ABSTRACT
The term contingency management is used to describe all those applications of the operant model that involve the therapist in trying to change, control or develop behaviours by altering existing patterns of eliciting stimuli and reinforcing consequences. In other words (in line with the assessment procedures discussed in Chapter 5) it is assumed that the desired behaviours are already in repertoire at some significant level, but need strengthening. That is, the client has to some extent already learned how to perform these behaviours, but perhaps exhibits them only in settings irrelevant to the problem under review, or very infrequently, or at only a weak level. It is on these questions that the decision whether or not to use approaches derived from operant reinforcement research rests.
