Overcorrection technique: what is it and how is it used to educate?

Parents often try all kinds of tactics to get their children to maintain appropriate behaviors.

However, many of them are not usually satisfactory since the behavior change that we seek in the long term is not generated. Let's get to know the technique of overcorrection, a behavior modification resource with great potential to achieve this objective, with the subsequent joy of the parents.

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What is the overcorrection technique?

The overcorrection technique is a tool for behavior modification, especially used in children. It is based on the establishment of consequences for a certain behavior that have to do with it.

In other words, if the child in question has stained a piece of furniture with his paintings, a valid consequence according to this technique would be having to clean both that piece of furniture and all of the furniture in the room.

Hence the overcorrection, since you are not only asked to correct the situation that it has generated, but you must overcorrect it,

extending her behavior to other related elements. The objective is to generate a series of consequences that are not harmful for the little one, but that are not something appetizing either.

It is a punishment, therefore, in the sense of the word corresponding to the technique of operant conditioning. In this context, punishment would be any element that causes a decrease in the repetition of a certain behavior, and it is exactly what the overcorrection technique would be looking for.

This technique would never use any punishment that would threaten the integrity of the child, either at the psychological or physical, which would not be justified in any case, neither for this nor for any other technique of modification of conduct. Not only that, but the punishment must be related in some way to the behavior to be eliminated.

Therefore, nor it would be useless, according to the technique of overcorrection, to punish by taking the toys away from that child who has defaced the furniture, since they are two totally independent situations and it is difficult to establish a relationship between the two events. On the other hand, by summoning him to clean that painting and also extending the punishment to the cleaning of others elements, we are showing him the obvious relationship between his behavior and the consequence of the herself.

In addition, when using this type of punishment to seek the reduction of the behavior, parents can rest assured of not being generating emotional negativity in the child, that no aggressive behavior will be perceived towards he.

How to use?

Although we have already mentioned some example, we are going to break down in detail the different ways we have to apply the overcorrection technique, depending on the behavior that we want to eliminate or according to our needs or the possibilities that we have at that moment.

In this way, we can find mainly two ways of proceeding to be able to practice this technique. They would be the following.

1. Restorative overcorrection technique

The first modality of the overcorrection technique is the one that seeks the restitution of the damage generated by the misconduct. The example we saw in the first point about a child who uses his paintings on a piece of furniture and consequently his parents They impose as a punishment to clean, not only said furniture, but many other elements of the room, it would be a good example of this kind.

In this way, the infant will learn what it is that he has done wrong and how to repair it, going much further, since restitution is being exaggerated to purpose, so that it serves as an operant punishment, that is, that it reduces the probability that the child will repeat a behavior similar to the one he has brought there.

That is, there is a double function: first, the child is able to repair the situation, in this case, cleaning the paint stains that she had generated. But in addition, by making this conduct extensive to many other elements, the child is put before a punishment that has an obvious connection with what happened but also extends the consequences, to ensure that it is not he repeat more.

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2. Positive Practice Overcorrection Technique

But the situation does not always lend itself to direct restitution, or the conduct simply has not caused damage or damage, but must still be replaced by another. In that case, an appropriate punishment may be the constant repetition of the behavior we want to establish, in an exaggerated way.

An example could be that of a child who finishes having a snack and, instead of putting the plate in the dishwasher or on the sink, leaves it on the table. In this case, an overcorrection technique might be to ask him to put the dish in the dishwasher, then to put it in the dishwasher. take it out again and leave it on the table, put it back in the dishwasher and so on for a number of repetitions around ten.

The objective is to provoke in the child a connection between the inappropriate behavior that she had and the punishment that he was forced to carry out, this being uncomfortable for him but without compromising in the least their psychophysical integrity.

Usefulness of this technique in the education of boys and girls

Many readers with children may be wondering in what kinds of situations the technique of overcorrection is useful. The reality is that it is a versatile technique that can be used against a variety of incorrect behaviors on the part of the child. We can use it to eradicate behaviors that are not desirable, bad habits and even aggressive behaviors.

Once the behavior we want to correct is discovered, the punishment will be established immediately, which we have already seen must be directly related to said behavior. What is being sought is for the child to extinguish this behavior and at the same time repeatedly practice the new one that we propose as a replacement for the previous one.

Of course, resistance may appear, since the activity proposed as punishment is not something palatable for the child, so it is easy for the tantrums, tears and other reactions with which he will try to show his dislike and even manage to escape from the stage. But the role of the father and mother has to be firm, making him see that she has to comply with the punishment as a consequence.

The adult can and should make her see that she fully understands how he feels and will be with him to support him, but that will not imply that the child can escape punishment. For the overcorrection technique to be effective, you have to be persistent in applying the repair. If the precedent is set that with certain resistances the child can “get rid” of restoring the damage, he will know that there is always a way out and we will have failed.

A good method is to guide the little one, calmly, in the task that he must carry out, showing him how it is done. Thus, the adult will be able to act as a model and thus give him the example that he needs to verify that there is nothing wrong with what he should do, but that it is necessary for him to do it so that everything is correct. It makes her see that she is practicing the correct behavior.

Therefore, if the child relapses into an unwanted behavior, it can be said, from the calm, that it seems that he lacks practice in good behavior, and for that reason he is going to have to do an exercise with which he will continue to learn how to Act. This is where punishment is introduced, in the form of restorative activity, in a repetitive or extended way, as we have already seen, depending on the modality that we have decided to use in this case.

In this way, with a simple proposal, keeping calm and without causing any harm to the child, which is essential when applying correction techniques, We will be managing to replace inappropriate behaviors with correct ones, which will be those that will be recorded in the minor as appropriate behaviors.

In summary, we can conclude that the overcorrection technique is a very powerful mechanism to educate children in good ways. behaviors, both for the effectiveness that he demonstrates and for the way he deals with it with the children themselves, who will not feel attacked in any sense, as much as at a given moment they do not like to carry out the imposed task, which of course will not be as fun as the one that caused the situation.

Bibliographic references:

• Bravo, S.C., Medina, E. (2014). Modification of disruptive behaviors in 2 children with autism, case report. HJCA Medical Journal.
• Epstein, L.H., Doke, L.A., Sajwaj, T.E., Sorrell, S., Rimmer, B. (1974). Generality and side effects of overcorrection. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Wiley Online Library.
• Foxx, R.M., Bechtel, D.R. (1982). Overcorrection. Progress in behavior modification. Elsevier.
• Ollendick, T.H., Matson, J.L. (1978). Overcorrection: An overview. Behavior Therapy.
• Rodríguez, J.F., Rodríguez, M.D., Moreno, I. (1996). Self-stimulatory behaviors: application of overcorrection and reinforcement in a case of mental deficiency. Notes of Psychology.