Four-year-old Leo spent too much time in solitary activities and his parents wanted to encourage him to play with others. An observer noticed that in the classroom Leo's teachers gave him attention whenever he was by himself but tended to ignore him when he played with others. The teachers were instructed to give Leo attention when he played with others and ignore him when he played alone. This example illustrates:

Behavior modification

Explanation:

In psychology, the term behavior modification refers to a technique that has the goal of change altered patterns of behavior using learning techniques such as positive and negative reinforcement. In other words, behavior modification, as it names says, focuses in changing undesired behaviors by using different techniques.

In this example, Leo spends too much time in solitary activities and the teachers gave him attention whenever he was by himself. So now, the teachers were given the instruction to give Leo attention when he plays with others and ignore him when he is alone. This way, by using negative reinforcements they want to change Leo's behavior by giving him attention when he is with others, to change his behavior to a more desirable one. This example therefore illustrates Behavior modification.