Classical conditioning is where something that at first does not stimulate behaviour in someone goes on to do so by the introduction of a stimulus that can elicit such a reaction. They are unlearned but may be conditioned or changed through learning. For example, Ian Pavlov conditioned dogs to associate food with the sound of a bell. An example of how behaviour modification might help treat criminals (give an example from Paul Britton Picking up the Pieces and an aggressive client learning to associate Britain's face with non-threatening and caring experience).

An example of how classical conditioning can help in the treatment of criminals can be found in the work of the Building a Better Future Scheme. The scheme, which lasts for 12 weeks, aims to help ex-offenders access mainstream society by teaching them how to find employment and ultimately to find housing. If at the end of the 12 weeks the ex-offender has met all of the aims of the scheme he or she will be approved tenancy for a flat. However, if whilst on the scheme they reoffend they are dismissed and refused further help fr

In contrast, operant behaviours are responses emitted without a stimulus necessarily being present. They are acts on the environment, made freely and occurring spontaneously. These behaviours allow for operant conditioning or spontaneous behaviours whose consequences determine their frequency. In operant conditioning a therapist might teach a client to perform behaviours that result in good outcomes and not to perform behaviours that cause negative consequences. Skinner who taught rats to press levers by rewarding them with food pellets pioneered this type of conditioning. Many schools show educational videos about the dangers of drug use, which result in a spontaneous

In more recent times, although the age old techniques are still used, an enormous amount of research has been undertaken to define exactly how criminals can be treated with the use of behaviour modification.

Later, people like Joseph Wolpe, Hans Eysenck, and M. Shapiro, used and developed these methods. This was mostly in connection with people with disabling fear reactions. The ideas of B. F. Skinner, who led the behavioural movement in psychology, played a leading role in some approaches to modifying human behaviour. Different approaches evolved, and some of these became well known enough to have particular names - systematic desensitisation, aversion therapy and biofeedback.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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