Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 5.4.
1) I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms.
2) Discuss how you can change the antecedants related to your behavioral project in terms of the material in section 5.4.
Section 5.4 discusses the powerful impact antecedents can have on behaviors and their modification. These antecedents are part of our overall environment; thus making changes in the environment will alter the degree of the behavior. People must pay attention to their personal environment, however, for them to be able to ultimately change their behavior. As it states in the section, it takes work, forethought, discipline, and reflection. This is often why resolutions and goals prove to be unsuccessful.
For instance, drinking and partying is one common behavior for college students at UNI. These behaviors are often difficult to change because partying is such a frequent behavior on a college campus and is used as a social behavioral platform. Thus, trying to modify one's drinking behavior must constitute discipline, forethought, and reflection on why this behavior is occurring in the first place, what the environment and/or antecedents are previous to this behavior, and how their overall personal environment is going to need to be changed.
Within my behavioral project, changing my sleeping patterns, studying habits, and home environment all will increase the success rate for exercising on a consistent basis throughout the week. Waking up and going to bed earlier will help me get more sleep while getting more done in the morning, and studying more efficiently by doing more homework at the library (and away from my campus house) are all alters within my personal environment antecedents. This will help me achieve behavioral success for this project.
Section 5.4 discusses how we can change the antecedents of our target behavior by controlling the environment and use this alteration of the antecedents to change our behavior. I found this section particularly interesting because it recognizes that some aspects of the environment are very difficult for me to control. The comment blurbs in the section prompted me to consider alternative ways to alter the environment and change the antecedent in situations where the environment would be rather difficult to control. The section also discusses DRO, or differential reinforcement of other behavior. DRO is the idea that reinforcing a behavior that is incompatible with the behavior I am trying to decrease may help me decrease that particular behavior.
For example, the people who live above me tend to have loud parties on nights when I am trying to get a lot of sleep. Typically, I just stay in my apartment and try to sleep and get more and more angry about their loud, disruptive, partying behavior. However, the people above me have no idea that I am trying to sleep, or that I am even home. I could provide DRO and involve them in a behavior that is completely incompatible with partying. I could invite them down to my apartment on nights when they typically have a loud party and ask them to watch a movie or something much quieter than partying! My invitation would involve them in a behavior that is incompatible with partying. :)
As far as my behavioral project, I have found that I get more homework and class readings done on time if I stay home. I can change the antecedent to my behavior and alter my environment by staying away from places where many college students do homework (the Union, the Library, and other computer labs on campus) and doing homework and readings at home. I can also provide myself with DRO as a sort of consequence for my target behavior by engaging in a behavior that is incompatible with my homework behavior. I can take a break from my computer and my homework and go to the gym after I have gotten a certain amount of readings or homework completed.
1.)I thought section 5.4 was an interesting read. It really made me think about my environment and how it can control my behavior. It made me think about different situations I have been in where I had little to no control. And after reading this section I thought back to those situations and thought about how I could have handled things differently. For example, at my school we were required to do a senior life project in order to graduate. A girl in my class and I chose to rebuild our softball dugouts. We had a time frame we had to complete the project in, but things kept getting pushed back due to the weather. In behavioral terms, the weather was controlling our behavior. We couldn’t emit the behavior of rebuilding because the ground was still frozen or it was raining. In this situation there wasn’t much manipulating we could do. One thing we could have done differently to manipulate our environment would have been to start our project sooner or to have more organization. In the end, the consequence was reinforcing. We did finish our project, but we were really cutting it down to the wire.
I also liked the exercises because they made you think about how you can manipulate different environments to change the outcome of the behavior. This section also talked a little about DRO – Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior. I liked the example that was in the text. I think that is something I could relate too as my roommate always has junk food lying around.
2.)As far as my behavioral project goes, I have found that when I leave my door open, the people walking by distract me from my work. Or my friends will just walk into my room and start talking to me. It is also hard for me to focus when my roommate is in the room. I know that I can change the antecedent to my behavior my altering my environment. I have done this by shutting the door and keeping the TV and radio off. And I have also asked my roommate to turn the TV off for a little bit or I work when I kn0w she won’t be in the room. I know that I can also create a DRO as a consequence for the right behavior. Once I have emitted the right behavior I can take a break or reward myself at the end of the week with a movie I really want to see.
1. I thought this section gave a very interesting perspective on modifying a target behavior. I know we have already learned about converting punishment to something we can reinforce and differential reinforcement of other; however, I never really thought about actually situations until they were give in section 5.4. Sometimes we feel we have little control over certain situations, but when you think about all of your options, there are ways you can modify your environment to better suit your needs. I gave the example of work as an environment that I felt I had little control over in my life. It's obvious I need to work to get money and pay the bills so there's really no way around not working. But I was able to come up with a few examples when I really thought about it if I wanted to tailor my work schedule to better fit my other schedule. I said that I could try to control my work environment for giving my boss my availability schedule that is more applicable to my lifestyle, switch shifts with co-workers if it worked out better with my schedule, and request off days in advance when I know I'll be busy. These are all possible ways I can modify my environment and change antecedent behaviors to better control the situation.
2. In order to make my target behavior easier to obtain, I came up with some examples of antecedent changes I can make. My behavioral project is exercising more frequently, therefore to exert some control over the enviroment and motivate me to work out I can bring gym clothes and tennis shoes with me to class. That way it is more convenient for me just to go straight to the gym instead of having to go back home where I just want to relax and have more distractions that keep me from going to the gym. I could also wake up earlier and allow more time to exercise before class or work, that way I don't feel rushed or as if I don't have time. I could also make plans with a friend to go work out later in the day or the week that way I will feel bad if I back out and let down my friend. Hopefully by changing and enforcing these contexts, I will feel more inclined to complete my target behavior daily.
1) I already knew how impacting antecedents could be to behavior but putting it into context with behavior modification made me see it in another light. It wasn't entirely easy to come up with all three ways for each example. The first two would be easy but then I had to think a little more creatively on the third.
2) As I was reading this section, I was trying to think of ways to create antecedents for my behaviors. It seems difficult to me because I don't really want to put floss on my pillow as a reminder before bed. I rather floss in the bathroom. I main problem with not flossing before bed is because I am always tired. When I'm tired, I could care less if I floss. What makes me tired are my daily activities and homework. I do the stuff as early as possible so I can't really change the timing for when I do homework. I have sort of run out of idea for this.
1) Changing the antecedents is something that everyone does on a day to day basis, probably without even realizing it. If you are sitting outside on a sunny day and don't want to get a sunburn, you can apply sunblock or move to a shady area. Both are methods of changing the environment in order to achieve a target behavior (avoiding sunburn). In the movie Step Brothers, Dale decides to avoid the walk by the elementary school because a kid threatened him if he ever walked by the school. He adjusted the antecedent (his route home) in order to achieve the target behavior (making it home safely). Those are two examples that just happened to stumble into my head for changing the antecedents, really it occurs constantly throughout the day. We wear shoes in order to protect our feet. That's changing an antecedent. Changing the antecedent is an area where it is helpful to practice logical thinking and creative plans. What is standing between you and the consistent occurrence of your target behavior? What is a safe, convenient, effective way to reduce that barrier's effect?
2) Some antecedents I would consider adjusting in my behavioral project would be: Only using my bed for sleep (instead of homework and such), opening my shades so that the sun wakes me up in the morning, and limiting my caffeine intake during the day.
1) I thought section 5.4 was interesting and got me thinking as to how I could change the antecedents of my behavior. I learned that antecedents play a very important role in determining whether or not you will change your behavior or not. Even in environments we don't think we can change, there are always little things that can be done. It is also important to remember that you should think of a behavior to reinforce instead of punishing a bad behavior. This is called Differential Reinforcement of the Other (DRO). Reinforcing might be much more effective when trying to alter a behavior.
2) My self-directed behavior project focuses on being more productive at night by completing more hours of homework. There are some antecedents I can change in order to make this project easier. One thing I could do is to make sure the TV is off and so is the internet. That way, I have less distractions and am ready to focus. I should also keep my door shut so my roommates can't just walk in and interrupt me. I should also make sure that I have snacks and something to drink in order to keep me focused; that way, I don't have to get up as much and can keep getting homework done!
1) I feel as though we have definitely touched on the antecedent behaviors quite a bit in the course of this semester. However, I found the reasoning behind why a parent, teacher, or caretaker should not use the word no to a child to be very interesting. I worked at a daycare for 5 years. I repeatedly encouraged to use words other than no and stop. All of our phrases were to be in a positive tone, for example "I need you to make another choice." Rather than, "No, stop doing that." The only reasoning I ever got on it was that no and stop were never well received and it is more effective to teach children with positive statements. Which I can't say I disagree with. But it is something that I think is not really understood well. It is explained in a different sort of way here. As a childcare provided I was aware that the way I treated children mattered for many reasons, however I think that it is easy to forget that a way in which it effects children is in their own duplication of behaviors. If you yell at a child all the time from an early age, they will grow up thinking that is right. Likewise, as the section describes, if you constantly tell a child no they will begin to rely on that word as something that is okay to use all the time. When in reality, it can be a word that is disrespectful at times. So an antecedent to getting through the terrible twos as gracefully as possible would be to treat the child kindly and respectfully. This will help he or she learn appropriate behavior.
2) Antecedents that would help to influence my behavior are: Currently I have no internet in my apartment, as awful as it is because I always feel like I'm missing an assignment and I cannot check, it has helped me to get to the union and study. Taking a shower each morning helps me to wake up and feel ready for the day, in order to do that I will set two alarms to ensure that I wake up in time to take a shower
I really liked this section because it was short and sweet. It immediately brought up a relevant topic: how antecedents are involved in controlling the target behavior. It then explained that the environment (as an antecedent) can have salient results. The terrible twos was a great example of how behavior can learned and unlearned. However, the in example, by never presenting the stimulus (the word no), you avoid the aversive behavior (the kid saying "no" all the time).
I also enjoyed the common example throughout the section because it related to my project. I am following through the my program this time, and I've been trying to find ways to fix how I failed in the past. The idea of replacing sweets with something else - fruit - intrigued me. In the past I walk around, hungry, not having anything ready to eat that's not junk food. So, I fall in to the past patterns of eating Snickers bars or junk food. I can control the environment by removing the crap food and replacing it with eat on the go food. I also think that by succeeding where I have previously failed will act as positive reinforcement and therefore motivation to continue the program.
1. 5.4 discussed Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior which is that one way to reduce a behavior is to reinforce a behavior that in incompatible with the undesirable behavior. Not only can we control the environment to reduce the undesired behaviors, we can control the environment so that it contains the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behaviors. I have discussed in other class that when we make changes in the environment then that will make changes in our behaviors. I just found it to be interesting because it has already been a topic of mine in another class. Changing the environment while an undesirable behavior is occurring can function to disrupt the operant behavior. This section gave great example as well. When achieving behavioral success often times you have to be very deliberate which requires you to be aware of your environment, your behaviors, and the consequences to the behaviors. It takes work and perhaps this is why so many people are unable to meet their New Year’s resolutions and the many behaviors goals they aspire to achieve. It takes work, forethought, discipline, and reflection. To successful way to change behaviors is to change the antecedents. Desirable behaviors occur more often to the than undesirable behaviors occur.
2. Changing things in the physical environment can change behaviors. We can remove objects that might elicit undesirable behaviors and replace them with objects that elicit desirable behaviors. If someone is trying to eat better or cut back on fried foods then they can change the food in their home to healthier choices. An example of this would be getting rid of chips and putting crackers in the kitchen instead. People can also put flavored water in the refrigerator instead of pop.
1- This is probably one of the most important chapters in the whole textbook in regards to its level of importance. Even though it is incredibly basic and easy to understand it is often very difficult to implement, which totally sucks (i.e. its reinforcing power is often overlooked due to positive and negative punishment received from having an ill-prepared behavior modification program) given that it is probably the most effective way of modifying behaviors. Controlling the antecedents to behaviors literally establishes the behaviors you can emit. If the antecedent to the behavior is not there (keeping in mind that one behavior may have several different antecedents, and that one antecedent may elicit numerous behaviors) to elicit the behavior, it cannot be emitted. Given how difficult it is to avoid temptation and habituation, controlling and changing the antecedents is probably the most effective way to implement a behavior modification program.
2- During the baseline period and drawing on previous experience I know that if my work-out area isn’t always ready, I will not take the effort to get it ready for working out. Similarly, putting off working out until the end of the night, eating shortly before I plan to work out, and my wife’s work schedule also directly impact whether or not I work out.
As a result I cleared away a space in the living room so my weights can be kept out all the time yet the living room still looks ok. I also set out my jogging shoes and shorts on the ottoman in our house so it’s right in front of me when I get home encouraging me to work out then instead of waiting until nighttime. As expected I’ve also been forced to think more about when and how much I eat in order to be able to work out right when I get home. If I work out right when I get home I find this particularly reinforcing, which has caused me to be more interested in eating less right before I leave UNI, along with several other desirable behaviors I am tracking.
So changing the physical antecedents to the behavior at my house has made it more convenient for me to choose when I work out. Choosing when to work out has revealed a particular time of my day in which working out is much less aversive than other times (e.g. right when I get up, or right before bed). Since I was previously having a difficult time uncovering a reinforcer that was powerful enough to elicit my desired target behavior (difficulty modifying the consequence), eliminating the problems associated with emitting the target behavior (modifying the antecedents) proved to be quite helpful.
Section 5.4 I thought was a pretty interesting section to think about since it's another way of looking at how our projects need to be monitored while were recording them. The fact that sometimes we have very little control over our environment is a very important factor to consider, and maybe a factor that people don't always think about. For example, if I only hang out with the same two friends who like to drink every night, then there isn't much control over emitting my behavior to drink. I should probably do something about that (such as find new friends!)
In my project, I have noticed that putting myself in my boyfriend's room to sleep is extremely unproductive, since he lives in a house with 40 other guys. It's always loud at all hours of the night, and I have a difficult time sleeping, and because of my decision to sleep there I'm not giving much control to myself to change the environment. So I will start sleeping at my apartment where I have just one other room mate (who rarely sleeps there anyway) and see what kind of results I get then.
1) I liked the paragraph in Section 5.4 about removing the "NOs" when interacting with children. Through observational learning kids pick up the language and actions performed by the adults around them. When we continually tell them "No" they begin to emulate that and repeat it back to us. Instead, the section suggested that we create a type of No-Free play area where the child will be safe and not get into things they shouldn't be. In other words, we manipulate the environment to change (or perhaps prevent) unwanted behaviors.
Changing your environment is an important part of behavior modification. If we want to stop a bad habit we'd want to avoid situations and people who may hinder our progress in changing our behaviors.
2) In my project I want to try to incorporate more vegetables into my diet in efforts to eat better. To do this I can avoid going out to eat where I tend to either overeat or choose unhealthy foods. At home I eat less and, if I shop for healthier foods, choose healthier foods for my meals. So avoiding fast food joints and surrounding myself with healthy options would be a good envirmonemtal change to reach my goal.
1) When reading this section, I especially enjoyed the part on removing the "NOs". I thought this made altering the antecedents very easy to understand. We all hate to be told no or that we cannot do something. Thus, if we remove the situations from the environment that would cause us to have to be said no to, then the frequency of "no" will decrease, and the frequency of "yes" should increase. Almost everyone will also agree that reinforcing is much better than punishment. Putting aside which one is more pleasant, it is also often just much easier to alter the antecedents than to try to change the behavior after it has been emitted. It is easier to remove the things that are eliciting the behavior (antecedents). I also found the DRO concept to be interesting. Again, the DRO principle works with the idea that we prefer reinforcement over punishment. It is very clever in my opinion to find a behavior that is incompatible with the aversive behavior and then reinforce that behavior rather than punishing the aversive one. I did struggle sometimes though to think of a pleasant behavior that would be incompatible with the aversive behaviors I thought of.
2) A lot of my interventions for my behavioral project involve changing the antecedents. In order to get myself to drink more water, one of the top things I realized is that I need to have water sitting right in front of me so that it is easily accessible. This changes the environment so that I am more likely to emit the positive behavior of drinking water. I could also exercise more, which is like a DRO. If I exercise a lot, then it is nearly impossible for me not to drink water. I must drink water after I exercise because I am so thirsty. Thus, reinforcing the exercising behavior can actually lead to my drinking more water as well.
1. I enjoyed this section because like you said, it's relatively short and sweet and to the point. this section talks about changing antecedents. I liked the example of the "terrible twos" because it shows that if you want something to change, change the environment. This section did a good job of showing that even if you can't change an entire environment, the littlest changes can still make a difference.'
2. For my project, there are certain antecedents I can change to make my studying more effective. For example, I rarely study in my room because my roommate always has the tv on, and my laptop is really distracting. I can change my environment by studying at the library, or the union and not taking my laptop with me.
I also tend not to study when when any season of Scrubs is in my possession. By taking my DVDs home, I am changing my environment so that I can no longer access them or watch them, therefore hopefully getting more homework done.
1. I can say in my life Ive made alot of bad decisions due to antecedents and consequences of those decisions havent really been on the winning side for me. But one good thing about this that i never really thought about before taking this class was the fact that i did realize i had to remove myself from a particular environment and even had to take myself away from people i had called friends for quite some time. The reasons for this was that i knew where i was going wasnt where i wanted to end up and the only way to change this was to remove myself from those temptations and those environments in which i was so tempted to behave in these particular ways.
2. For my intervention of being more schoolastic and putting in more time i can change my antecedents by making sure all my work is done before i go out and do anything else. In this way i am reinforcing my schoolastic behavior. I usually study at my apt because the library can be distracting for me. But just as of recently with the nice weather and my fraternity house just right down the street the temptation to be with friends is very strong right now. I believe by removing myseflt from this environment and placing myself at the library for the rest of my semester ill be able to put more effort into my work without the possiblity of distractions. Also while doing school work ill turn off my phone so i dont recieve any tempting text messages about frisbe golf or drinking beers and playing poles in the front yard. In this way ill be able to remain more focused on my studies and less focused on being social until all my work for the day is completed.
I always enjoy the information about using behavior modification as a parenting technique. I used to babysit, and didn't know how to control some of the behaviors the kids would emit. If I had information like this, it would have been very helpful. I wish more parents knew about these techniques (like removing the no's or using toy time outs), because some parents make obvious mistakes over and over. I also thought the information about changing our environment was really important, because it plays such a huge role in what actions we decide to emit.
In order to improve my study habits I need to change some of the antecedents to my behavior. I will need to make sure my desk is clean so I have room to work. I also need to make sure my door is closed so I'm not bothered by my roommates. I get distracted easily, so this will be helpful. Lastly, I will need to close all of my web browsers before I start my homework, so I don't get on Facebook, or any other time-wasting website.
For me personally, I am more successful in determining my own ABC's to certain behaviors, when I am able to read about other examples. In this section there were examples in regards to altering an environment (antecedent) so that the target behavior can be manipulated. This is shown in Section 5.4 through removing any harmful objects/corners in a child's play area. This information is very helpful, not only for adapting worthwhile parenting skills, but also in putting your own behavior "issues" into mind. Throughout the behavior modification project (improving studying habits) I have had to change my own environment by a combination of: locking myself in my room, refraining from using my phone/internet, and studying with my girlfriend as a motivator and reinforcer.
1. Section 5.4 discusses changing the antecedents of an environment. Sometimes we think we are unable to exert control any sort of control over the things happening around us to make the situation more or less effective on the desired target behavior. However, when you consider the entire situation and all of your options, there is always some degree of flexibility to adjust your environment and help obtain your desired target behavior.
2. When it comes to my behavior modification project, there are many antecedents that I can alter that help get me closer to my desired target behavior of having good study habits. It is more a matter of dedication and wanting to effectively alter those antecedents in order to help with my goal. For instance, when i study at home, I often choose places that distract me, such as the couch or my bed because i tend to turn on the tv or fall asleep. I found that sitting at the dinning room table enabled me to keep better concentration. I have also found that studying with some one has been a great motivator because I feel like I am slacking off if I am not studying while they are.
1.)Section 5.4 was very fun because I could relate everyday experiences to it. Sometimes I am just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I could change the antecedents of the environment I would help myself from trouble that I tend to get into from time to time. Not serious trouble, just little stuff that I think is bad but most people wouldn't so don't worry! In this section in order for the target behavior to be manipulated, there had to be an alteration to the environment. I work at a daycare so changing the environment is somthing that I do often so that I can get the desired behavior that I want, but it doesn't always work.
2.) In order to successfully complete my target behavior of working out three days each week I need to change my antecedents to help me get motivated. One of my antecedents is to hang signs above the fridge saying, "don't open fatty" or "choose something healthy". I am also going to put my running shoes where I can see them because If they are in sight then they are definitely in my mind. Hopefully by providing these antecedents I will reach my goal each week.
I have applied most of the techniques from this class to my parenting. (Which everyone is probably sick of hearing about.) I was already a strong believer in behavior modification with children, but I am thrilled to be learning so much more. I have seen first hand how changing the environment will make changes in my son's behavior. I often change the environment when Ky shows an undesirable behavior. It does disrupt the operant behavior. If he is complaining about sitting and eating at dinner time, he immediately gets removed from this environment. We put him in his room alone and it only takes a few minutes for him to stop complaining and realize that he likes to be at the table with us.