What I would like you to do is to implement your self
directed behavioral program that you outlined last week (if you have
already started that is OK). As you start the program you might find
that you need to make small modifications. Perhaps in your goal, or your
target behaviors, or maybe your reinforcer. Perhaps your program is
based on reducing a behavior, you might find a better way to reinforce a
different behavior (DRO) rather than punishing an unwanted behavior.
For this assignment please blog a post telling us how things are going and if you are going to change anything and why.
Either way start recording and graphing your behaviors - continue doing this for this week and the next. Please bring in your graphs and records of your behaviors next Tuesday (week #11) when we meet in class.
Thanks and let me know if you have any questions.
For this assignment please blog a post telling us how things are going and if you are going to change anything and why.
Either way start recording and graphing your behaviors - continue doing this for this week and the next. Please bring in your graphs and records of your behaviors next Tuesday (week #11) when we meet in class.
Thanks and let me know if you have any questions.
The behavior that I chose to modify is exercising five times a week. I hoped to achieve this by emitting the behavior of running two miles between class on Tuesday and Thursday and after work on Sunday and emitting the behavior of doing 30 minutes of Pilates on Monday and Wednesday after work. Thus far, I have been successful in emitting the behavior of running two miles between class on Tuesday and Thursday and after work on Sunday. I have even been emitting the behavior of running two miles on Saturday either before or after work or sometime during the day if I do not work. I have not been successful emitting the behavior of doing 30 minutes of Pilates after work on Monday and Wednesday.
Since I have been successful emitting the behavior of running and not successful emitting the behavior of doing Pilates, I need to makes some changes in my schedule. I plan to continue running on Tuesday and Thursday in between classes and Sunday after work. I will also run on Saturday at whatever time is allowable since that has been successful for me although it was not part of the original behavior modification plan. This is a bit vague but my schedule changes a lot from week to week on Saturdays. Emitting the behavior of doing Pilates after work has not been successful. The antecedent is the problem is the problem with this behavior. I get off work at 6:00 p.m. and then have to eat and do homework before bed. I also want some time to relax after being at school and work all day. This is not conducive to being motivated to work out. I am going to try to wake up 30 minutes earlier on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do Pilates before school instead. Unfortunately, I do not enjoy waking up early but this is the most logical solution so I will try it.
Since my work out schedule is changing, my goal is also changing as a result. My new goal is to do a cardio workout 4 times a week and a muscle strengthening workout 3 times a week.
Also, my previous reinforcer (an hour of free time on Sunday) is not as salient as I thought it would be. I give myself free time when I get my work done anyway so it does not really function as only reinforcing an exercising behavior. An hour of free time is not always capability with my homework load, either. I have had difficulty thinking of a proper reinforcer because I feel like my reinforce should not be something that can occur often outside of the context of my intervention such as eating out, hanging out with friends, etc. I am also a broke college student so I do not really want to spend money for a reinforcer. I also do not want to choose a reinforcer that defeats the purpose of working out such as cookies or sweets but I eat sweets every once in a while as it is. With that in mind, my new reinforcer for now is a guilt-free, sweet treat every other Sunday.
The goal that I listed last week was to lose 5 pounds in a month’s time. So far, I have been emitting the behavior of working out 4 times a week and also drinking 64-80 ounces of water each day. On the other hand, I feel like I am probably going over my goal for calories consumed per day (1,400-1,600.) In my last goal, I stated that I could cook my own meals so I could be more aware of the amount of calories I was consuming. This, however, isn’t really a possibility for me because I live in the dorms. I also haven’t been getting up earlier in the morning to work out, but as I mentioned before, I am still working out the desired amount of time each week.
Some things that I need to change for next week:
1.) I need to watch the amount of calories I eat more carefully. I will do this by choosing healthy options at the dining center and monitor the snacks that I eat outside of the dining center, as well.
2.) I have found that the best time for me to workout is in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or late afternoon/night on Tuesday and Thursday. This doesn’t require me to wake up any earlier than I usually would.
3.) I need to incorporate a better reinforcer. Reinforcing myself at the end of the process is nice, but I think if I reinforced myself each week, I would have a better chance of sticking to it. I am now going to reinforce myself with a “cheat day” each Sunday. On this “cheat day,” I can have 1,800 calories rather than the usual 1,400-1,600.
The goal that I listed last week was to lose 5 pounds in a month’s time. So far, I have been emitting the behavior of working out 4 times a week and also drinking 64-80 ounces of water each day. On the other hand, I feel like I am probably going over my goal for calories consumed per day (1,400-1,600.) In my last goal, I stated that I could cook my own meals so I could be more aware of the amount of calories I was consuming. This, however, isn’t really a possibility for me because I live in the dorms. I also haven’t been getting up earlier in the morning to work out, but as I mentioned before, I am still working out the desired amount of time each week.
Some things that I need to change for next week:
1.) I need to watch the amount of calories I eat more carefully. I will do this by choosing healthy options at the dining center and monitor the snacks that I eat outside of the dining center, as well.
2.) I have found that the best time for me to workout is in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or late afternoon/night on Tuesday and Thursday. This doesn’t require me to wake up any earlier than I usually would.
3.) I need to incorporate a better reinforcer. Reinforcing myself at the end of the process is nice, but I think if I reinforced myself each week, I would have a better chance of sticking to it. I am now going to reinforce myself with a “cheat day” each Sunday. On this “cheat day,” I can have 1,800 calories rather than the usual 1,400-1,600.
The behavior that I chose to possibly adjust would be my working out before. I would like to emit a work out behavior 5 times a week. To possibly achieve this goal I chose to do cardio Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and then abs on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. For the most part I have been doing well with modifying the behavior, yet there are a few things that I have to possibly change and modify. I have been doing well at emitting the cardio behavior but I have not achieved my goal of doing it 3 times a week. Also, a few times I have not done my abs because I feel like I do not have time, so I obviously need to modify some things.
The first thing I need to modify is my cardio behavior. I think that I need to move cardio to Monday and Friday mornings after class, not before, because I have not done the best job getting up at 7. Also, Wednesdays are very hectic for me, so I have decided to have Wednesdays as my break day in the middle of the week. Wednesdays I have class, work, and then straight to night class, so I really don’t have much time. This way I can rest my muscles in the middle of the week. So, my new schedule for cardio will be working out at the WRC for 30 minutes Monday and Friday at 3:00 pm instead of 7:00am, and then rest of Wednesdays.
As for my abs plan, I think it is working out well, yet some days I am just sick of work and school and don’t feel like doing it. I think I need to modify this behavior by not doing my abs until later in the day so that I can have some time to possibly emit a behavior of doing homework before working out. So, with this I am going to change my abs workout video to 7:00pm instead of 4:00, and hope that works better.
As for my reinforcer, I said I would treat myself to chips and queso every 2 weeks after emitting my working out behavior perfectly. I have not emitted my behavior perfectly so I have not received my reinforcement, which is actually reinforcing me to emit the behavior even more.
The self-directed behavior program I set up for myself was to emit the behavior of exercising on a regular basis. I have started my behavior and thus far I would have to say that I am emitting my self-direct behavior pretty well. I started my behavior last Friday. I did very well at getting out of bed at 8:00 am and going to World Wide Fitness. While there, I also emitted my target behavior by running on the treadmill for 25 minutes at speed 5.
However, when Saturday rolled around I found it very difficult to force myself out of bed at 8:00 am. So instead, on Saturday and Sunday I decided to let myself sleep in and hit the gym up at 10:00 am. I made sure to write this in my journal. Also, I kept track of how I felt after my 10:00 am workout versus my 8:00 am workout. Looking at my notes, I felt more comfortable during the 10:00 am hour. The only problem is that during the week I have class during this time so I think I will change my target behavior to working out at 8:00 am Monday through Friday and then 10:00 am on Saturday and Sunday.
Another thing I might change is my reinforcement. I stated that I would give myself 30 minutes of lazy time per day that I worked out. As sad as it is to admit this, I already do this. So, I think I will change the reinforcement to: If I emit my self-directed behavior 6 days in a row, I will give myself the 7th day off. This is also important because I think if I were to work out 7days a week I would get burnt out. Also, I will be good for my body to get one day of relaxation.
Overall my self-directed behavior is going well. I am worried that towards the end of the semester I won’t have as much time to dedicate to working out. If this probably arises I will probably change my target behavior is the following ways: First, I will only workout 5 days a week. Secondly, I might have to change the time of working out depending on my schedule. Possibly having to get up earlier or staying up later. I don’t think it will be too difficult because when that time comes around, my self-directed behavior should almost come naturally.
The behavior that I chose to modify was increasing the amount of days I exercise. The target behavior was to exercise for at least a half an hour at least five days a week. (I think the target was five days…it might’ve been four.) I decided to start on Monday since that’s one of the days I try to work out anyway…. I decided to do zumba Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Wednesday & Saturday I would either try to walk or do Pilates. I’ve been recording it in my planner but will need to record it somewhere else officially. My reinforcement is to buy a book every two weeks that I successfully reach my goal.
So far, I have not done well. I did emit an exercising behavior on Monday – I went to zumba class. However, I did nothing yesterday or today (Wednesday). I doubt I’ll do anything today because it’s been a long, stressful day and I have other things to do, like make dinner for my husband and fill out grad school apps. Now that this is an assignment, I’m hoping that it’ll be a reinforcer to actually exercise like I want to. I may have to change my official reinforcement of buying a book, but since I haven’t actually tried it yet, I want to see if that is enough reinforcement for me. I don’t think that I’ll make any changes to my exercising behaviors though because those are the least aversive exercise behaviors I know of. I may also start using facebook as a way of reinforcement, by letting others give me feedback, which is pleasurable when I get positive feedback and it encourages me to keep on plugging away. I know this is supposed to be self-directed, but I find that I am reinforced by others’ praise and their disapproval can negatively reinforce my behavior as well. I look forward to reaching my goal.
Oh, I forgot to add that I am modifying my target behavior to exercising at least a half hour at least four days a week. I'm doing this becuase the thought of working out 5-6 days a week is aversive and makes me not even want to start. I'm hoping that I can make this a self-directed behavior in baby steps; start with four and work my way up until I don't even think about it; I just exercise most days of the week. Healthy habits are hard behaviors for me to shape though!!
My modified behavior I had chosen was to emit a behavior of limiting my amount of impulse shopping habits. My target behavior of not buying $10 magazines and other unnecessary items would help decrease my impulses. I want to achieve my self-directed goal and I have made a specific list of purchases that are NEEDS before I go to the store. I have found that this makes it a lot easier to not buy unwanted items on impulse. I also have found a way to REALLY change my impulses by checking my bank account each time before I go to the store. I then only put so much money into my account that I will spend for the month. I previously stated that I would reinforce myself by saving for a desired vacation, which I still believe has worked but I have modified my reinforcer to be more realistic for my lifestyle.
I have decided to change my reinforcer so I do not relapse at the store and think its “okay” to buy ONE thing that is one sale. I will change my reinforcer to putting $15 extra dollars in my bank account so at the end of the month I can use that for “going out to eat” or going to a movie with friends. The reason why I decided that a new reinforcer will be more realistic is because I felt that my reinforcer had a timeframe that was far away. Then, I decided that because the time-span was months away to go on vacation I may not succeed in decreasing my impulse shopping habits.
I have found that by modifying my behavior in impulse shopping now will help me in the long run because I will be more cautious with my money. Also, I thought that if I managed my money well now, I can help others around me save money by starting small, with impulse shopping. The lists I create before I go to the store do help because I have only a mind set for those purchases.
I hope that by graphing and recording my behaviors will also help decrease my impulse shopping, because I am motivated to succeed in saving my money.
The behavior I am trying to emit is studying more. My target behaviors would be
-1. Read all assigned pages in each class’s textbooks thoroughly
-2. Outline the pages in a separate notebook for each class before and after class
-3. Set aside 3 hours a night from the hours of 8-11 to study
Originally I had the goal of “Get good grades”, but I should make it more specific, as to study more. This is something that isn’t such a long term thing. The problem is that I don’t think 8-11 will work very well because my schedule is somewhat variable. This will elicit the response to study when I can, and record the hours.
Yesterday I studied from 1-2 pm, and 3-5 pm. This would be 3 hours—and I did the first two target behaviors.
After I did this, I went home and watched TV. This was a good positive reinforcer. I got the pleasurable response after studying for hours.
Next week, I will try to make sure to schedule out my time to study for 3 hours, so I do not forget or just get lazy and not do it. Implementing a graph will also probably be beneficial.
The behavior that I chose to emit was to read one free reading book every month during the year 2012. Although I set this as a future goal, I decided to reinforce the behavior and begin reading a book that I have been looking forward to right after I wrote last weeks’ post. I was wanting to achieve this goal by avoiding all distractions and designating a specific amount of time and pages to complete in one night. More specifically, I was planning on emitting the behavior of reading 30 minutes a night before bed. Thus far, I was successful last week, but not so much this week. I felt really passionate about what I was reading and felt good about taking that time before bed to myself and unwinding from the day. However, I have been busier this week and haven’t even touched it.
Since I was successful at emitting the behavior last week, I need to consider what circumstances made it easier for me to read during this time. Maybe I should make some changes to my schedule as a consequence to not having more “me” time. By not putting off my homework, I will not have to stay up late working on it; instead I can have that time to free read. Recently I was asked to help out at my cousin’s day care on Mondays from 9:00-3:00. Mondays are usually my day to emit the behavior of completing all my homework and working ahead. However, after working for a long time I did not feel like completing my homework as an aversive consequence. I do not feel I am in a position to turn down extra money, especially at $12 an hour, so I may need to make even more adjustments.
My new goal is to read at least thirty minutes at any point during the day. This will require me to carry the book around with me which may make me more likely to read it when I have some down time between class and work.
I chose to try to elicit myself to workout out at least 4 days a week. My schedule doesn’t allow me to go to the WRC on Monday-Wednesday, so I’m really stressing that I make it to the gym on Thursday-Sunday. I understand that there will be weeks that this is not possible, so on those days I will do abs and arms in my room, take the stairs, and make sure I’m walking a lot.
If I successfully accomplish my goal at the end of the week, I will reward myself by renting a movie, watching my favorite show, going shopping, or going out with friends. I will switch up the reinforcers each week so that I don’t get bored, or end up spending all my money!
My goal will be starting tomorrow, on Thursday and I will begin to log my workouts and times and graphing the data. I am going to probably end up doing most of my workouts on my own, but if I need some extra reinforcement, I have a friend that has agreed to go to the gym with me and help encourage me to get the most out of my exercising. Can’t wait to get started and test my self-motivation.
The goal that I came up with last week was to lose 10 pounds by Christmas. So far, I have been drinking at least 64 oz. of water each day and running 3 miles 3 times per week. However, I have not done a good job of keeping track of my calorie intake. Although I know that I have reduced my calorie intake, I know that this has been above the 1400 calorie range. I have made a set schedule of when I will work out and so far this has been going well for me. I have also avoided eating at fast food restaurants, and carrying water with me throughout the day helps me to make sure I am drinking enough water each day. In order to make sure I am not consuming more than 1400 calories per day, I will begin to keep better track of what I eat and how much I eat of it. Since the only reinforcer I set for myself doesn’t occur until the end of this goal, I need to come up with other reinforcers that will keep me going throughout this process. This reinforcer will be that at the end of each week if I have exercised the proper amount of times, drank enough water each day, and not consumed more than 1400 calories each day, then I will reward myself by allowing myself to go out with my friends one night of the weekend.
The behavior that I want to emit this next weeks is study at least 2 hours per day after classes, and do a resume with what I have been studying. I will start the behavior modification Thursday, when I finish my classes I came home do my homework, take a 15 minutes break and then I start with my two hours of studying before dinner, about what I saw in class that day. Friday it will be the same (first homework, then study). Saturday I will read the resumes that I did Thursday and Friday. Next week will be the same for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday it is a little bit different because I work in the afternoon so I have to emit the behavior modification after dinner.
I will do a draft that will help me to see more clearly what I did and if I missed something. This initial draft will be a mouth schedule and the graph baseline will be a bar chart.
Since I didn´t start this specific plan of study I don´t know yet if I need to change something. I hope next week know more about my changing behavior, and if really work or not.
For my self-directed behavioral program, I chose to emit a behavior of drinking 64 ounces of water per day. I outlined some goals of how many ounces I wanted to drink at certain times of the day. I wanted to emit a behavior of drinking 8 ounces when I woke up, 8-16 ounces before and after working out, 8 ounces before going to bed, and as many ounces as I6 ounces throughout other times of the day like mid-morning, during meals, or at work. I also wanted to emit a behavior of recording the number of ounces I drank per day, and the time I emitted a behavior of drinking those ounces, to better understand what contexts/antecedents elicited my goal behavior best.
I do not think I will change my reinforcer, because I have already found it to be effective in increasing the frequency/likelihood of me emitting my target behavior. I chose to reinforce my behavior instead of punishing it, because we have learned in class that reinforcement is more effective for emitting desired behaviors in the long-run. I have not been able to meet my goal behavior of drinking the 64 ounces per day, but I will not change my goal because I desire to achieve this for the overall health benefits it will provide, and I hope to be able to emit this behavior in the years to come.
I have already noticed that I am consciously reminding myself to drink water instead of other beverages, and I am emitting a behavior of drinking more water than I have in the past. I have also noticed that I feel better when I drink more water each day. I have become more conscious of drinking more water after I have emitted a behavior of working out, and while I am emitting a behavior of working out-especially lifting weights. I know I need to emit a behavior of recording the ounces more accurately, because sometimes I forget to write it down if I am not at home, but carrying a notepad with me will allow me to emit this behavior more frequently. I am going to try harder this coming week to emit my target behavior, and make it a habit to drink 64 ounces of water per day.
The behavior I chose to emit was to lose 15 pounds in 6 weeeks. I had planned to do this by eating healthier and exercising for an hour four times a week. I started emitting this behavior on Monday and went grocery shopping and got much healthier meals and snacks. This has made sticking to eating better much easier, however my emitting my exercising behavior has been less successful. Between work and class I have had a hard time finding time (and maybe motivation) to emit this behavior.
I think some things that I will need to change is when I exercise. I think that I would be more successful if I planned on getting up early to exercise in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays because on those days I do not have class until 10. I also think that I may change my reinforcer. Instead of buying new clothes so often (because of money reasons) I will only shop after I have lost all 15 pounds and everytime I lose 5 I will reward myself with eating something that isn't so healthy like cake or cookies or go to a movie with friends.
The self directed behavior that I decided to implement is to stop swearing. I have planned to do this by leaving stressful situations, and thinking about what I say before I say it. I decided that if I go for 3 days without swearing, I will then buy myself a treat such as cookies or ice cream. In order to measure this, I have decided to carry a piece of paper around with me in my backpack so that I can tally each time I swear.
I have found that there are a lot of things that I need to change in order for this behavior to be modified. Not swearing everyday is not an option for me. Swearing less than 3 times per day sounds a lot more realistic for my goal. I still let situations that are stressful at work get to me. I have decided that my reinforcer is still okay, but I have decided that if I can go three days without swearing more than 3 times per day, then that will be reinforced by junk food.
Although I am having trouble with modifying this behavior so far, I have noticed a change. I think more often about what I say before saying it, and my amount of curse words per day has gone down drastically.
I would like to emit the behavior of studying at least 20 minutes for every class every day. I have a major problem with procrastination, and if I dedicate at least 20 minutes to every class each day, that should solve this problem. I started emitting this behavior on Monday and it has really made my life much easier. I had a test today in a class, so I dedicated more time to that class last night. This was much less time than I would have spent if I didn’t study for 20 minutes every day in the days before.
I do need to specify my target behaviors a little better, however. Every time I receive an assignment, I will emit a reading behavior of the entire assignment. If I do not have an assignment that day, I will review that class for 20 minutes. After I get my assignments completed, I will allow myself to relax and play Madden or watch TV. I enjoy these activities so it will be and has been successful reinforcement. I get my work done early because I do not allow myself to emit a TV watching behavior before I complete my work.
I originally wanted to set a specific time to study each day, but my work schedule is erratic so I cannot predict when I will have free time.
I implemented this change in behavior a couple of weeks ago and was doing very well at emitting these behaviors when I had originally planned. I found that it was very difficult to go straight after class because I was often too tired to stay on campus and just wanted to get home. I am altering the time in which I wish to implement the change in behavior to before class. I believe that this will not only force me to wake up early in the morning, but will help in actually waking me up and getting me ready and awake for the day.
When initially setting the goal of seven pounds, I did not give myself an end date. Losing seven pounds in the next five years would be nice, but within the next few months would be better. So I am altering myself directed behavioral program to: losing seven pounds by the start of the New Year, so by January 1st.
I also need to work to reduce the number of calories I am eating each day, not just “eat healthier” like I had stated before. I am going to do this by emitting a behavior of eating a larger amount of fruits and vegetables so that I am not eating large amounts of white grains, which are empty calories (and absolutely delicious). This will hopefully elicit a feeling of fullness and reduce my hunger when eating a large home-cooked meal. I also plan emitting a behavior of drinking more water, which should also lessen my hunger.
Last week I decided on the self-directed behavioral program to raise my GPA to 3.7. So far I have been emitting the behavior of reading over my notes 5 nights out of the week. I have studied for two hours or more for all three of my past tests. I have not been getting the desired amount of sleep I wanted to, but it does not seem to affect me that much.
I have not been doing a good job of keeping a study log, I tend to forget about it and then when I do remember to write things down I forget what studying I had done that day. My past three tests I have taken have gone very well and it seems that my hard work is paying off!
I have noticed that studying later at night works best for me in the union. The library is too quiet and freaks me out and I can’t study at the apartment because of loud roommates. I am not good at morning studying, so the later I can stay up studying the better. I think I am going to make sub goals for myself throughout this process. I will reward myself after receiving A’s on tests with a shopping trip to buy a new accessory.
The one thing I could work on is getting more sleep because I have only been getting a total amount of five hours each night. It hasn’t caused negative consequences for me yet but I would like to start getting at least six hours of sleep each night. I also might modify my behavior by re-writing my notes once a week instead of reading them five nights out of the week.
I have been emitting behaviors to lose weight for about two weeks now. So far, I have been very successful and have lost about seven pounds. I have been running three miles a day for the past two weeks, and have started a weightlifting program. I have gone down a jean size and feel amazing. I have also emitted healthy eating behaviors. I no longer snack between meals, and I have been reducing my carbohydrate intake. These healthy behaviors have elicited a euphoric feeling inside of me which is great reinforcement to continue losing weight. There are things I would like to change about my weight loss plan, however. I will no longer reward myself with a dessert after every week. When I do so, it elicits stronger cravings for junk food, and I then have to resist the urge to binge. It is better to just stay away from desserts and high-calorie foods. I will also try to switch up my work out routine. I will burn more calories and activate more muscles if I swim, bike, or do pilates instead of just running.
I took the advice from the assigned chapters to break the big goal into subgoals. This has been very helpful to me and has kept me motivated. Instead of expecting to lose 20 pounds immediately, I take one day at a time. Focusing on eating healthy and exercising everyday has kept me on track and isn’t too overwhelming. If I continue to see results and feel better about myself, I have faith that I will succeed in reaching my goal of losing 20 pounds!
My self directed behavioral program involves emitting a studying behavior more often. Over the past week, I have tried to set extra time aside in less distracting environments to be more effective in my studies. So far it has gone well. I spent an hour in the library yesterday and today I spent about an hour in the computer lab. I have caught up on homework for the week and this allows me to not feel as anxious about getting caught up. Making a more set schedule decreases the likelihood of procrastination which in the past I've had a problem with.
The main part of my plan that I could change is to maybe be more flexible with when I get my work done. Ive noticed that on a couple occasions the past couple weeks, I had prior planned engagements on certain days so instead of a daily goal, maybe just a weekly goal could be better suited for my schedule. I've also noticed that I could potentially eliminate the emission of rewarding behavior because getting my work done sooner has proven to be rewarding in itself. That is something that I'll find out as time goes on, though.
For this assignment I had to make many adjustments to the self-directed behavioral program that I wrote up last week because the first one that I came up with is simply too large to be easily measured. My original thought was to set a goal of applying to grad school and adjust my behavior accordingly to make that happen. However, after some thought I have rationalized that I will have to take a look at a much more specific target behavior than I have previously been doing. The target behavior that will assist me with this entire progress is putting to an end my procrastinating behavior. I need to put this to death because it is inhibiting my academic performance immensely and if it progresses could bring my grad school hopes to a screeching halt. My specific target behavior therefore will be to have my homework for all of my classes done a day ahead of schedule. This means that any papers I have due will be done one day ahead of schedule, my web posts will be up one day before they are due, and my daily work will be done a day ahead of time. In saying this I mean that MWF homework will be completed on T, Th, Sat, or Sun and TTh homework will be completed on W or the weekend. Now to come up with my reinforcement schedule. Now, because I know myself and how I cannot be trusted I will have to turn to my wife to be the one to administer my rewards. No, not that kind of reward. My reward will be having the ability to watch movies at my apartment. We do not have cable so we rely on getting movies and tv episodes through the library. At night, my normal schedule is to eat and then put off my homework so that I can either read or watch TV, often preferring the latter. I am going to ask my wife to keep me accountable for this behavior and to get after me if I do not have my homework done. I will have her check through my planner to make sure everything is checked off; this is where I will have to be honest. My wife will be a great support system for me to have in this because she wants me to attend grad school just as badly as I want to. I will begin to change this behavior over the weekend as I will walk my wife through the strict steps that will be put in place. I will begin to graph this by marking down on my monthly planner day by day as a success or a failure. This is a behavior that I really want to change in myself and look forward to seeing the changes in the future and will bring the very beginning of my graphed successes or failures. Oh! In addition to all of the above in order so that I can get Tuesday’s assigned work done for Thursday I will have to clear up my schedule with Menards so that I am only scheduled for 2 days of the work week rather than being scheduled for every MWF evening.
The behavior I would like to modify is smoking. I have tried to a elicit a quitting behavior a few times, but have come to realize they were not quitting behaviors, more so of a pausing action. So to modify the behavior I have decided to buy some nicotine gum, (quite expensive by the way) and limit myself to one cigarette a day for the next 2 weeks, no variation from that. Any other time that I want to have a smoke I will pop in a piece of gum instead. I will record every time that I do light up (which will only be once a day over the next 2 weeks and after the 2 weeks I will not smoke at all) and every time that I have a piece of gum as well with an anticipation of not chewing the gum, but that is another behavior to modify after this program. As today is the first day of my behavioral program, it hasn’t been too tough yet. To reward myself after the first 2 weeks, if I follow the regiment set in place, I will treat myself to a trip to Sutliff cider house to enjoy some fresh hard apple cider. As I don’t get to go there but once every couple of years, it will be a nice reward for the work that I have done. As of right now I cannot think of anything that I have forgotten to outline. Any suggestions??
The behavior I planned to emit was exercising more. I decided to emit a walking behavior four times a week in the mornings. I also planned to do this for at least thirty minutes every time eventually increasing the amount of time I spent emitting a walking behavior as I felt I could. This week I have already walked three times, and I actually walked closer to an hour rather than just thirty minutes. I didn't really plan to do that it's just what I felt more comfortable with at the moment because it seemed like thirty minutes was way too short.
I already noticed that I may have to make some changes. First, I initially planned to emit a walking behavior in the mornings. However, with my schedule I have found that going in the afternoon works out much better than in the morning. I also think I will have to reinforce myself differently. I initially planned to reinforce my behavior by buying a small, fairly inexpensive accessory at the end of every week, but I find myself buying little things whenever I see them and when they're fairly affordable. So I don't think that will work as my reinforcement since it is not something that is out of the ordinary and tends to happen somewhat often. I think I will rent a movie for on the weekends if I emit my specific walking behavior during the week. Hopefully this will work out better.
The behavior I wanted to emit and reinforce would be the behavior of studying more. What I planned to do was emit a studying behavior for at least an average of 1 hour per day. This is going well because I tend to study more on some days than on other days. This is indeed fulfilling the contengencies, but the only problem is it doesn't seem to be consistent. So a loop hole to this target behavior would be to study 7 hours at the end of the week, which would just be cramming and helping nothing. So in order to fix this to help me emit a more consistent behavior I have decided to tweak the contengencies to say that I'd have to study at least 30 minutes a day, but no more than 2 hours a day. This way I can fulfill the studying for at least 1 hour per day and maintain a consistency of studying at least once per day.
The reinforcers for this are going to stay the same. The reinforcers will be if I do fulfill my studying habits I will be able to go out on the weekends and enjoy myself. The punishent will also stay the same to where if I am not on track I will not be able to go out on the weekend and will have to stay in aand study to keep my pace of 1 hour per day on track.
My work schedule, class schedule, and extracurricular activities schedule all work with this behavior I am trying to modify. The only thing that I noticed was the contengencies. With the contengencies modified I feel like this behavior I am trying to work on will be much more succesful.
The goal I chose was to lose weight. I was going to achieve this goal by emitting the following behaviors. I was going to walk for at least an hour every day, drinking 8oz of water with every meal, and not eating fast food during the week. I was going to positively reinforce myself every two weeks that I follow these behaviors with a new outfit.
I have done well this week with the walking at least an hour every day behavior because I walk to class and back to my apartment. Also with my job I work in the mornings and I walk the kid’s I work with to school. I also did well emitting the behavior of drinking water with every meal. However I did not do well with not eating fast food during the week. One reason is because I did not look at this week’s assignment until just now so I wasn’t actually following the guidelines exactly, and also because living alone and working and going to school sometimes it’s just easier to go to a drive thru on my way to wherever I am going. So I am going to have to work on that behavior from now on.
I think that some things that I need to change would be making the target behavior more precise. For example saying that I want to lose 5 or 10 pounds in a month. That way I also give myself time limits. I also think that I should change the reinforcement of getting a new outfit to something being taken away, because I don’t think that the incentive of getting a new outfit every two weeks that I follow the guidelines is enough. Let’s be honest if I see an outfit I really want I am probably going to get it regardless of whether or not I followed my guidelines for losing weight. Overall I think that the self-directed goal is going well, I just need to change a few kinks.
The behavior I am choosing to modify is eating healthier. I get sick often and I am choosing to emit a behavior or eating better in terms of more fruits, vegetables, drinking more water per day of every meal. I want to cut out my sweet intake down to zero. This week has not been so well because I have been stressed out about passing an important class and the possibility of not graduating. Today at dinner I did have a brownie and the other day for lunch I had nothing health at all due to stress.
My reward for eating better is a small fun sized candy bar every week and every month I get to buy myself a new book. This may have to be altered when no longer will I want the candy or if in a month I don't have the money for a new book. I am also cutting out snacking before meals because my snacking is usually unhealthy and then I am too full to eat the good foods than I need to choose at the dinning center.
I started modifying my behavior on Monday and I can already tell I will need so more work and motivation. I have friends who are supporting me and making sure that I go down to the dinning center so I don't eat the easy fast food that is near me. I have a party this weekend where being healthy may be a big challenge for me but I will try to control myself.
The target behavior goal I outlined for myself was consuming 80 ounces of water every day. I am splitting this up into the sub goals of consuming 10 ounces of water eight times throughout the day instead of drinking large amounts of water at once which is hard for me to do. My reinforcer is pretty janky right now (reinforcing myself with crackers, because i love crackers every time I consume 10 ounces of water). I have been meeting my target goal these past few days because I have been sick, thus eliciting a higher consumption of water than normal for me. Also, this being halloween weekend, i have a feeling i will be drinking a lot more water to chase liquor and ward off headaches as well. Graphing should be relatively easy. I will really have to change a lot of antecedents to elicit more consumption of water because frankly I could go all day without drinking a single drop of water. In the meantime I will be trying to think of reinforcers that will be more reinforcing to me and at the same time something that will prevent satiation. It will be hard for me to remember to always have a stash of crackers on hand to reinforce myself with and remain consistent with reinforcing myself every time I drink 10 ounces of water.
The behavior I emitt of snacking in between meals has greatly added to my weight problem. I have decided to decrease my behavior of eating of snack food in order to reach my goal of losing twenty pounds by Christmas. I have set my reinforcer as buying a new pair of jeans and shirt with every inch I lose. My target behavior is to stop snacking in between meals, especially during work when I snack the most.
Things are going alright, I found it harder to stay away from snack foods, especially while I am at work and at home. It is now to the point that I have ran out of most snack foods at home so it is getting easier not to eat them which is also making it easier not to eat outside of meals. I just need to work on not eating snack foods at work and to just eat filling meals so I do not get hungry in between. Recently my hours at work have been cut so I have decided that instead of buying myself a new pair of jeans and a new shirt for every inch around my waist I lose to buying myself a new pair of jeans only every three inches I lose. I have also talked to parents about getting in on this and helping to reinforce me since my weight has been an issue for a long time.
I am supposed to emit a behavior of working out and this includes running on a treadmill three times a week and strength training three times a week for an hour. My self-directed behavioral program has not been going well. I have yet to emit my target behavior of working out since I posted the last blog. I will begin emitting my program tomorrow.
I need to change the program some to make it fit me and my schedule better. I love cooking and I truly do enjoy food but it is not very practical for my reinforcement to be me cooking for myself. I am a busy college student and I live in the dorm which really doesn’t fit with cooking often. I will change this consequence to eating ice cream at the Piazza after I work out. Also I will have to remove a part of my planned behavior. I do not have access to a kick boxing class while I am at UNI. I may have the ability to restart this part once home for the summer but until than I can’t perform the behavior.
The behavior I have chosen to emit is to get caught up in class. I have decided to increase my behavior of doing my school work by spending at least an hour in the library a day and staying caught up on current assignments. My reinforcer for doing assignments is a sweet treat and my reinforcer for finishing all my assignments is to get a manicure pedicure.
So far things aren’t going quite as planned. I may have to modify the topography of my behavior. Getting to the library everyday and spending time there is not necessarily realistic. I think I need to make a list of my assignments and corresponding readings, doing at least one reading or assignment a day. This though a little more demanding goal wise will pay off for me I think. It is much easier to complete one thing at a time than to overwhelm myself will a large stack of readings and assignments daily. My reinforcer seems to be lacking to motivate me, so I think that I may change to an intermittent schedule, where I reward myself with a delectably sweet something and indulge once a week if I complete something daily. I’m hoping that this will motivate me and take some of the stress of being behind.
In last week’s blog, I listed the goal that I would like to lose 15 pounds before spring break. I said I would like to elicit the behavior of working out three times a week, drink 8 glasses of water a day, do 100 crunches at night before I go to bed, try not to eat after 7pm, and lifting weights twice a week after I run. By doing this, I am hoping to limit my calorie intake every day, tone up by lifting weights, and losing pounds by running three times a week. So far, my goals have been successful. I found out emitting the behavior of running in the morning works best for me because I can get it over with early and feel better about myself throughout the rest of the day. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day helps make me feel fuller and also stops me from drinking alternatives like diet pop or caloric drinks. I find it the easiest to elicit the behavior of doing crunches before I do to bed. I like to do crunches more than running which helps me enjoy eliciting the behavior more than the other behaviors.
One problem I am having with my target behaviors is trying not to eat after seven. Sometimes I don’t get home until after seven from my classes so it is impossible to not eat after this time. To alter my goals, I think my target behavior should be to not eat after dinner. Therefore, I still eat dinner but I try not to snack after. This will make sure I still eat but not overeat. Another problem I am having with my goals is lifting weights after I run. I have only lifted weights one time this week because I was so sore from not working out as much and from running all week. The best way to make it so I set reasonable goals is to start out lifting weights once a week and once I start meeting that target behavior, I can increase the number of days I lift weights therefore I can make sure I am meeting my goals.
The behavior I am trying to emit is watching less TV while studying. In order to achieve these goals I created the following target behaviors:
1 – Do my homework at the library.
2 – Listen to music while studying instead of watching TV
3 – Do my homework at the dining room table where there is no TV
So far this week I have succeeded in achieving one out of my three target behaviors. This target behavior is Do my homework at the library. As of this week I have spent 12 hours in the library working on homework. This is a considerable amount more than previous weeks, which on average added up to being 2 hours per week.
As for my other two target behaviors I still need work. I have noticed that me achieving each of these target behaviors depends on the type of homework and the amount of homework I have each week. For example, if I am writing a paper or need to research scholarly articles it is more beneficial for me to go to the library. However, if it’s my routine homework such as writing my BMOD blogs or completing a translation for French I can do this at the dining room table. I think that listening to music is going to be the most difficult target behavior for me to emit. I will have to condition myself to substitute the noise from the TV with lyrics of a song. In regards to the amount of homework I have, if I have a big project or really need to focus in any particular week I will most likely go to the library. I would emit this behavior mostly to eliminate stress. When I get things done I feel better and have less to worry about and I’ve found the library is the best way to achieve this.
My original plan was to reinforce myself with a half hour of free time for every two hours I did homework without the TV on. This week however, I did not reward myself with any free time yet I still emitted one of my target behaviors. Although I still emitted the goal behavior I think I will still consider revising how I am using self-reinforcement. Maybe just the fact that I am less stressed is reinforcing enough.
The behavior I am trying to emit less of is biting my nails. In order to stop doing this, I planned to keep track of how many times I bite my nails per day and then add them up at the end of the week. If I went the whole week without biting my nails at all, then I could receive a reinforcer of ice cream from Four Queens. The specific target behavior is to make sure that my nails are always painted in order to deter me from wanting to bite them. If I do bite them, I need to make sure I repaint them right away. I am finding it quite difficult to not bite my nails, however. I have bitten them twice in the last two days but have been really trying to pay attention to it since then. I have also had a hard time keeping up with the painting the nails aspect. I haven't had time to sit down and repaint them lately, so this may be something that needs to be slightly modified.
I am thinking that because of the unsuccessfulness of the plan so far, I may need adjust a few things. I may need to start applying something to my nails that will deter me even more than the taste of nail polish will. If when I bite my nails I am confronted with a very aversive taste, then that will hopefully really help me stop. I may also want to move my reward to every 3 days and to something different than ice cream so it fits the frequency a little better. Maybe something like one scoop of ice cream from my own freezer. This way it is a smaller reinforcement. Hopefully by changing these couple things my success rate will increase.
The behavior I have chosen modify is getting all a's in my classes. The target behaviors I will implement to change this behavior are; studying for three hours at least twice a week in the library and reviewing all notes after class.
I have just started a job in the past week so I will have to learn to adjust my study schedule accordingly, however I am done at five everyday so it still leaves me plenty of time to study after work. I may need to add more time to my studying due to approaching finals. Even if I don't get A's in all my classes this semester, by emiting these behaviors now, I will continue throughout the next semester and won't have to begin from scratch.
The goal that I choose last week would be to save up money to go to Italy. I made this goal before I realized that we would be tracking it in class. The goal I choose is something that would have to be reinforced over a long period of time. I realize that this makes the goal harder to achieve and much harder to use in class, but it takes time to save for a vacation. I can modify my goal a little bit to fit this scenario, but ultimately it is something that the results for saving won’t be seen right away. I originally stated that my target behavior was to save $200 per month until the month of July in order to go to Italy. In order to be able to graph that in this time period I will modify my target behavior. I will save $100 from each paycheck I receive, and I usually receive a paycheck once every two weeks or twice a month depending on the month. I have emitted the behavior of saving the required money from my most recent paycheck from last weekend. One of the other target behaviors I had down was to decrease unnecessary spending (going out, shopping, etc.) by two thirds. I am not sure about the progress I made but I did emit the behavior of going through my online banking and getting a rough estimate of what I spend per month on average on these things. This will give me a good idea of how much I need to cut back. I realized when doing this that I am unable to reinforce my target behavior at this time due to the fact that my reinforcement would be going to Italy, and obviously that is not in the cards right now. It is also difficult to allow positive reinforcement to occur considering I cannot actually buy myself anything seeing as I’m trying to save money. I could possibly reward myself with the emitting the target goal of saving $100 every paycheck by eliciting the response of picking out one thing I would like to do in Italy. This would benefit me in the way that it allows for positive reinforcement to occur because I’m bringing in a pleasant stimulus in order to increase my saving of money. It would also help me be able to plan my itinerary and study the place that I plan on visiting. It would keep my eye on the prize so to speak.
The self-directed behavior that I chose to emit was to save money for Nicaragua. I planned to keep track of the money that I was saving and to not spend my money on pointless things. The specific target behavior for me is to not spend my money. So far, my consequences have been turning out really well. I have spent money here and there, but I have resisted Starbucks and eating out. The money that I have spent has been for birthday presents and legitimate reasons. However, to be certain that I do not have an aversive outcome to my target behavior, I need to try harder with saving my money. I have picked up a few extra shifts this week for work, but maybe I should make a piggy bank to put my cash in it, so I am not tempted to spend it. I also need to start rewarding myself for emitting this behavior when I do it correctly. By doing these few extra things and brainstorming some other ideas, will hopefully increase the frequency of me saving my money.
Goal/Target Behavior:
My New Year’s Resolution goal that I expressed in last week’s blog was to emit a behavior of getting in better shape my increasing the elicited behavior of working out. I have been working out and having various workout programs throughout the year and currently I am working on my workout goals specific to the fall rugby season. The specific target behavior in which I chose to elicit a particular focus is to elicit a multi-fitness workout twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) at women’s rugby practice. On Saturday’s I will play a rugby game. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I will work out with 4 other girls from the rugby teams doing a cardio workout specified by our trainer. I will continue this routine through November 20th.
Keep a Record/Graph a Baseline:
For the sake of having graphable data, I will use amount of time emitted spent working out. An average practice will be 2 hours and an average workout with the 4 girls on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be 1 ½ hours. Games on Saturdays will also be considered 3 hours as it requires more strenuous and continuous work. If a workout goes for more time or is harder than usual, the time recorded will go up, the opposite will happen if it is easier. If I do not workout, 0 hours will be recorded for that day. My target behavior is again-to work out a minimum of 5 days a week. My workouts will be a minimum of 5 days a week for the fact that I may have a bi-week for a Saturday game.
Determine Contingencies:
Sundays will be considered my “cheat” day. The day off is my reinforcement for the week. My hard work will be rewarded as I will take Sunday off from working out to allow my muscle to relax. I may do some light jogging to help my muscles loosen up; however, no data will be elicited for Sundays. I will emit a relaxing behavior and be less strict on my diet. I will continue to not have pop and I will still stick to 3 meals per day with limited snacking.
Determine Antecedents:
I will elicit a routine…
*Monday, Wednesday, and Friday workouts=3:30pm-5pm @ the WRC or behind the WRC on the grass.
*Tuesday, Thursday workouts= 4pm-6pm @ the Rugby Fields
*Saturday Game=will vary based on KO time. @ Various locations across the Midwest depending on the week.
Implement and Adjust the Contingencies:
Sundays will emit a reward of relaxation. I will also be rewarded with being in better shape and achieving my elicited target behavior goal. My schedule and routine are set and I will be rewarded with being healthier, happier, and successful/productive. If the weather is poor, I will still workout for the same amount of time; however, it may be moved indoors to the WRC or the Dome. There will be no excuses for not working out.
Terms: 7 stages of goal setting, emit, elicit (tense variation), reinforcement, target behavior, behavior, contingencies…
The goal that I listed for last week was to study for 6-7 hours a week in order to be more efficient in school. I made 3 sub goals the first being that I would complete homework assignments the day before class if not before, study before classes on tues-thurs, and study after class for an hour. So far everything has been going real well except my studying for an hour after class because I end class Monday through Friday at noon and I usually am very hungry so I altered by goal by working right after eating. I also made a reinforcement of relaxing after my study period as long as I do my studying. I also will implement my graph which is a harder goal to obtain but I believe if I put the goal sheet on the front of my binder then I will mark it. I think my ideas for overcoming antecedents were good ideas I just need reminders of them so I will put sticky notes around my room as well to make sure I follow through with my goals.
The goal that I set last week was to lose 50 pounds in a year. To do this, I started by making a record of my eating and exercise habits. I recorded by daily calories intake and my exercise program. I have not implemented my exercise routine yet, but I will begin that this coming week. Through my Personal Wellness class, I was able to take an FDA diet assessment online in which I found out that in order to meet my goal, I should be eating about 1500 calories per day and exercising for about an hour each day. These goals were close to the ones I had already set. I have started graphing my baseline, and will be weighing myself for my next check in next week.
Some possible setbacks:
- It is difficult to see how many calories I will be eating in places like the dining center and at restaurants. However, I did find the the UNI DOR website has a Nutrition Facts section for the daily menus in all the dining centers, so I can plan out my meals ahead of time by calorie intake.
- With my working and class schedule, finding exercise time my get difficult. I might have to make adjustments later on.
The self-directed behavioral intervention program that I outlined last week was talking to my family more. In order to do this, I defined my target behavior as calling my sister at least once a week, calling my brother at least once a week, and calling my parents every other day. This week, I did call my sister at least once; however, while recording the behavior, I realized I called only because it was her birthday. I also called my brother, but it was because my mom said I should. I did call my parents more often as well. One thing that I did not include in my target behavior definition was that I need to call my brother after 4 or 5 and my parents after 4:30 if I want to talk to both of them. My sister is a stay-at-home mom so I can call her anytime and usually get a hold of her. Even though I did not include this, I automatically do it after those specified times, so I don’t think I need to alter my definition that way.
One thing I observed, while recording this behavior, that I need to modify are the antecedents of calling my family members. As I said, the reason I emitted calling my sister and talking to her and my nephew was because it was her birthday. The reason I emitted calling my brother was because my mom told me I should. In order to actually accomplish the self-directed goal I laid out, I need to specify that I will call them for social reasons, other than asking for help, having questions, and being told to. I need to make changes in my environment to remind me to call them for social reasons more often, such as post it notes asking me how ___ is doing. I also want to call them many times, yet find myself busy and don’t have the time. In order to change this, I need to set aside certain times when I will call them. I need to decide which day(s) I will call each person and when, that way I am more accountable and responsible for this behavior. I would say that overall, I have not been successful in accomplishing my goal. I am definitely on my way; however, the most important thing to me is that I call my family simply to stay connected to them. I do not want to be one of those families that do not stay close. It is difficult because I am 9 years younger than my sister and 6 years younger than my brother, so I need to make an extra effort to accomplish this goal. Part of the reason I may be having a difficult time is that it is largely my dad’s goal for me and I need to fully accept this goal as my own and do it for my own reasons and internalize it.
The last thing I feel I need to alter is my contingency. Previously I set the contingency of getting Cold Stone for every 2 weeks I emit my goal as specified. I don’t think this is salient enough of a reinforcer. The time frame is too long, and the reinforcer does not serve its purpose. In order for that to be a proper reinforcer, I must be able to attain it; however, it is pretty hard when I do not have enough money to buy the reinforcer. I am kind of at a loss of what would be a good reinforcer for this behavior for me. I did feel pretty good after calling my family more this week, even if they were not elicited for purely social reasons. Even though intrinsic rewards of feeling good should and could be a reinforcer, I don’t feel it was strong enough. I need it to be something I receive more often and something I have the resources to acquire. Since I like watching Netflix so much, it might be advantageous to use this as a reinforcer. After each social call placed, I will be able to watch one show on Netflix before doing anything else. I will try to implement this reinforcer and hopefully it will be effective.
For my self directed behavioral program, I'm going to emit a behavior of becoming helpful and becoming more positive. Lately, I've been really busy and stressed with papers and personal problems so I've decided to slowly modify my behavior with positivity in my life. My sub-goals will be to volunteer more often. In order to do this, I will plan in advance on when and where and I want to volunteer. My goal is to volunteer at least three times for at least two hours in the next month. I will plan to volunteer on Tuesdays and meet by Maucker Union where people can volunteer for events going on. My other sub-goal for becoming positive is going to church on Sundays. I use to go to church last semester but I haven't been to church yet this semester. I will have a goal to go to church every Sunday or once a week for a month as well. My last sub-goal is to visit my only grandmother twice a month and also keep my family updated on how things have been at least once a week.
This all seems like a lot of goals to obtain, but by keeping a chart/graph of my progress, I hope to meet my goals and hopefully feel better about myself in the long run. Since I usually have Sundays off from work, I will plan to go to church and visit my grandmother after church. I also know of some volunteer opportunities this month that I can schedule and hopefully achieve my goal.