Pick a behavior of yours that you are interested in further examining using a functional analysis of behavior.
Using what you have read in this week's section 5.3 give a shot at doing a functional analysis of that behavior and report your findings.
Make sure to use your behavior speak and to use the terms that you have learned in the section.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Using what you have read in this week's section 5.3 give a shot at doing a functional analysis of that behavior and report your findings.
Make sure to use your behavior speak and to use the terms that you have learned in the section.
Let me know if you have any questions.
The behavior that I am choosing to do a functional analysis on is biting my nails. I decided that the function of biting my nails is to occupy my hands when I am feeling bored. An idea of a possible intervention would be to create an aversive consequence from emitting the behavior of biting my nails by painting on a bad-tasting nail polish. I would no longer find biting my nails reinforcing because of the bad taste. Another intervention I might try is reinforcement. I could reinforce myself by getting my nails done professionally every week I don’t bite my nails. This would help me in two ways. The first way it would help is because it would reinforce my behavior of not biting my nails. I like getting my nails done, so it would make me want to stop biting my nails so I could get them done. The second way it could help is that if I got my nails done, I wouldn’t want to bite them because I paid a lot of money to get them done professionally, therefore I wouldn’t want to mess them up. Another way to help me to stop biting my nails would be to keep myself busy. Since I typically bite my nails when I’m bored, if I stayed busy or at least kept my hands busy, I would be less likely to bite my nails.
The behavior that I am interested in further examining using a functional analysis is getting back into shape by working out more and lifting weights (by spring break). My target behavior here would have to getting up on Monday/Wednesday/Fridays at 6:30 with my friend and going to the WRC and running 30 minutes on speed 6.0 and afterwards benching 10 pound weights for 10 times for 3 sets. I will also emit a working out behavior by doing 50 "girly" push-ups and 50 regular sit-ups during my process. I have already started doing this but I must maintain my schedule. I could use intervention through reinforcement by rewarding myself with a triple chocolate meltdown from Applesbees since it's my favorite. I believe this will increase my behavior of working out to get back into shape because I'm not allowing myself to eat my favorite desert (which I eat once a month at least). Another function for working out and getting back into shape is because I have recently become single so I want to feel better about myself and have higher self-esteem. The last function for getting back into shape is because it's healthy to exercise and I know that it can increase the years of my life. With this functional analysis of the behavior I want to increase, I'm hoping I can achieve my goal by spring break.
The behavior that I looked at using a functional assessment was my behavior of sleeping. The behavior of sleeping has many different functions for me. The behavior of sleeping becomes problematic when emitted in the topography of napping. This behavior is problematic because it is not productive, often occurs when I have a lot to do, and occurs for a longer period of time than intended so I would like to decrease the frequency of this behavior. The function of this type of sleep is to relieve stress.
Here are the ABC’s of this behavior for me:
A=Lots of homework which makes me stressed
B=Take a nap
C=Nap ends up being very long, don’t get a lot done, stress is not relieved
A possible intervention is to exercise to relieve stress instead of napping. Exercise is effective at relieving stress, does not require as much time as napping for me, and has many other benefits. Also, after I emit the behavior of exercising I feel energized and do not want to sleep any more than my 7 hours at night. I would use DRO (Differential Reinforcement of Other) and reinforce an exercising behavior because exercise is not compatible with napping. Exercising would occur in the topography of 30 minutes of Pilates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and running two miles between class on Tuesday and Thursday, at a convenient time on Saturday, and after work on Sunday. To elicit an exercising behavior from me more frequently, I would reinforce myself with a bowl of popcorn once a week after emitting the behavior of exercising on each specified day of the week.
The ABC’s of the intervention would look like this:
A=Lots of homework which makes me stressed
B=Specific exercise based on day of the week
C =Feel less stressed, have more energy so less inclined to nap, better physical health, bowl of popcorn at the end of the week
One target behavior I am interested in emitting an examining behavior is eating junk food constantly even when I'm not hungry. This behavior has many pleasurable functions for me. Sometimes I eat because I am bored. Sometimes I find things to eat because I am lonely or like to have something to do while I am doing homework or studying. Sometimes I eat because I am stressed. This eating habit hasn't caught up with me yet, but I would like to stop this aversive behavior before it catches up with me. If I continue this aversive behavior I might become very unhealthy not only in my weight but in overall health as well.
ABC's before intervention:
A= stress, boredom, loneliness
B= eating constantly
C= satisfaction at the time, but in the long run becoming overweight or unhealthy
In order to stop this situation, I would call for an intervention. One intervention might be to keep a journal of the food I eat in a day to make me more aware of what I am eating. This might influence me to be aware of my actions, and therefore emit less of this eating behavior.
ABC's for an intervention of eating constantly
A= stress, boredom, or loneliness
B= keep a journal of what I am eating to make myself more aware
C= eat less
I believe the outcome of this would help me greatly in my eating behaviors, and I believe this experiment will result in an intervention, and I will eat less and become healthier in the long run.
I would like to add to my functional analysis in stating that eating too much junk food could also occur because maybe I'm just hungry or want to keep myself occupied while I'm watching tv. Sometimes it makes me feel better just to have something in my hand and make myself feel busy. I could be in many sorts of moods as well. I may eat because I'm happy or because I am sad. What might stop this behavior is if I'm full or if I think I have gained too much weight and need to lose some. This behavior also might stop because I run out of money to buy junk food or don't feel like eating it that day. This behavior, however, may happen several times a day depending on the kind of day I'm having. If I have a lot of homework to just sit there and do, I feel like I need something else to be doing while I'm doing my homework. Sometimes, however, I may have a really busy day and not have time to sit down and eat junk food. For example, this summer I babysat up to 15 kids at a time and literally did not have time to stop and have a meal. So in situations like that, the behavior may cease to occur. Therefore, eating junk food can start or stop for many reasons and many situations.
I have been in a state of emiting a lazy behavior for quite awhile now. I would like to start emiting a target behavior of gradually working out. There are several functions that working out has. Working out can give me more energy, help me lose weight, and give me a healthier, longer life. For my intervention, I am choosing to use a reward system because they seem to have the most positive affect. I would like to start working out four days a week for at least an hour. Some days I plan on working out at night but when night comes I am either doing homework or too tired from work and school. I believe my best intervention procedure will be to start working out in the mornings. This will be beneficial because I will get it out of the way and other things won’t distract me; also there are less people in gym early in the morning. If I do not follow this plan because I do not want to get up in the mornings, I will next try working out right after work. This will possibly work because then I will have to do it before I start my homework which means I will have an infinite amount of time to do my homework (until I get too tired that is) in case it takes me longer than thought. I want to increase this behavior so I will emit a behavior of rewarding myself with a new item of clothing for every week that I reach my goal. I will gradually lessen this once the target behavior becomes a habit.
A behavior of mine that I am choosing to emit a behavior of doing a functional analysis on is rewarding myself with ice cream if I receive an A on any academic exam. The function of eating the ice cream is a positive reinforcer for obtaining a good grade on a test. This reinforcer may lead to some negative health problems over a long period of time, and the cost of buying the ice cream can be slightly aversive.
Here are the ABC’s of ice cream eating (pre-intervention) behavior:
A=Have a test in class
B=Study and receive an A on test
C=reinforce behavior with ice cream
I could emit a behavior of implementing an intervention of replacing the ice cream with a fruit smoothie. The fruit smoothie would still satisfy my craving for something sweet, and serve as a reinforcer for obtaining an A on an academic exam. The fruit smoothie would also be healthier than ice cream, so it wouldn’t have the same negative health affects as the ice cream. I would still emit a behavior of self-reinforcing my target behavior, but the reinforcer would be a healthier one. I like the taste of fruit smoothies so it would still be an effective reinforcer. Fruit smoothies, like ice cream, can be slightly expensive on a frugal budget, but the long-term benefits of getting good grades, and putting healthy food in one’s body is worth it to me.
Here are the ABC’s of fruit smoothie (intervention) eating behavior:
A=Have a test in class
B=Study and receive an A on test
C=reinforce behavior with fruit smoothie
One target behavior that I would like to emit an examining behavior is drinking coffee every morning. This behavior is part of my everyday routine and a behavior that I really enjoy emitting. The only aversive consequence that I experience from this behavior is how quickly the coffee drinking behavior adds up. I would like to limit my coffee intake in order to not become dependent on the drink. Some nights I have trouble sleeping and this could be linked to the coffee. My dreams are also very strange and lucid which could have something to do with the amount of caffeine I am consuming.
ABC’s pre-intervention:
A: Waking up and coffee is set to start brewing at 7:00 a.m.
B: Drinking coffee
C: Feeling alert
In order to extinguish or alter this behavior I would have to start by not brewing coffee every morning. I have tried this before, but it always fail and I end up emitting the behavior of just buying coffee on campus. This is ultimately an aversive consequence because I am spending more money than when I just brew my own. A different way to go about this may be to make hot tea (decaf) instead. That way I am still emitting the behavior of drinking something without the aversive consequence of caffeine addiction.
ABC’S post-intervention:
A: Waking up and making decaf tea
B: Drinking tea
C: Drinking less caffeine
After emitting the change in my behavior I would be less dependent on caffeine even though it would suck at first.
A behavior that I would like to modify is to increase the number of A’s in my Psych. Stats class so that my final grade will be an A. A functional assessment for that behavior may look like this: My target behavior would be studying my notes every day for at least 5 minutes until Friday (we quiz every Friday). I chose this target behavior because a function of studying is that it improves test scores. I also think that studying will elicit a remembering response better if I look at it every day. I will choose to positively reinforce this behavior by treating myself to a cappuccino every Friday that I get an A. I do not currently get a cappuccino every Friday (or any Friday), but I really like cappuccinos so I would find the possibility of getting one very reinforcing.
ABCs (before): A=not studying notes. B=getting B on quiz on Friday. C=no cappuccino. Another consequence would be that I’m unhappy with getting B’s on quizzes. ABC (after): A=studying notes. B=getting A on quiz. C=cappuccino and happiness at improved grades.
Behavior: A behavior I emit too frequently is taking naps. I would like to modify my behavior my taking few naps during the week.
Function: The antecedent or environment in which I usually take a nap is when I am home for more than two hours at a time attempting to work on homework. For me the functions of emitting the behavior of napping are the following: I can avoid doing homework, I’m tired so I need to catch up on sleep, or I just had a big lunch which has made me sleepy.
Hypotheses: Based on these functions I can emit the behavior of creating hypotheses for why I emit this behavior.
Hypothesis I: Being home for more than two hours causes me to emit the behavior of napping.
Hypothesis II: I will emit a napping behavior when I want to avoid doing homework.
Hypothesis III: After having a big lunch I will emit a napping behavior.
Hypothesis IV: When I am deprived of sleep I will emit the behavior of napping.
Interventions: My hypotheses will help me in creating new antecedents that will hopefully elicit me to not emit a napping behavior and result in a more favorable consequence.
Intervention I: Do homework in the library instead of at home
Intervention II: Avoid eating big lunches that will make me tired.
Intervention III: Go to bed earlier at night so that I’m not tired during the day.
Intervention IV: On days that I’m at home for more than 2 hours go to the WRC and workout (this will increase my energy level)
I can try implementing all three of these interventions since they don’t conflict with one another. I might try designating one week to each of the interventions in order to see which one is more effective in achieving my target behavior. By recording my behavior during each week I implement an intervention, I can evaluate the effects of each intervention.
A behavior that I would like to modify is to reduce the amount of snacks I eat throughout the day. I emit a behavior of eating snacks between every meal, almost every day. This is not a healthy behavior and I believe I can use functional analysis to adjust this behavior so that I will not receive aversive consequences in the future.
There are many functions to eating too many snacky foods throughout the day. Some of these for me would be because of stress, sadness, or boredom. Emitting a behavior of eating unhealthy snack foods in-between meals can be very unhealthy and can lead to aversive consequences in the future such as heart disease, or weight gain. Also, after I eat the snack foods my stomach is usually upset anyways, which is an aversive consequence, yet after that stomach ache goes away I am ready for another snack after the next meal. There are some things that I can do to reduce this behavior such as drinking more water throughout the day to fill me up, or chewing a piece of gum when stressed or craving an unhealthy snack. I could also reinforce myself by using one of my favorite snacks, such as scratch cupcakes. If I can go throughout the whole week (and I mean Monday-Friday) without snacking between meals, such as breakfast, lunch and dinner, then I can reinforce myself with a Scratch Cupcake at the end of the week. I suppose satiation could happen in this situation, yet I love scratch cupcakes so much I doubt it will. Also they are only $2.00 each, which is affordable.
The ABC’s right now…
A) Bored, or stress
B) Eat unhealthy snacks
C) feel sick
ABC’s after I begin my new behavior…
A) Bored, stressed
B) Chew a piece of gum
C) Feel good
I have not been emitting the behavior of running for the last month so I need to start. Therefore, the behavior I am going to focus on changing is starting to run at least 4 days a week for at least 30 minutes. At the end of the week (Friday) if I emit this behavior, I will get ice cream.
The ABC’s would look like this (pre-intervention):
A=In between my classes
B= go home and take a nap
C= feel lazy
The ABC’s would look like this (post-intervention):
A=In between my classes
B= go on a run either outside or inside
C= get ice cream at the end of the week (if this happens at least 4 times a week)
Hopefully this will become a naturally occurring contingency so that it is a positive habit that I will emit without needing positive reinforcement.
After I run, I could write in my planner when I get done that I emitted at least 30 minutes of running that day.
The behavior that I would like to emit an intervention on is the amount of time I spend on facebook. Me emitting the behavior of getting on facebook every time I get on the computer and sometimes during class is very problematic. Facebook has become addicting and it takes time away from doing productive things such as homework. Some functions of getting on facebook are that I am bored or I want to be nosy. I would like to conduct an intervention of only checking facebook at most two times a day, once in the morning and once at night. Instead of checking facebook, I will check my email and then do my homework. If I complete all my homework, I can watch TV, workout, clean, etc.
ABC’s currently:
A) Get on the computer
B) Get on facebook
C) Waste lots of time
ABC’s after intervention:
A) Get on computer
B) Check email and begin work
C) Feel productive and have more free time
I would like to try this intervention throughout the whole month of November. I will record each day how many times I get on facebook. At the end of the month, if I have succeeded in my goal, I will reward myself by going shopping. I very rarely buy myself new things so this will be a good reinforcer for me. I will hopefully find that I have more time in my day and accomplish more without getting on facebook every hour.
I am going to emit the behavior of doing a functional analysis on the amount of time I spend on facebook. Typically I emit the target behavior whenever I get on my computer to emit a productive behavior, such as finishing my behavior modification blogs. The reason I emit this behavior so often is because I want to see if anything interesting is going on or if anybody tried to contact me. This is very aversive because it typically takes much of my time and elicits me to not want to accomplish anything after I have finished on facebook. For now, it has not affected me aversively, meaning not complete my homework, but I wish to stop this behavior before it does aversively affect my grades.
A: Getting ready to emit a behavior of completing my homework
B: Getting on facebook
C: Feeling lazy and putting off my school work
In order to change this behavior, I am going to try to only check facebook once a day, after I have completed all of my homework for that day, and limit this behavior to a minimum of twenty minutes. To reinforce this behavior, I will reward myself with a glass of iced tea if I have managed to complete my homework prior to checking facebook. Typically I only drink water after class and iced tea is my favorite drink, and is therefore very reinforcing.
A: Completed all of my homework for that night
B: Get on facebook for a short time
C: Drink a delicious glass of iced tea
The behavior I would like to emit a behavior of conducting a functional analysis on would be my behavior of snacking. Snacking serves many functions. It can be done to assuage hunger, to tide myself over until a meal, or to give me something to do. My hypothesis is that the primary function of my personal snacking behavior is to assuage boredom. This behavior has aversive consequences to my health because the the snacks I usually have are junk food. Therefore, I would like punish the behavior of snacking or use a differential reinforcement of other (DRO) to reinforce a behavior that would replace snacking.
My current ABC's
A) Bored
B) Eat a snack (typically junk food)
C) Worsen health/gain weight
There are a few possible interventions that could be implemented in order to decrease my snacking behavior. Using a DRO, I could emit a behavior of visiting my friends when I am bored, instead of eating. This behavior is a natural reinforcer because visiting with my friends is already pleasurable. However, this behavior might not always be possible because my friends could possibly be busy when I am bored.
ABC's of this intervention
A) Bored
B) Visit Friends
C) Feeling happy and attention is occupied
Another possible intervention would be creating an antecedent of replacing the junk food with fruit so that the consequence of snacking is changed. This way, I wouldn't necessarily have to punish my behavior of snacking, but I would not feel unhealthy after emitting that behavior.
ABC's of this intervention
A) Bored, only have fruit available
B) Snack on fruit
C) Boredom assuage, feeling good
My behavior would be reinforcing because it would relieve my boredom, but I would not feel guilty after snacking.
I have decided to emit the behavior of doing a functional analysis of the behavior of overeating. Although I am not overweight, nor have an eating disorder, I have a problem of eating portions that are bigger than normal. I have come to the conclusion that this overeating can serve many functions. One can be for comfort, boredom, or not having groceries therefore eating too much food at a restaurant. This behavior is in particular extremely aversive because it leaves me feeling not very well and unhealthy. I would like to stop eating as much food through reinforcement. Typically I do not emit the behavior of eating sweets. I am usually way too full from my regular meal to eat any sort of sweets. I will reinforce not overeating by portioning out my food correctly, therefore leaving room to eat treats that I enjoy, such as a cookie. I will be able to get my regular meal and dessert in without feeling sick.
Like all behaviors, there is an antecedent, and a consequence involved.
A= Feeling hungry
B= Eating too fast to feel hungry, therefore getting extremely full.
C= Feeling sick
In order to change my behavior of overeating, I am going to try just a couple of interventions to start out with that will reduce my behavior of eating too much. First, I will eat slower in order to give my stomach and brain enough time to elicit a feeling of being full. Second, I will use someone as a support system that knows what I am trying to accomplish. Often I can eat or cook dinner with them so that they could remind me to not overeat. Third, I can purposely not cook extra food.
The ABC's of the intervention that I am going to use are
A= Hungry with extra food in my apartment
B=Cook only a small portion of food so that I am not tempted to overeat.
C= Feel good about myself and not feel sick.
A personal behavior that I want to functionally analyze would be spending too much time on the internet. I emit this behavior almost every day, and typically this is a problem for many others. There are many functions to being on the internet, with content being one of them. I use it to stalk people on Facebook, watch funny YouTube videos, and read Tweets from celebrities. It also serves the function of keeping me in touch with my family and friends that I do not see on a regular basis. Finally, it serves a purpose of keeping me informed via email. But mostly, it serves the function of boredom. Many interventions come to mind when I think about this behavior. One intervention I could imply would be to not carry my laptop everywhere I go. When I do this, I am more inclined to turn it on and surf the web. Another intervention would be to delete my various accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr...); therefore, the temptation to check up on these sites is eliminated. Also, setting time limits for how long I should spend on the internet would help me manage my time. As a consequence of each intervention, I would be giving myself much more free time to complete homework, study, actually interact with people face to face,enjoy my other hobbies, etc... The list honestly goes on and on.
Currently , my ABC's are as follows:
A: See computer lying on my desk
B: Turn on the computer and surf the web
C: Homework is not completed, study time has been decreased, I become tired and lazy (therefore have absolutely no motivation), and I lose face to face interaction with my friends.
However, if I choose to implement various interventions and/or change my antecedents, my behavior will drastically change, and as a consequence, I will not be an internet junkie!
The behavior in which I will use functional analysis for is biting my fingernails/fingers because emitting this behavior is aversive. Although it satiates my boredom or stress, I am left with sore fingernails/fingers that hurt badly. As far as I can remember I have been emitting this behavior. I have tried stopping on several occasions. Once, I was successful in stopping for 2 months. However, once school started up again I was back at emitting the aversive behavior. I am aware that biting my fingernails has the same topography but a few different functions. One hypothesis for this behavior is that it calms me down in stressful situations. Many times when I am nervous I find myself gnawing on my fingers as a source of relaxation or comfort. Another hypothesis for this behavior could be that I am bored. When I am bored I chose to emit the behavior of biting my nails to make the time go by quicker. A final hypothesis could be that I have a minor case of OCD. If I notice one of my fingernails is jagged or longer than the others, it will drive me nuts unless I fix it. Because I am so impatient, I usually resort to biting my nails instead of waiting to clip them when I get home.
An intervention for my first hypothesis could be to carry around a pack of gum with me at all time. If I notice that I am becoming anxious or nervous I can simply pop a piece of gum into my mouth and emit the behavior of chewing gum instead of chewing my fingers. Since it would be difficult to chew on a piece of gum and my fingers at the same time I could see this working. Also, I really enjoy gum so it would also be working as a positive reinforcement which will likely lead to more success. An intervention for my second hypothesis could be to carry around a small notepad and emit a drawing behavior when I become bored. I have noticed that when I am in a class that requires me to take a lot of notes, I am less likely to be biting my nails. Finally, for my third hypothesis I could place a small nail clipper in my binder that way I have one with me at all times. Because I have the nail clippers near me, I will likely not panic and then when I am able, I can clip the nail instead of biting it. I realize that I will need to experiment with all of these behavioral interventions. I am also aware that these interventions may need to be tweaked because the likelihood that they will work spot on the first time is not very likely. Hopefully, one of them will work successfully because I am ready to stop emitting the behavior of biting my nails once and for all!
The behavior that I would like to further examine is my procrastination tendencies. I have recently been looking back through my facebook posts and found one from over a year ago that read as follows. “If I weren't so good at procrastination, I promise, I wouldn't ever do it. Unfortunately, I am the king of it.” Now by examining the date of this post it would have happened last year for fall finals week. As you can see, my problem isn’t doing well in school, actually it is quite the opposite. I do very well in school(not to brag, just making a point) and all the while I procrastinate my way through it all. However, all this really means is I can crunch out a decent product in a very limited time frame, but that is not all I want to be able to do. I legitimately want to learn something and put together truly fabulous projects. Now for a try with this functional analysis project.
The first step is to create a hypothesis as to why a certain behavior is emitted or what its function is. Over the years I have heard several hypotheses that say why individuals procrastinate so much. One of these was that the individuals emitting this behavior are very afraid of failure. I can definitely see this in myself; after all, nobody likes to fail. This theory states that people procrastinate because then they have an excuse for any short comings they have. For example, if I put off a paper or presentation until the day before it is due I will cram, stress, but ultimately come out with the completed project. Then if I get a poor grade then I can say that I procrastinated, and scold myself, but then the procrastination is to blame. On the other hand, if I were to spend a long time working on a project, doing rough drafts, revisions, peer review, and other such things and turned in the grade and received a poor mark for it then there is no procrastination to blame; my own mind, intellect, and capabilities simply fell short of what was being asked of me. Not a very nice thought is it. However, in my case I am constantly rewarded for my procrastination efforts by receiving high marks. Therefore, my ultimate hypothesis for why I procrastinate is twofold. On one side I am afraid of what I can and cannot accomplish and therefore look for a scapegoat and on the other side I am constantly reinforced for my procrastination behavior.
The next step is to create an intervention plan. This poses itself as a challenge because these are deep rooted behaviors and establishments that will be difficult to change. I cannot change the way teachers grade, so that I cannot punish my procrastination behavior by giving myself a lower grade. It will also be very difficult to change the way my mind works and the techniques it has created to avoid personal failure. However, the latter is the only one that I truly have any control over. Therefore, my technique would be to change the way I view homework, myself, and my capabilities. I think a valuable aspect to change would be knowing that I am completely capable of doing good work without procrastinating. Clearly my rationality for why I procrastinate is irrational, but it makes me feel better. I think the plan of action would be to complete homework, as my current plan is doing, ahead of schedule, without procrastinating, in order to prove to myself that I am more than capable of getting good grades on my own without the ‘helpful’ aid of procrastination. And, if I should do poorly, examine my shortcomings and seek to do better. Now, I fully realize that this is a very poor example of a target behavior but I can’t think of any better way to phrase it or make it more specific.
The way to observe this would be through direct assessment. I would do this by utilizing my daily planner, which I use to keep all my assignments straight. Next to each assignment I would write in whether I had procrastinated or not by jotting down a ‘P’ next to that assignment on the day it was due, kind of like the scarlet letter. After I had handed the assignment in I would then go back and record what letter grade or point total I received. Then I can rationally examine for myself how I do when I procrastinate and do not. This will hopefully snap me out of it. This is what I will do so as to get a baseline, then, if needed, I will adjust my plan in order to be more effective.
The behavior that I would like to perform a functional analysis on would be my compulsive need to be on the Internet way too often when I am supposed to be getting other things done, especially homework. I emit the behavior of being on the Internet way more than necessary. I am constantly checking Facebook and other news sites. I emit this behavior when I wake up, before bed, before work, when I’m trying to do my homework, and in between classes. While this may initially elicit a pleasant response, overall it is an aversive stimulus because I never end up getting done what I need to. Emitting the behavior of being on the Internet can serve as several functions. It can serve the function of keeping me updated with current issues happening with my friends and around the world. It can also serve the function of distracting me from homework and distracting me when I’m bored.
A= Getting prepped to do homework
B= Checking out my Facebook page
C= Not getting homework done/ taking way longer than necessary to get homework done
As a part of my intervention I will try to emit the behavior of only getting on the Internet 3 times a day during the school week. I will also only get on the Internet if all my homework for that day is complete. I am allowed to get on the Internet when I wake up and before bed, but for no longer than 20 minutes unless it is school related. If I emit this behavior then I will reinforce myself by allowing myself to spend unlimited amount of time on the Internet on Friday and Saturday, seeing as those are the only days where homework is not due the next day.
The target behavior that I would like to assess would be my smoking behavior. This would be a direct assessment as there is no one else to critique my behavior at this point in time. Although it would be great to video record myself, we are going to have to rely on my self-report instead. Although smoking is enjoyable to me, it is a detrimental behavior not only to myself but possibly to others around me as well as what the outcome of prolonged smoking could entail. So, after emitting a behavior of self-assessment I came to the conclusion that the ABC’s would look something like this before an intervention and what they might look like after and intervention:
This is what the behavior might look like before a target behavioral program is implemented:
A=Crave for a cigarette
B=Smoke a cigarette
C=Have health problems
A hypothesis from this would be to try to implement something to stop the smoking behavior, or better yet to get an emitting action of not craving a cigarette. So after an intervention (trial and error to some degree) the ABC’s would look something like this:
A=Crave for a cigarette
B=Use a nicotine patch
C=Not smoke anymore
Or
A=Crave for a cigarette
B=Chew a piece of nicotine gum every time there is a craving for a cigarette
C=Not smoke anymore
The reward over time is not smoking and being healthier, as well as an intermittent schedule of reinforcement that could be implemented.
The behavior I want to examine using functional assessment is drinking too much pop (more than one can per day). The consequence of drinking too much pop is that it has no nutritional value, therefore is unhealthy for me. However, although it is unhealthy it still seems to keep me more alert and focused so I can get homework and studying done. I usually drink pop when I am studying or writing a paper so I'll stay more alert and focused.
The ABC's of this behavior are:
A= Studying/doing homework
B= Drinking pop
C= not very healthy, but makes me stay alert and focused
An intervention for this undesirable behavior would be to drink something else that still has some amount of caffeine, but is a lot more healthy. I think emitting a behavior of drinking green tea while studying and doing homework would be a great alternative to drinking pop. Green tea is a natural drink that is healthy, considering it has naturally-occurring antioxidants and it also has natural amounts of caffeine. Therefore it would still keep me alert and focused without causing an adverse consequence, like being unhealthy for me.
After the intervention the ABC's of this behavior would be:
A= Studying/doing homework
B= Drinking green tea
C= A lot healthier, and still makes me feel alert and focused
The behavior I want to do functional analysis is my sleeping behavior. I seem to never get enough sleep and am usually tired throughout the day. But then I have a hard time emitting the behavior of going to bed at night. One would think that being tired throughout the day would be enough of an aversive consequence. So as an intervention I would like to take two naps throughout the day, at the maximum of one hour each. To also help extinguish the tired behavior I will try to get to bed at a regular time every night. I will reinforce myself by being more alert during the days which in return will help me increase my grades and understanding in class. After taking a nap a day and getting to bed at a regular time for two weeks in a row, I will reinforce myself with emitting the behavior of watching a movie one night before I go to bed.
My ABC’s would be:
NOW
A) Not getting enough sleep
B) Extremely tired for class the next day
C) Grades suffer and not being productive with my day
AFTER emitting my new behavior
A)Not getting enough sleep at night
B)Take a nap during the afternoon
C)Feel more alert and able to focus in class and on homework
The ultimate reward of emitting the behavior of napping is better grades and feeling more alive and alert during the day.
The behavior I am choosing to emit the behavior of doing a functional analysis of is drinking pop. The behavior of drinking pop for me has many different functions. One function is serves is giving me energy from the caffeine. Another function is that it tastes good. A final function is serves is it quenches thirst. My target behavior is to drink only one pop a day. An intervention I could use to stop this behavior is to find a replacement drink instead of pop like Gatorade or water. I can reinforce this behavior by letting myself drink one pop if I have drank eight glasses of water or Gatorade a day. This will help reinforce my behavior because I will want to earn drinking a pop each day and if I don’t meet my goal, I will not be able to. This behavior is overall better for me because I am choosing a healthier substitute besides pop to drink and I will not be consuming the calories that I would usually get from pop.
The behavior that I am choosing to do a functional analysis would be the behavior of playing. The reason I have chosen to do this behavior is because I went home for the weekend and my younger brother is playing in the background loudly and is the only thing I can really concentrate on. So in turn I am going to count this as my behavior. The consequence for playing would be entertainment, ease boredom, and express creativity. The only real problematic consequence from this behavior would be an aversive turn in my grades in class from a lack of studying. I would like to decrease the frequency of this behavior so I can do better in school.
Here are the ABC's:
A=Lots of toys which elicits playing behavior.
B=Playing with toys.
C=Decline in grades in school.
A possible intervention for this behavior would be to study first for a certain amount of time, then be able to play. So basically the behavior is fine the only problem is the amount of time used for this behavior that could be used for something more productive. The way to do this would be to study for at least 45 minutes a day and only after you have studied you are free to be reinforced with play time for a certain amount of time. I do not know the amount of time yet because the new intervention has not been through trial yet.
This is the new ABC's:
A=Need to study to improve grades.
B=Study for school.
C=Play time.
This makes it so that the consequence is acting as a reinforcing behavior also. This in the end would help to raise the grades at school and also give me more time to play.
The emitting behavior of chosing a functional analysis on my every day activies will be saving money, which I have not been doing very well. So starting today, I am going to work on saving my money by not eating out, buying red bull or driving every where so that I have to use gas for my car. For every week that I save/don't spend money for pointless things, I will reward myself by hanging out with friends, instead of constantly studying.
My current ABC's are:
A: Need some energy
B: spend money (lately buying red bulls)
C: low on money
If I were to increase the frequency of my saving money behavior, then my ABC's will hopefully look like this.
A: desire to buy unnecessary object
B: save money
C: hang out with friends and feel good for not spending money.
Although I am seeing this as a temporarily goal, seeing as the only reason I'm being conscience about my spending money is because I would like to go to Nicaragua. If I were to constantly increase this frequency, my consequences could end in future me being able to have good money management and be well off for my future family.
The behavior modification that I would like to emit is don`t drink so much coffee (reduce). I decided to choose this behavior because I think that I drink too much coffee and that is affecting my “sleep cycle”. When I analyze trough functional assessment, I can see that I drink coffee in the morning, lunch and dinner, if I am in the library studying in the afternoon (between lunch and dinner) and sometimes when I am studying in the night.
The reason why I emit a drinking behavior when I m studying is to have something to drink and because I want to be concentrated and don`t fall asleep, in the morning is the same reason. But in the lunch and dinner is a habit that I have, so apparently do not have any function, just habit.
I already identify the antecedents of my behavior, so I can think about a possible intervention. Since my dinner and lunch coffee has no particular function, I think I can try to not drink in these hours and avoid another night without sleeping. My reinforcement would be a good night of sleep.
A target behavior that I emit quite frequently that I would like to examine further would be the behavior of eating too many bread products instead of balancing the other 3 food groups into my diet. I believe that this behavior that I emit in my everyday life is very pleasurable and has many different functions. The functional analysis of my behavior lead to my hypothesis of when I’m bored I eat chips, when I’m hungry I have pasta for dinner, or when I’m alone at my apartment I eat cookies. The carbohydrates that I consume are an over abundance over the other food groups. I would like to balance my eating habit to all of the food groups instead of mostly bread products.
ABC’s
A- functions of hungry, bored, alone
B- eating too much bread
C- fulfilling diet, but too much carbohydrates
If I would like to extinguish my behavior of eating too many bread products and emitting a behavior of having all 4 food groups at least 4 times a week. I will need to do an intervention and experiment to limit my consumption. One of the many intervention that I could do is to make a list before I go grocery shopping of products from each food job and make meals out of each. After I make the list I will cross out the foods that I get at the store so I do not over buy the unhealthy carbohydrates. The reinforcement would include a healthier body and other people noticing, including myself. I would be self-reinforced. Another intervention I could use is chart on a whiteboard on the fridge of my intake of bread products each today that I eat in my apartment. If I eat on campus I will put in my phone “notes” app the amount of calories or what kind of bread product I consumed for my meal. Once again the reinforcement could be either getting 1 point at the end of each week, and if I am successful after 3 points buying something “new,” either clothes or other merchandise.
ABC’s after my “interventions”:
1.) A- make list
B- go grocery shopping (for the 4 food groups)
C- self-fulfillment of eating healthier/get compliments
2.) A- Chart on fridge or in phone
B- eat meals with 4 food groups
C- get points to strive for buying myself something new
After emitting this functional behavior for a healthier lifestyle, I plan on using it as a long-term goal as long as I can afford my reinforcements and keep being reinforced.
The behavior I would like to emit the behavior of a functional analysis on is biting my lip. I would like to get it down to just a couple times a day, considering I do for good amount of the day. My hypothesis for why I do this is because I am either bored or nervous. The consequences for always biting my lip are constant chapped lips (which is never comfortable) and taking out my nerves in an unhealthy way. The antecedents for this are being in any situation that causes me to become nervous, and it is a guarantee that I will bite my lip every time I am in a situation of this kind. I have made this my coping mechanism and breaking the habit will be very hard.
The ABC's are:
A= subjected to a situation that makes nervous
B= bite my lip
C= not dealing with the stress in a healthy way, along with a sore lip
An intervention that I could use to prevent this aversive behavior from happening can to be to find a way to occupy myself when these kinds of emotions come about. Maybe trying to do some homework or get something productive done would be a much healthier way to address the stress.
The ABC's after the intervention:
A=subjected to a situation that makes me nervous
B= bite my lip
C= dealt with the nerves in a healthy way and got something productive done in the mean time
I see the outcome of this as being me hopefully starting to deal with other problems in the future in a healthy way because I have a lot of little habits that I do when stressed. Doing things like biting my nails or lip are not a healthy way to deal with stress, and doing something productive is always a better option.
Behavior:
The behavior that I am going to do a functional assessment on would be my napping behavior. I thought to do this because I just woke up from a nap that I really did need to take. Also I don’t really emit the behavior of napping because when I nap it is more like a mini coma. I am incapable of emitting the behavior of just taking a twenty minute nap. I feel like this is a behavior that I would benefit from doing a functional assessment on so that I could find possible intervention methods to help me decrease the frequency of my mini comas.
ABCs (pre-intervention):
A) At home and feeling sleepy.
B) Take a nap. (That is supposed to be short, but ends up being a few hours)
C) Don’t get anything done and then can’t go to sleep that night.
Functions:
Taking a nap has different functions for me. Sometimes I nap so that I won’t feel so tired, so that I will feel better, get rid of stress, kill time, or maybe just to avoid doing my work. These functions aren’t always bad because some days it is nice to take a nap when you don’t have anything going on and you don’t have anything that needs to get done. However sometimes taking a nap or in my case a mini coma can have aversive consequences. Since I always end up sleeping for longer than I would like, I usually don’t get everything that I would like to. I also miss out on things because I am sleeping when people are trying to get a hold of me. Another thing is that when I take these extremely long naps then I don’t want to go to bed and then I find it hard to get up in the mornings for work.
Hypotheses:
Some hypotheses that I came up with for why I take these naps when I should not, is that I am extremely tired from waking up early to go to work and then going to school after that. Another one is that I go home instead of staying on campus or in a public place and there is nothing keeping me awake. I also don’t think that I am getting the right amount of sleep otherwise I would not feel the need to emit the behavior of napping all the time.
Interventions:
Some ideas that I came up with for interventions to decrease the frequency of my napping behavior are: Getting a complete eight hours of sleep at night so that I am not so tired during the day. Staying in a public place with friends so that I am not home where I have a bed that I can go nap in. Another one would be if I really need to take a nap to make sure that I have all of my work done first so that I don’t have to worry about not getting things done, and in that case the nap would serve as positive reinforcement for the positive behavior of getting all of my work done.
ABCs (post-intervention):
A) Being well rested and staying on campus with friends.
B) Not taking a long nap during the day.
C) I feel accomplished because all of my work is done and I did not waste my day sleeping.
The behavior I emitted the behavior of choosing for a functional analysis is smoking cigarettes. This is something that I'm currently struggling with. After I eat a meal, the first thing I do is emit the behavior of smoking a cigarette. The first thing I do when I get out of class is emit the behavior of smoking a cigarette. The first thing I do when I get in my car to drive somewhere is emit the behavior of lighting a cigarette. There are many antecedents that elicit the behavior of smoking a cigarette. I could pick one and develop a hypothesis and intervention. Smoking after eating is the most prominent for me because it is the most rewarding. My hypothesis for this behavior is: after I finish emitting the behavior of consuming food, I emit the behavior of smoking a cigarette because the only thing that makes a good meal better is relaxing while smoking a cigarette. Emitting the behavior of consuming food elicits the behavior of smoking a cigarette. An appropriate intervention for emitting this behavior is after I eat a meal, instead of emitting the behavior of smoking a cigarette, I will instead follow up my meal with emitting the behavior of drinking a glass of water. I know from past experience that I am less likely to emit the behavior of smoking a cigarette when my stomach is full of water. Another intervention that would be equally as effective as well as rewarding would be following a meal with emitting the behavior of drinking a beer. The taste of beer and cigarettes together, for me, is gross. Therefore, I am less likely to emit the behavior of smoking a cigarette after eating if I emit the behavior of drinking a beer instead.
Behavior: The behavior that I am using for a functional analysis is eating junk food. The reason I chose this is because, I've noticed that whether I'm hungry or not, if I'm bored, I'll usually emit an eating behavior of unhealthy foods like candy, chips etc. One function of unhealthy foods is that theyre quick. You dont have to prepare a bag of chips. Another function is that they taste good. Such is the irony of life, most of the best things (material) are bad for us in some way.
Present ABCs
A - Hungry between meals or just hangin out
B - eat junk food
C - dont feel as healthy, possible weight gain
For an intervention, I think the best way to handle this is to just not have as many unhealthy foods readily available at my apartment. Stock up on fruits or vegetables to munch on when I get hungry. There really isnt much I can do to prevent getting hungry so changing the antecedent would be difficult in this instance.
A - Hungry between meals or just hangin out
B - eat an apple or some other fruit/vegetable
C - Hunger is satisfied but being healthier about it
The behavior I am going to emit a behavior or doing a functional analysis on is eating healthier. The reason I chose this is because ultimately I want to lose weight and the first step to do this is learning to eat healthier. Usually i emit the behavior of eating lots of sweets and drinking soda, not only is this bad for my health but this is also bad for my teeth which have problems all their own. One of my hypotheses for why i eat so badly is because it's cheap and readily available. I also believe that it makes me feel good when I am sad. I should not be relying on food to make me feel better. And finally it just tastes good.
ABC's
A - Hungry and craving sweets
B- Eating sweets
C- gain weight and hurt my teeth more
For my intervention I think i need to take a good look in the mirror because i believe my self perception is skewed, i will also need to get rid of all unhealthy food around me and have someone shop with me so keep me on track.
ABC's intervention
A - Hungry and craving sugar
B - Eat naturally sweetened fruit like strawberries
C - Not hungry anymore and ate healthy.
My behavior I would like to functionally analyze is my fountain diet Pepsi problem. The guys at the gas station just down from my house know me by name, because I normally visit once a day to get the same thing – a fountain diet Pepsi. I drink 44oz on a daily basis. During times of stress when things need to be done my diet Pepsi problem worsens. I have been known to drink up to two 44oz diet Pepsis – that is an absurd amount of caffeine. Though, my diet Pepsi keeps me generally alert and happy it does have its downfalls, for instance if I don’t have caffeine I get one wicked migraine and sometimes a bit cranky.
My ABC’s for this behavior are:
A → Afternoon, before work or studying
B → Go to the gas station and pick up a 44oz diet Pepsi
C → A happy caffeinated Sam
So perhaps an intervention for me might be to lessen my caffeine intake. I would make things like water more readily available by carrying around a water bottle. I might also stock the house with some juice as well. Though I think my habit will cause some adverse withdrawal effects. So I think a reasonable intervention would be for me to replace my 44oz soda with a more reasonable 12oz can. Finally I could also include an intervention in the form of reinforcement. My reinforcement would be to whiten my teeth once a week. It would be reinforcing to me as I do enjoy white shiny teeth. This would also work as an intervention because if I spend the time to whiten my teeth, I’m surely going to want to avoid soda. So with these interventions in mind I will hopefully beat my caffeine addiction and no longer be a slave to diet Pepsi.
The behavior that I emit and want to examine using functional analysis is smoking. The behavior that I choose has a few functions for me. The most prominent is a stress reliever and the other major function is to help me focus. I am currently in an intervention for my smoking and so far it is going well. I am replacing my urge to smoke with food and working out. Every day I go without smoking I add tally on a white board that hangs in sight of my bed. This will help keep me motivated. The food helps me stop being so nervous and the working out gives me time to calm down, wear myself out, and focus properly on what I need to do. So far I believe that my analysis of my smoking behavior is right on and my intervention seems to be the right combination of reinforces and replacement behaviors. We will see if it continues.
I have been in a state of emiting a lazy behavior for quite awhile now. Functions of being lazy are; procrastinating, resting, and boredom. The intervention I will chose is to start working out. Working out can give me more energy, help me lose weight, and give me a healthier, longer life. Some days I plan on working out at night but when night comes I am either doing homework or too tired from work and school. I believe the best time for me to workout will be in the mornings. This will be beneficial because I will get it out of the way and other things won’t distract me; also there are less people in gym early in the morning. If I do not follow this plan because I do not want to get up in the mornings, I will next try working out right after work. This will possibly work because then I will have to do it before I start my homework which means I will have an infinite amount of time to do my homework (until I get too tired that is) in case it takes me longer than thought. I want to increase this behavior so I will emit a behavior of rewarding myself with a new item of clothing for every week that I reach my goal. I will gradually lessen this once the target behavior becomes a habit.
A behavior I have been emitting is playing Xbox instead of studying. I would like to change this functional behavior through an intervention. I would like to change this behavior because it increases my procrastination of work which becomes very aversive and stressful. I also noticed a decrease in grades slightly when I decided to play more Xbox.
A= procrastination
B= playing Xbox
C= lowering grades
The intervention I would like to emit is to go straight to the library instead of going home which causes the idea of playing Xbox. On days that it is lunch time I will grab food after class to bring to the library and study one hour in order to catch up on extra work. I would reinforce myself for studying in the library for an hour by treating myself with a large fruit juice drink at the end of the week.
The behavior I will emit the behavior of doing a functional analysis of is spending time on the Internet. It cuts into my sleep time and study time greatly and without browsing the Internet, I would be a much more productive person. While analyzing this behavior, I have discovered I am on the Internet for 10-15 minutes every time I get on the computer. Even when I have a big assignment to do, I get on a variety of websites before starting my assignment. Like most things, there are many different functions for the browsing the Internet behavior. There are many functions of getting on the Internet and I do not want to eliminate all of them. I obviously want to get on the Internet to submit blogs, check assignments, and do other schoolwork. Some functions of getting on the Internet that I want to eliminate are getting on Facebook, Twitter, and a Kanye West fan site. I get on all three of these each time I get on a computer and this time adds up. I need to reduce this behavior when I have assignments to do. I will allow myself to emit this behavior when I don’t have things to do, but I need to emit a prioritizing behavior and reduce my time on these sites.
I think I browse these sites because they are set as my home page. To reduce this behavior, I will remove these three sites as my home page. Seeing them come up every time I open an Internet browser, elicits me to browse those sites. My reinforcement would be very simple, having more free time. I will complete my assignments much earlier and either get more sleep or have more free time to do whatever I want, which would include browsing these sites.
I will emit the behavior of doing a functional analysis on my behavior of over-eating. I chose this behavior because I have noticed it more since I started college, and I want to put an end to it. I tend to eat more when I am bored, stressed, or emitting a behavior of watching tv or doing homework. Emitting a behavior of overeating has not caught up with my weight yet, but it does elicit a feeling of being unhealthy and that is why I want to stop this behavior. The ABCs for this behavior would be:
A=bored, stressed, watching tv, doing homework
B=eating when not hungry (overeating)
C= feeling unhealthy
In order to extinguish my behavior of overeating, I think an intervention would be necessary. Emitting a behavior of keeping a record of what I eat throughout the day might make me realize how much I am actually eating. After doing this, I feel I should avoid situations in which I tend to overeat. For example, when I am doing my homework, I should go to the library instead of in my room where there is food. I could also find other activities to do besides watch tv, and this could eliminate my problem of eating when I am bored, also. The ABCs for after my intervention would be:
A=bored, stressed, watching tv, doing homework
B=keep a record, avoid these situations
C=eat less, feel healthier
I think this intervention could actually work, and I will emit a behavior of trying it as soon as possible!
I will emit the behavior of doing a functional analysis on my behavior of over-eating. I chose this behavior because I have noticed it more since I started college, and I want to put an end to it. I tend to eat more when I am bored, stressed, or emitting a behavior of watching tv or doing homework. Emitting a behavior of overeating has not caught up with my weight yet, but it does elicit a feeling of being unhealthy and that is why I want to stop this behavior. The ABCs for this behavior would be:
A=bored, stressed, watching tv, doing homework
B=eating when not hungry (overeating)
C= feeling unhealthy
In order to extinguish my behavior of overeating, I think an intervention would be necessary. Emitting a behavior of keeping a record of what I eat throughout the day might make me realize how much I am actually eating. After doing this, I feel I should avoid situations in which I tend to overeat. For example, when I am doing my homework, I should go to the library instead of in my room where there is food. I could also find other activities to do besides watch tv, and this could eliminate my problem of eating when I am bored, also. The ABCs for after my intervention would be:
A=bored, stressed, watching tv, doing homework
B=keep a record, avoid these situations
C=eat less, feel healthier
I think this intervention could actually work, and I will emit a behavior of trying it as soon as possible!
I will emit the behavior of analyzing the target behavior of snacking between meals. Functionally, I do not emit the behavior of snacking between meals because I am hungry; snacking between meals serves the function of occupying my time or keeping me entertained. Oftentimes, between meals, I find myself lying around and not doing anything productive which causes me to snack. Snacking between meals causes me to gain weight which is an aversive consequence.
A- Lying around; not doing anything productive
B- Snack between meals
C- Gain weight
In order to stop snacking between meals, I need to change the antecedent of lying around. Instead of lying around, I could work out, study, or spend time with friends. Working out instead of eating would elicit a desirable consequence of losing weight!
A- Work out between meals
B- Do not snack
C- Lose weight
I will emit a behavior of getting in better shape.
[Step 1-target behavior] My specific target behavior will be to work out at least five days a week by eliciting a running behavior for a minimum of 1 mile in less than 8 minutes and elicit various other behaviors according to the workout plan specifically designed by my rugby trainer. I will also attend rugby practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 4-6pm.
[Step 2-consequences] I will be emitting this behavior in order to get in better shape for rugby and to keep myself physically fit and healthy. The consequence will be that I become more fit and have more endurance for our games. I will reward myself each week with a day off on Sundays where I can enjoy a workout free day and designate at least an hour to myself and having me time (doing whatever relaxing thing I choose.)
[Step 3-Antecedents] I will elicit the behavior of working out every day at the same time to for a habit. I will solidify 4pm-6pm as my designated workout time so that it becomes part of my regular schedule for that time. I will also keep my workout clothes more organized and buy more workout clothing to encourage my behavior.
[Step 4-ABCs/Functional Assessment]
(Pre-intervention)
A: 4-6pm on a Weekday
B: Eat supper and hang out with my roomie
C: Get out of Shape
(Post-intervention)
A: 4-6pm on a Weekday
B: Workout (run, go to rugby practice, & follow trainer’s workout plan)
C: Get in Shape
Functions: Eliciting a workout behavior will function to help me get into better shape. It will also help me to become healthy. Additionally, it will serve the function of helping my endurance and fitness on the rugby field. It will serve multiple functions that will help me benefit physically. Also, hopefully I will have more energy and feel better about myself.
Hypotheses: One reason why I may emit a behavior of skipping a workout would be because the workout is difficult. It could also be because I am overwhelmed by school work. I may also skip the workout because I am sick or the weather sucks. Perhaps I may even just decided to be lazy.
Interventions: I will decrease the likelihood of emitting a behavior of skipping my workout by working out with a friend/teammate. I will also make sure that my workouts are fun. If the weather is bad, I will go to the WRC or workout in the dome. If the weather is to bad to make it to the WRC or the Dome I will run the stairs in my dorm and do stretches, sit-ups, and push-ups in my room. If I am sick I will allow for time to get well, but I will still do my best to work out for at least 5 days during the week. Finally, I will reward myself by having a fun day on Sunday and spending it with family and friends as well as devoting specific time for myself.
Summary: Eventually I hope that this will become a natural behavior where it fits normally into my schedule. I will also record my workout on my specific workout journal created by my trainer. He has the week’s workout in a journal and I will record all completed activities (that should include all assigned workout activities). The habit and record will help me to form a routine.
I am going to emit the behavior of using a functional analysis on the behavior of drinking too much pop. My behavior of drinking too much pop is bad for me because I need to lose weight and it also bad for my health in general. My mom found that she has tiny holes in her small intestines from drinking too much pop for it is imperative that I decrease this behavior. My hypothesis for why I drink too much pop is because my parents always drank pop when I was growing up so It’s just something I am used to.
A-Thirsty
B-Drink pop
C-Poor Health
For my intervention I believe that I will stop buying pop. If I don’t have it in the house then I am less likely to drink it. I am so used to drinking it during meals so replacing it with milk would be extremely beneficial to my health. I think that buying juices and maybe some flavored water would help me to complete my goal.
A-Thirsty
B-Drink Milk
C-Healthier body
The target behavior I am interested in emitting an examining behavior on is consuming too much fast food. This is a behavior I would like to extinguish. Emitting an eating behavior on fast food has a few pleasurable functions for me. I find myself eating it because it is fast and convenient; it takes little to no time to receive your meal and at some places you don’t even need to leave your vehicle. I often emit an eating behavior on fast food because I’m not hungry, but bored. I have conditioned myself to want to eat while emitting a behavior of watching television. More often than not, when I turn the television on it immediately elicits a feeling that I should be eating. Lastly, I often consume fast food because I’m feeling down or depressed. Almost all of the consequences of consuming fast food are aversive. After emitting the eating behavior, although pleasurable during the process, I find myself very sluggish and unwilling to emit too much physical activity. The amount and length of time my skin is broken out is directly related to the amount of fast food I consume as well. I can often tell when I have been emitting the consuming behavior too often when my clothes fit too snuggly. Finally, although I am fairly young, as I continue to consume fast food my chance at developing heart disease and diabetes readily increases with age.
Pre-intervention ABC’s:
A=convenience, depression, conditioned response
B=consuming large amounts of fast food
C=pleasurable feelings while eating, but sluggish gross feelings after. Higher risk of developing heart disease and/or diabetes.
To cease emitting an eating behavior on fast food I would hold an intervention. One intervention I might try is to journal each time I eat fast food and how much fast food I consumed in that one sitting. This would be a direct assessment since I am doing the recording myself with out the input of others. By keeping a journal, even for only a week, I believe I could extinguish or at the least decrease the frequency of consuming fast food.
Post-intervention ABC’s:
A=convenience, depression, conditioned response
B=journal each time I consume and how much fast food
C=decrease the frequency and amount of fast food consumed until extinguished.
This consequence would go back to affect the antecedent in a pleasurable way because if I am consuming less fast food, I would be less depressed and have more energy to look beyond just the convenient food sources. The outcome in this situation would lead me to decrease the frequency of consuming fast food. I believe this would work in the beginning, but more than likely I would have to go back and do a second intervention to adjust the motivation behind this goal.
My behavior I am interested in performing a functional analysis on is my sleep behavior. In defining my sleep, it occurs much more often than it should. I am interested in anytime I lie down and sleep, whether it is a nap or a full night’s sleep. I am always tired, no matter how much I sleep, so I would like to figure out what is going wrong with my sleep or my schedule that is eliciting me to be so tired. I’m going to attempt to do this with the information we learned in class on Tuesday. There are several things that precede me sleeping. I can be in several different moods; sad, tired, too excited, hungry, mad, but it usually occurs because I am so tired. Stress also seems to be a plausible antecedent for my sleep behavior. Typically I sleep for hours at a time. Even when I simply emit a nap, it will last for 3-5 hours at least! When I sleep at night, I don’t typically fall asleep until 3-6 am. Once I do, I wake up frequently during the night and may sleep until the afternoon because I do not seem to get deep sleep. It is very rare that I wake up early in the morning for the day. Typically what makes my sleep stop is that I have to emit waking up for class. On MWF this does not occur until noon and on Tuesdays is around 10. I actually have made my schedule this way on purpose because of my sleep patterns are so inconsistent. Even then, I still have problems getting the energy to wake up. Typically I sleep the most when I am by myself. When I am at home, I don’t sleep as much when my family is around or my boyfriend is around. I seem to be able to keep myself awake much more. Functionally analyzing my sleep behavior is difficult because so many things seem to increase it. My sleep responses seem to increase when I have more responsibilities to accomplish, such as homework. It is possible that a function of my sleep is to procrastinate and avoid my homework. Some other antecedents seem to be the time. If it gets to be too late like 6 am, I will force myself to sleep; however, I seem to be the most awake in the early morning hours so it is difficult. I also sleep more when I am upset/sad/mad/depressed. Another antecedent may be when I have nothing to do. If I do not have friends to hang out with or places to be, the first thing I will do is sleep. I will often try to wake up, but continue to sleep because I am so tired and don’t want to get going. If you ask different sources, such as my parents, they will say similar things about my sleep behavior. My family all makes jokes about me if I wake up before 2 pm because it is that difficult for me to. I can’t think of any secondary gains I get from sleeping so much. Another function may be that I dream constantly so my body needs that extra time to try to recuperate.
Emitting this functional analysis elicits me to think of several options for intervention that may alleviate the need to sleep so often.
1. I could go to bed earlier in the evening.
2. I could wake up earlier in the day.
3. I could resist the urge to nap throughout the day.
4. I could put myself around other people more often.
5. I could talk to a doctor about it (I actually have and they couldn’t figure it out).
6. I could take sleeping pills at a certain time every night to reset my internal clock.
7. I could learn techniques to reduce stress so I’m not so tired.
8. I could change my environment, such as moving my laptop away from my bed, closing the curtains earlier, eliminating any light at night, turning my cell phone off at a certain time, etc.
9. I could create rules for how late I watch TV, movies, play on the computer, etc.
10. I could specify times to do homework and other responsibilities, no matter what.
It is obvious from this analysis that my sleep behavior and the problems associated with it is very complex. There are several implementations that I could emit to attempt to verify why my sleep responses are so varied and messed up. Since sleep is something we all require as a primary need, it is difficult to tell my body “NO”. I will emit the implementations I came up with in this functional analysis to see which of the antecedents may be the primary cause of my problems. I hypothesize that it will take a combination of several of them.