Week # 4 - Web Divergence (Due Thursday)

1.) The topic I chose was bipolar disorder. This disorder has run in my family; starting with my grandpa, which passed on to my dad, and then to my brother. It is something I have had experience with and have really come to know and understand. I believe that it relates to behavior modification because treatment can involve manipulating behavior through psychotherapy and hypnosis.
2.)The first link I found talks about this disorder and the aspects of it. It goes on to say what it is, the symptoms/types, and treatment. One of the treatments that it talks about it psychotherapy or talk therapy. There are three parts to psychotherapy. The first part is behavioral therapy. This area tries to get the individuals to emit different actions which could in turn change the individuals response. The second area is cognitive therapy which focuses on manipulating thoughts. In other terms our thoughts are like the consequence for our behaviors. For example, in behavioral terms involving suicide, a person emitting a suicidal behavior could be the consequence of negative thoughts. Then there is the third part - interpersonal therapy, which looks at the individuals relationships with other people.
The second link is on hypnosis. Bipolar disorder can be treated with hypnosis. I thought this short article was pretty interesting. In a way hypnosis is like a positive reinforcement. In the article, they describe this process as taking out the negative experiences or thoughts and replacing those thoughts with positive ones. When the person “wakes up” he or she has a positive view on life – thus the consequence of this process would be reinforcing to the individual.
3.)Overall, even with the prior knowledge that I had I wasn’t aware of these two types of treatments. I learned a lot about psychotherapy and hypnosis and understood it in behavioral terms. I hadn’t really thought of eliciting certain behaviors to get a person to emit the behavior you want. Treating bipolar disorder does or can involve manipulating a person’s behavior using behavior modification.
4.)Emit, response, consequence, positive reinforcement, reinforcing, eliciting

http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_publications_fpom
http://ezinearticles.com/?Bipolar-Disorder---How-Behavior-Modification-and-Techniques-Can-Help&id=1821461
The following link goes into further detail on behavioral therapy:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-behavior-therapy.htm
This link gives a more in-depth definition of cognitive therapy:
http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm
This link gives a more detailed definition of interpersonal therapy:
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/about-interpersonal-therapy/

1) I chose to research prison rehabilitation methods. I am interested in this topic because I have for a while been interested in the prison system and how effective it is in preventing repeat offenses. My sister worked as a nurse in a state prison and always commented on the number of repeat offenders in the facility. I never understood this, so I am interested in finding out what techniques prisons use to try to decrease the aversive behavior (or crime) that the inmate did. This relates to behavior modification because the prison system ultimately is aimed at attempting to change the behaviors of the inmates so that they can became safe, trustworthy citizens.

2) http://www.howtodothings.com/health-fitness/prison-rehabilitation-programs
This first site discussed many different rehab techniques, but the one that stuck out to me was the educational rehab program. The inmates are given the opportunity to take classes and earn their degree in some area, ultimately hoping to increase the chance that they will get a job when they are out of prison. The target behavior is getting a job. The hope is that this pleasant behavior can be increased. In this case, they are hoping to do this by positive reinforcement. The consequence and reinforcer is getting money. This is an extrinsic reinforcer because getting a good job and money is something that society in general approves of, but the inmate may or may not find it intrisically valuable.
http://rehabilitationtoday.com/news/news/prisoner-rehabilitation-%96-giving-a-new-life-to-prisoners.html
This second website discussed a religion-based rehab technique. It specifically addressed a Christian technique, in which prayer and forgiveness were emphasized. This would be another example of positive reinforcement. If the inmate learns that their criminal activity elicits a lack of pleasure from God, they will be less likely to do this behavior in the future. This would be negative punishment because it represents the removal of something good (God's pleasure). In this situation the target behavior is the criminal activity, and this method should serve to decrease the criminal activity.

3) These websites helped me to understand that altering the behavior of inmates can be done in many ways. These two techniques alone demonstrated positive reinforcement and negative punishment. It is always interesting to see that behaviors can be modified by a myriad of different techniques.

4) Behavior, target behavior, positive reinforcement, consequence, reinforcer, extrinsic, intrinsic, negative punishment

1) The topic I'm going to look into is children with behavior problems. I am going to grad school for occupational therapy after I graduate UNI, and I'm going to have to deal with a lot of children with behavior disorders that lead to behavioral problems. I have also worked in a daycare and know that a lot of children are acting out for many different reasons. I thought it would be interesting to research to find out different ways to modify a child's behavior.

2) http://www.pamf.org/children/common/behavioral/ This first website I visited talked about behavior problems that children have while growing up. It states that what might have been punishment for a child at age 5 might not be punishment when the child is 8, so you have to change your punishers or reinforcers according to their age. It also discusses how parents and caretakers should be consistent with the type of behaviors are acceptable, so the child is not confused on what is right or wrong when they emit a certain behavior. If a child emits a kicking behavior at another child, that behavior should be treated the same way each time it happens.

http://www.foreverfamilies.net/xml/articles/parenting_young_children_with_behavior_problems.aspx The second website I visited first stated that children should not be labeled as "bad" if they are having behavior problems. You can use behavior modification to adjust their behavior so they are no longer acting out. It is good to use positive reinforcement, in which you give the child something that will increase the likelihood that the good behavior will occur again. It also states that sometimes you use punishment out of anger, and it may not be in the child's best interest. You should take a deep breath, and try to find ways to increase the positive behaviors instead of always pointing out the bad ones.

3) These sites helped expand my understanding of my topic because they helped me look at ways that you can modify a child's behavior instead of labeling them in a negative way. If you label a child, they are more likely to live up to that label with time. It is better to keep a positive attitude, and to let the child know when they are emitting the right behaviors. I will definitely be able to take some of these things with me to my future job, as well as when I become a parent. It was interesting to research this topic further, so I now have a variety of ways to be able to deal with a child with behavior problems.

4) punishment, punisher, reinforcer, emit, positive reinforcement

1. I chose to look into behavior modification for classroom environments. Because I am going into the teacher field soon, I wanted to find reinforcing strategies that would help improve children's behavior. In the olden days, hitting children and yelling (aversive actions) at them were punishments used to improve the children's behavior. Today that is not a choice and something I wouldn't want to do either way. I want to use words, strategies, and choices as a way to shape children's behaviors, but I want to do it in a way that I could possibly avoid punishment.

2. http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/behavior/ behaviormenu.php

This was a great site on not just advice but key strategies that can help improve a child's behavior. One strategy that I read about was behavioral contracts. These contracts are to have the teacher list a pleasant behavior to emit or an aversive behavior to avoid. The child and teacher come up with a reward for the child if the contract are followed. I like this idea because it gives students a choice on how they want to be reinforced while still getting the job done if all goes well. Another idea that was addressed was "loss of privileges". The teacher introduces all these pleasant activities that the child can participate in. The teacher explains to the student the expected behavior for the pleasant participation of activities. Once the student emits an aversive behavior, the pleasant activity is taken away.

http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/behavior.html#sect1

This site gave more strategy examples, but one suggestion really stuck out to me which was talked about in section 2.2 of our readings. "Praise immediately at all good behavior and performance." The word that stood out was "immediately". It is important to praise (reinforce) right after the target behavior has been emitted by the student. By consistently doing this, the praise will hopefully produce the behaviors that have been desired later on.

Other ideas:

Direct instruction or target behaviors is often required to help students master them.
Have preestablished consequences for misbehavior.
Administer consequences immediately, then monitor proper behavior frequently.
Determine whether the student is on medication, what the schedule is, and what the medication effects may be on his or her in class demeanor with and without medication. Then adjust teaching strategies accordingly.
Use time-out sessions to cool off disruptive behavior and as a break if the student needs one for a disability-related reason.
In group activities, acknowledge the contributions of the student with a behavioral disorder.
Devise a contingency plan with the student in which inappropriate forms of response are replaced by appropriate ones.
When appropriate, seek input from the student about their strengths, weaknesses and goals.
Reward more than you punish, in order to build self-esteem.
Change rewards if they are not effective for motivating behavioral change.
Develop a schedule for applying positive reinforcement in all educational environments.

3. By reading these sites, my conclusion to improving student behaviors is of many. What I do believe the most important factors are: stay consistent with plan of action, punish or reinforce right after aversive behavior, environment of child may change behavior emitted, reinforce the child with something they find pleasant when target behavior is done, and remove the pleasant activity when aversive behavior is done.

4. punishment, reinforce, aversive, pleasant behavior, reward, emit, target behavior

The topic I chose was Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This disorder has always been interesting to me. If you think about your life; how many times do you hear someone jokingly say “I swear I have OCD”. For me I hear it’s a lot. One of my roommates has to repeatedly check the door a ridiculous amount of time before she goes to bed; you can literally hear her lock and relocked the door at least 10 times. We all joke about her having OCD which got me thinking what exactly is OCD? If it is just obsessions and compulsions what separates it from a disorder and my roommates ridiculous lock and unlock dance she does with the door every night?
On the first site listed the author provided a definition of OCD. Obsessions are unwanted behaviors or disturbing thoughts that come into your mind instantly which increase the level of anxiety and the person is unable to deal with it. The compulsive aspects are behaviors the person engages in that are repetitive to reduce the anxiety. There is a video of the fist website of an interview with a Psychologist who is currently studying OCD. One interesting fact she shared was the anxiety a person experiences can only accumulate to be so much. There is a point where the anxiety levels off and the person can no longer experience a higher level of anxiety and eventually the anxiety decreases. Another fact she shared was the focus of OCD patients. Mainly the focuses of the OC tendencies are sexual, violent, blasphemy or anti-religious views. In the treatment of OCD, patients are asked to make a list of their behaviors from easier to give up to hardest to give up, and the counselor at the treatment center will eventually help them through eliminating all the behaviors.

The second site listed is an overview of what is the belief some causes of OCD. In this article there are six causes they list; brian dysfunction, genetics, infections, depression, psychodynamics, and life. Brian dysfunctions refer more to a neurotransmitter (NT) serotonin. Serotonin is used in the brain to control mood, sleep, aggression, appetite, and pain. The Serotonin is such a broad NT in the fact that it can affect the brain in very different ways it is hard to understand exactly what causes the imbalance or malfunction of the NT and what effect it is going to produce. What researchers do know is that the NT produces irregular behavior in the orbital cortex, basal ganglia, and the thalamus. These are key structures and make it impossible for the person to experience anxiety and “talk themselves out of it”. Genetics targets the idea that an OCD patient most likely has an immediate family member with OCD like symptoms and has a 2% chance of passing these symptoms onto a child if the disorder is developed in their childhood. The infections idea is looped back to brain dysfunction and is only temporary. Infections such as strep throat and scarlet fever affect certain brain structures which produce OCD like symptoms. Depression is commonly linked to OCD patients and vice versa. Psychodynamic deals with the sexual desires and general development a child. These could produce OCD through affecting ones ability to think and reason. Life on the other hand is more linked to genetics. Children whose parents have OCD or OCD like symptoms might feel guilt in expressing their obsession and compulsions.
When looking at these links there was a lot more information that I could have every imagined. I could go on and on about this disorder. The website is very informative and I was able to see the difference between someone like my roommate vs. someone who has been diagnosed with the disorder! In referencing this information back to the ideas we have been taught it class it all comes down to the ABCs. Except instead of the consequences satisfying the behavior the cycle of the ABC’s continues due to the anxiety the person experiences. The reinforcement the people get from the obsessions and compulsions is so strong they need that feeling again.

http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/ocd.php
http://www.anxietycare.org.uk/docs/ocdcauses.asp

1.)The topic I chose was drug addiction. This topic interests me because I dated someone that was addicted to drugs and it interests me because it might help me understand why he was doing the things he was doing. It relates to behaviors modification because individuals are reinforced by the pleasurable feelings after taking the drugs. This is a positive self reinforcement because they want to feel that positive feeling again, and not be consequence by the absence of the pleasurable feelings.
2.)https://health.google.com/health/ref/Drug+dependence
On this website, I found the different pleasurable feelings, addicts may experience, and that reinforces them to keep coming back to drugs. Although, after the drugs have reached a certain point, they become addictive, this goes beyond reinforcement. This website also talks about young children growing up in households where drugs are present are more likely to become addicts themselves. This is a discriminate stimulus because it sets the scene for the child’s future.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-addiction/DS00183/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

This website was about treatment for addicts. One type of treatment was withdrawal therapy. These people are being negatively reinforced because they are taking away the drug in their body but eventually will be reinforced because of the more pleasurable feelings that will arise. Patients also become positively reinforced because when they are feeling bad, they have someone there, a therapist to talk about their feelings; and hopefully feel better about the situation.

3.)This helped me understand better that there is a lot more that goes behind behaviors. This intrinsically valuable reinforcer was a strong reinforcer to continue taking the drugs, as well as emit the behaviors that go along with taking drugs. Drugs act as a reinforcer because they emit pleasurable emotions after taking. When a person is depressed or angry, they will be reinforced because the drugs will make themselves feel better.
4.)Reinforcer, Reinforced, Pleasurable, Intrinsically valuable, discriminative stimulus, consequence,

1) I just completed a blog post for Dr. MacLin's Motivation and emotion class on the topic of Heidi Montag's recent plastic surgery obsession. I found it to be interesting how someone could feel as though they were so imperfect that they would need to undergo 10 procedures in one day. I realize that the plastic surgery craze has been rising throughout the world, so I thought it would be interesting to look further into this.
2) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article641628.ece : This site describes the addiction to plastic surgery in greater detail. The article is based in Britain and describes recent findings and warnings about patients that are becoming addicted, and why.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20336472,00.html : This article is the first article that People magazine released on this topic. In this article Heidi is quoted saying "I am more than obsessed with plastic surgery.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20337744,00.html : This article is the second article in the series of articles that People has produced since the original. In this article Heidi say's that she is not addicted to plastic surgery
3) I found the times online article to be very informative. The article talks about the patients desiring the positive reinforcement from the people around them after they get the surgery. The patients get excited for the response the people around them will elicit. Plastic surgeons are being warned of this new type of body dysmorphic disorder. They are being warned that the patient will not be 100% sure of why they need to fix a certain part of their body. The two articles of Heidi Montag discuss her saying that she is addicted to plastic surgery and then he retracting the statement. Heidi was not afraid to say that she had become obsessed with plastic surgery. However, after seeing an aversive response from the public, unlike what she had though she would receive, she retracted saying she was addicted and said simply that it makes her feel better. Plastic surgery is clearly a self reinforcer for Heidi. Her mother and her husband were both quoted as being less than pleased with her decision, so the choice carried intrinsic motivation. However, for those people that desire the positive reaction from those around them the surgeries may have held more of an extrinsic value. Though, Heidi says she just wanted to feel beautiful, she also says that she needed to do it for her career. The desire for perfection going hand in hand with her career definitely carries an extrinsic value as well. Unfortunately for Heidi, the consequence has been purely negative.
4)Positive reinforcement, elicit, aversive, intrinsic value, extrinsic value, negative consequence.

1) The topic I used for this assignment was dieting (especially to extremes). Americans always seem to be obsessed with weight. A large percentage of the population is obese, so people need to be worried about it. But there are so many diet pills and strange workout plans surrounding us that it’s hard to figure out what we should really be doing to lose weight. These diet plans elicit strange and sometimes undesirable things because they are not always approved by the FDA. On the other hand, some people become too thin and develop a disorder like anorexia or bulimia.

2) The first website I used was http://www.freedieting.com/weight_loss_guide.htm.
It was really helpful because it gave dieters tips on what behaviors they should be emitting in order to lose weight. It had topics listed including:
-How do you lose fat?
-What’s weight training got to do with weight loss?
-Can’t I just eat less and skip meals?
-Why bother with exercise?
-Helpful tips
-What’s with all the different diets?
-Where do I start?
Basically the website did a great job talking about target behaviors people should be emitting in order to lose weight. It explained why diet isn’t usually enough, and how exercising can help. It also discussed how we should stay away from extreme diets (because they usually produce undesirable results later on), and how not one diet fits all people.

The second website I looked at was http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/svp/uhs/eating/eating-whenisthintoothin.htm.
It gave a general overview of anorexia, and how it affects psychological health as well as physical health. It says the problem usually results from control issues, and that the person usually controls diet because they aren’t able to control other things in their life. Eventually it progresses and becomes an obsession. People with anorexia also receive a lot of positive reinforcement because as they start to lose weight, people continually compliment them on how thin they look. The site also gave insight on how the person will probably be in denial if they are confronted about their problem.

The third website I found was http://www.obesityinamerica.org/.
It was a great resource that gave information on:
-Statistics
-Understanding obesity
-Combating obesity
-Success stories
-Top news stories
-And what the experts have to say about it.
It links to many other sites and articles so the reader can gain knowledge from many different resources.

3) These sites helped expand on the knowledge I already had on dieting and eating disorders. They helped give insight on why people diet and eat in different ways (that I might not have been able to understand otherwise). I also didn’t realize the psychological effects food could have on a person. Hopefully people will start to realize the benefits of eating smaller portions and exercising (instead of eating in extreme ways).

4)Terms: Elicit, emit, target behaviors, undesirable, positive reinforcement

The topic I chose is drug addiction and treatment. I chose this because I work with some kids who have substance abuse problems and I enjoy learning about ways to help them. There are many links to behavior modification when it comes to drug abuse. The ABC's of drug use are A=environment/friends. Often people will surround themselves with others who use drugs or in an environment where it is easy to obtain. B=the drug use. C=either positive or negative reinforcement. People can be positively reinforced by the pleasurable feelings that the drugs produce or negatively reinforced by the loss of their freedom.

The first website that I looked at can be found at http://www.addict-help.com/drugtreatment.asp. It discusses drug treatment and the best approaches for a user or family of a user. The website says that "behavior modification is the key to successful drug treatment". The target behavior they are referring to is the use of illicit drugs. They discuss that it is important for the user to change their environment thus altering the antecedent. The discriminative stimulus for drug use is often the environment that the person is in and the people they are surrounded with. Changing these is one of the first steps to successful drug treatment. Next they go into how it is important to use other forms of treatment such as cognitive behavioral. They don't speak much more about behavior modification but the idea is that if you change the antecedent nothing will elicit the use of the illicit drugs.

The second website I looked at can be found at http://www.drugabuse.gov/scienceofaddiction/treatment.html. This website gives information on different forms of treatment available. This website gives similar information to the previous. It talks about how one of the most important parts of successful treatment is changing the environment of the individual. The environment often acts as an antecedent and then a person emits a drug using behavior. They believe by taking away the antecedent it will be much easier for the person to quit using.

I didn't see much information on the consequences of drug use. As I mentioned earlier using drugs can have both pleasurable and unpleasurable consequences. The pleasurable feeling that one gets by using the drug positively reinforces a person making it more likely that they will continue to use. If they get caught they are negatively reinforced because they often deal with the loss of freedoms. However, the positive reinforcement is much more powerful. Even after being caught people still tend to use and I believe that can be largely contributed to the environment they are in.

Terms: antecedent, behavior, consequence, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, target behavior, discriminative stimulus, elicit, emits

1. I topic I wanted to explore was oppositional defiance disorder. I have been a counselor for the past five summers at a YMCA camp and I have dealt with a number of children with different behavioral disorders. One of those campers in particular had been diagnosed with ODD, and through out the week acted out very badly. It turned out the health service director had not been giving the child the medication he had been prescribed for ODD. Not really knowing about ODD, I got to observe first hand how one might behave with a temporary untreated behavioral disorder.

2. The Web sites I found have all the information to get a basic understanding of the disorder clearly laid out. Without going into too much detail, there are several important things about ODD someone interested should know. At some point all children are oppositional and defiant and can act out in a way that elicits negative consequences. For a child to be diagnosed with ODD they have demonstrate repeated behaviors of tantrums, arguing with adults, and other disruptive behaviors for at least six months(DSM-IV). This disorder is often present with other disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Medications prescribed to ODD children are usually for the other disorders they have most commonly for ADHD. There is no clear biological basis for the cause of ODD, there may be a relationship with imbalanced serotonin levels. There are several environmental factors that correlate with children with ODD. Abuse or neglect, stressful home situation, and exposure to violence are three risk factors. Treatment includes individual and family therapy to help the child manage anger and express their feelings in a healthy way.
Parent Child Interactive therapy is a way therapists can coach parents how to use positive reinforcement to promote good behaviors from their child. There are several other techniques that all rely on positive reinforcement.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/oppositional-defiant-disorder/DS00630

http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_with_oppositional_defiant_disorder

3. Expanding my knowledge on ODD was alright. It makes me think about how we just classify children into groups so we can "help" them. Relating back to my personal experience, it is clear that there are children out there who really need help, its just a shame we they have to be labeled that way. This child in particular was uncontrollable in the environment we were in. Living with 11 other children and being around hundreds of other children at the same time can cause some children to compete for attention. We always use positive reinforcement when working with children at camp so learning more about what works with children reinforces that behavior for me. unfortunately by the end of the week the context to all his behaviors was that he had ODD which altered the consequences of his behaviors. Camp rarely has to send a child home early but when he started acting violently towards other children and the camp director himself, the camp director decided to send him home. I regret that he had to go home early.

4. Elicit, negative consequence, positive reinforcement

1) Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) uses a mixture of cognitive and behavioral modification to achieve success in subduing unwanted behaviors. Thoughts causing the feelings and behaviors is the premise of the therapy. It's basis is changing how you think in order to elevate the adverse behaviors and elict target behaviors.

2) The two websites listed below do a very good job at explaining the theory. The first, nacbt, is a very detailed site. It follows the APA style by having headings before its information. It can be used by either the elite or a complete novice at CBT. It gives an detailed account of everything from the history to what CBT is to ways to contact them. They also include a great amount of details on their own credentials. For example, I found out that CBT is a very fast form of therapy and that the average number sessions is only sixteen. This is partly because of the homework associated with the sessions. CBT is different because it uses the Socratic Method, is very structured, and is based on an educational model - to unlearn old reactions and to learn new ones. It also offers an online bookstore.

The second website, in my opinion, is not as good because it doesn't offer the concise answers that the first one does. However, it is much easier to navigate through and offers visual aids. This is a more watered down site, but it's an excellent resource for those new to CBT. It offers the general outlines of CBT and also includes additional readings. It is not the best website for details, however, it is an excellent beginning.

http://www.nacbt.org/
http://counsellingresource.com/types/cognitive-therapy/

3) These sites helped me to understand why CBT stands out from other types of therapy. As I mentioned before, it's extremely fast (compared to techniques such as psychoanalysis). Also, it's an evidence based therapy. Techniques are tested for their effectiveness and can be readily adapted if they're not working. Also, CBT is also unique because it focuses on the client's goals rather than force the therapist's goals upon them.

4) elict, target behavior

1) For my topic I picked gambling addiction. I've always been fascinated about the addictive potential of any activity and impulse control disorders. I always wondered how something commonplace could become so controlling for someone. I picked gambling because two of my buddies just got back from Vegas and it was on my mind. It relates to bmod because there are a lot of behaviorally based intervention techniques to help people over come their addiction.

2a)http://www.helpguide.org/mental/gambling_addiction.htm
This site is one of the first sites that popped up on my search, and was quite informative. They discuss different operational definitions for problem gambling. There isn't just one. Most people think problem gambling is when you lose more than you win or more than you can afford. In reality with any activity it becomes a problem when it interferes with your life. A multimillionaire can have a gambling problem with nickle slots if they play 30 hours a week. Or, even if they hardly play at all, it's just always on their mind distracting them. The site also talked about cognitive behavioral therapy for problem gamblers. Things like recognizing mental traps and negative thoughts and correcting these thought processes in order to more effectively cope with the problem. They also addressed interrupting the operant behavior when having gambling urges. Like getting exercise or really anything to get your mind off it.

2b)https://health.google.com/health/ref/Pathological+gambling
What I found interesting about this site is that it suggests that pathological gamblers can have withdrawal like symptoms when trying to quit. This would indicate that a change in brain structure has occurred and the gambler is getting natural reinforcement from his own brain chemistry from gambling. I just think it's interesting how susceptible we are as a species to adapt to negative behaviors.

3) I had never done much research on gambling addicting, but I found it pretty similar to other impulse control disorders. It has to do with maladaptive thought patterns and a lack of will. I think the treatments are pretty standard. While this works, obviously, I think more study could be done to refine or tailor treatments to gambling.

4)intervention, operational definition, negative, operant behavior

I enjoyed reading Emily’s blog on OCD. This is something that I can relate to because I am almost positive I have it in some way. I did have some idea of what OCD was, but her blog informed me more about it. OCD is more than just emitting a behavior over and over. It also involves a thought process which I hadn’t thought of before. It made me wonder why I think I have to color coordinate my clothes or keep everything in its place. I learned a lot about the causes of OCD too. I had no idea that there were so many: brain dysfunction, genetics, infections, depression, psychodynamics, and life. Out of all of these causes - life was what really got me thinking. Maybe a person’s surroundings (antecedent) are eliciting something that causes them to emit a certain behavior. Does the outcome of a person’s behavior result in any type of positive or negative reinforcement? Is it about control? Is there a positive or negative punishment? Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is really interesting and I enjoyed reading this blog and learning more about it.

I like Kendra's alcohol dependence topic. I really like how she put up a lot of ways to tell if you are experiencing the behavior of alcohol dependency. I wonder.. is drinking a negative reinforcement or positive? or a punishment? How would you go about that you think? Does it have to do with the ABC's and how you look at the antecedent and the consequences?

1. I wanted to cover ADHD more, because this disorder is one of the biggest reasons I want to pursue a job in psychology. It relates to Bmod because behavioral therapy techniques are used all the time with ADHD children.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADHD
I learned some interesting things from this website such as: that almost 5% of Americans are living with ADHD right now. ADHD also has subcategories, which inclide hyperactivity, inattentive, and hyperactive impulsive.
ADHD can be cause by lots of different factors but abuse, death in a family, divorce, sudden change in life, insufficient sleep and anxiety are most common. Genetics also plays a part in whether or not the child will have it. Symptoms of ADHD have to last at least 6 months and disrupt at least 2 areas of the chills life in order for it to be diagnosed ADHD.
I thought it was interesting to that there are studies that show children who eat a lot of artificial colors have a higher chance of having ADHD. While this theory is still new and being researched, it's crazy to think about.

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/diagnosing-adhd
From this website I learned about different symptom/signs of ADHD. They include constant motion, squirm and fidget, do not seem to listen, easily distracted, and cannot finish tasks. THis article also said lead toxicity could be a cause of ADHD, which was new information to me. I had never heard the before. This website also made it very clear that not anyone can diagnose ADHD because their child shows some of these symptoms. A doctor must check, diagnose and treat your child.

3. Like I said before, I love learning about this topic because it's very interesting to me and it relates to my life. I like that the first webpage gave me an overall understanding of what the disorder was about, symptoms, causes- pretty much anything and everything that you can think of that you would want to know about this disorder.
The second website wasn't as thorough although it did provide some valuable information. I always wondered how do you know if you should have your child checked for it if a teacher hasn't already suggested it.

4. behavior, target behavior, consequences , negative, positive.

The comment on contingency management was very informative to me. I had never heard of the term contingency management. It really uses a many behavior modification techniques that are supposed to be superior to the traditional 12 step program(addiction therapy) My only question is what they do when the participants to do not comply with the program. It seems that negative punishment(with holding the positive reinforcement) is what they would have to do. i would like to test the effectiveness of positive punishment vs negative punishment on effectiveness of reaching target behavior.

I also liked Kelly's post on what elicits lying. I've seen the show Lie to Me and I think it's so interesting. I also have a couple friends that lie constantly, and I could never figure out why. Now I have a better grasp of the concepts, and can figure out some reasons why they might feel the need to lie. Thanks Kelly!

I was very interested in what Andrea Vignovich blogged on about plastic surgery, I read the article in her first link and was completely shocked at the amount of money some women will spend on plastic surgery and for what, to reshape their knees?
I could hardly imagine how the positive reinforcement from their peers post operation would be worth all the money and pain. They even explain how the high from their new operation doesn’t even last that long before they seek out new operations to modify their body in some way to get that high back.
I am not in any way saying that this body dysmorphic disorder is something to brush off, or over look I just think that it should have been noticed before some women spend upwards of millions of dollars on plastic surgery. These are doctors performing these surgeries, shouldn’t they know what the signs of this disorder is? And shouldn’t they put the best interests of their patients’ ahead of their pocket books? And if so shouldn’t they notice and stop their patient before this becomes an addiction?

1. The topic I am choosing to cover is Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) because I thinks its interesting how children for one reason or another fail to establish healthy relationships. In order to feel safe and develop trusting relationships, infants and young children need a stable caring environment. On top of that, their most basic physical and emotional needs must be met with consistency. For example, when a baby cries, his or her need for a meal or diaper change must be met appropriately with a shared emotional exchange.

A child whose needs are inadequately met with emotional or physical abuse or neglect from caregivers comes to expect rejection and hostility. A child can become distrustful and learn to avoid social contacts as a result. Emotional interactions between babies and their caregivers affects their brain development that relates to attachment and affects personality as well as future relationships. Most children are naturally resilient and can develop healthy relationships and strong bonds. It is not clear why some babies and children develop RAD and others do no. It relates to Behavior Modification because it is necessary to identify the ABC's of behavior in order to treat children suffering from it and modify the frequency of their behavior.

2. The website http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reactice-attachment-disorder/DS0098 gave a lot of information regarding the definition of this disorder, the causes and risk factors associated with it and the different treatment options. This disorder is multifaceted and children either elicit inhibited or disinhibited patterns of behavior. Children eliciting an inhibited behavior shun relationships and attachments to virtually everyone. Children eliciting a disinhibited behavior seek attention from virtually everyone, including strangers. In not treated it may lead to controlling, aggressive, or delinquent behaviors, trouble relating to peers and other problems with depression and anxiety. Some of the signs and symptoms in babies and children include: severe collic and feeding difficulties, failure to gain weight, detached and unresponsive behavior, difficulty being comforted, defiant or uncooperative behavior, inhibition or hesitancy in social situations, and disinhibition or inappropriate familiarity or closeness with strangers, anger and control issues, an underdeveloped conscience, aversion to touch and physical affection.

The website http://www.helpguide.org/mental/parenting_bonding_reactive_attachment_disorder.htm identifies some of the primary causes of the disorder. The reason as to why children develop an attachment disorder and others dont, has to do with the attachment process, which relies on the interaction of the caregiver and the child and is often the result of negative experiences early in this relationship. Children feel repeatedly abandoned, isolated, and powerless. They learn they cant depend on others and that the world is a dangerous place. It is common in children who have been abused, bounced around in foster care, lived in orphanages or taken away from a primary caregiver after a strong bond was established
This site also talks about helping the child from a parental perspective, where many aspects of behavior modification could be implemented using extinction, reinforcement, and punishment. As safety is the core issue, children often distance themselves because they feel unsafe. They keep their gaurd up for protection which prevents them from accepting love and support. Reinforcement and punishment could be used to establish clear expectations and rules of behavior and responding consistently so the child knows what to expect when he or she acts a certain way. From a parental perspective it is important to do the following:
set limits and boundaries, take charge but remain calm during times of misbehavior, be available to reconnect after a conflict, own up to mistakes and maintain predictable routines and schedules.

3. I learned alot about this disorder and really the treatment just involves the most basic principles of behavior modification.

4. antecedent, behavior, consequence, elicit, reinforcement, punishment, extinction

I thought Andrea’s post on plastic surgery obsession was really interesting. One day when I was on msn, the “Today” box popped up and actually had a short article on Heidi Montag. It really made me – What elicits a person to emit that behavior? Well the best answer I came up with is self-esteem or self-confidence. If a person has to undergo 10 surgeries to feel good about themselves, then something is seriously wrong. I see where people want to be liked and they think that if they look beautiful more people will respond to them differently. But is that really what someone wants? If people didn’t want to be “your” friend when you looked normal, but wanted to associate themselves with you after surgery – who says they are really good friends? Is life really better that way? Now I do understand getting friends or wanting to be liked is not the only reason people under plastic surgery. I know that a consequence of an operation can be very reinforcing and self rewarding, but there can also be aversive consequences too. In behavioral terms, I would say that the antecedent to the behavior would be self-confidence. The behavior would be getting plastic surgery and the consequence would be reinforcement - hopefully. Though this is not really the case with Heidi Montag. The responses from her mother and husband seemed to be aversive and therefore negative reinforcement. Due to this consequence Montag may be likely to decrease this behavior. The think these ABC's can apply to other people as well. The antecedent and behavior would most likely be the same, but the consequences can vary.

Terms: elicits, emit, behavior, respond, consequence, reinforcing, aversive, antecedent, responses, reinforcement, negative reinforcement

The number of terms: 11

Allison's post on ADHD was really informative. I have little experience with people that emit the symptoms of ADHD. Now I'm wondering what really elicits it. The first website said things that could elicit it are "abuse, death in a family, divorce, sudden change in life, insufficient sleep and anxiety", but I think that most people have to deal with one or more of those aversive situations at least sometime in their lives. I'm also wondering what kind of treatments they use besides medication. Do doctors have a reinforcement schedule for parents to use with children that have ADHD? Do doctors suggest any self-reinforcement for adults that have it? I couldn't find any information on this, but I'm assuming that doctors would suggest reinforcement instead of punishment because it is more effective. They could suggest specific target behaviors for the child to emit.

Terms: emit, elicit, aversive, reinforcement schedule, reinforcement, punishment, self-reinforcement, target behavior
The number of terms is 8.