Thesis (M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Russell D. Shilling, Rudolph P. Darken. Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-172). Also available online.

In the last ten years, a number of behavioral approaches to marital therapy have been developed and applied to married couples. Intervention techniques have included selective reinforcement, extinction, modeling, aversive consequences, and contingency contracting. The present study investigated the use of the bug-in-the-ear (BITE) instrument as an aid in shaping marital interaction. The BITE has been applied in several child behavior modification programs, but no applications in marital therapy have been reported. The use of the BITE has been demonstrated and is considered clinically feasible. Since the N of this study was small and since the raters evaluating progress were knowledgeable and indeed involved in the hypothesis under investigation, caution must be exercised in the evaluation of the data. The necessity for evaluation of specific further research issues is discussed.