ABSTRACT
In the past, behaviour modification has been linked to social engineering, in recognition of what some saw as its potential to create the sort of scenario described by George Orwell in his book 1984. This foresaw a world in which people could do nothing without permission and everything they said or did was rewarded or punished according to rigid rules inflexibly applied by Big Brother. By implication, this creates a tragic and unfair situation for individuals whose needs and wishes cannot be met within the established rules. The possibility of such a situation arising has concerned psychologists and others for many years. It is known that behavioural principles can be misapplied, and that clients thereby become victims of abuse. It was pointed out that if you could reward a person for doing more, you could also reward them for doing less, and thus it might be of benefit to some people to teach individuals with a learning disability to sit in the corner and do and say nothing for long periods of time. Thus, even when behaviour modification was at its most influential in the days of institutions, there were those who saw a need for ethical guidelines.
