to create situations
which simulate certain simulus characteristics of the environment
which are associated with the expression of antisocial behaviour.
For example, under moderately
controlled
conditions
the experimenter
could build into
the institutional
environment
a certain amount of deprivation
or frustration
in order to

250

JOHNBURCHARDand VERNONTYLERJR.

precipitate antisocial behaviour which could then be followed by certain prearranged

consequences. Because this would provide the experimenter with some control over the
occurrence of antisocial behaviour there would be a corresponding increase in the control
and precision associated with the administration of contingencies and the collection of data.
With regard to the effect of operant techniques on the behaviour of the delinquent,
it is probable that more information could have been obtained if a more specific and readily
definable behaviour had been selected. While further work will be done in this area, the
objective of the present study was to develop a set of operant techniques which would
modify the antisocial. behaviour of a delinquent.
Acknowledgments--The authors are indebted to E. G. LINDQUIST,Superintendent, and ROBERTKOSCHNICK,
Assistant Superinten~nt
of the Fort Worden Treatment Center, Port Townsend, Washington, for their
co-operation and en~uragement
throughout the course of this study. Also MONTROSEWOLF and TODD
RISLEYof the University of Wash~gton deserve credit for their valuable counsel concerning certain problems
which arose during the study.
We wish to express special appreciation to the cottage staff members who worked closely with Donny,
JOE PETERS,VAL WIDNER, JAMESLINDLEY, BYRON RUBY, LARRY WILLIAMSON,JACK GALLAGERand to
GORDONALLIEand his security staff, without whose co-operation this study could not have been satisfactorily
conducted.
This paper was presented at the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, California, 1964.

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